This is me:
How I look as a human
But for some reason, throughout this learning journey, I will be representing myself like this:
Hannah: A Self Portrait
As it says on the tin, my name is Hannah. Hi.
I am in my early thirties and originally from a little town on the seaside in the North West of England.
Being from England has given me the healthy ability to not be able to take myself or much else particularly seriously, and a great aversion to all things fake or bullshitty.
My Back Story
After doing the classic “school→uni→crushing debt” routine, I decided to pack my bags up at the tender age of 22 and head to Europe for a planned year of silliness before returning to the UK and to “fiscal responsibility" as my parents would put it.
One year in Berlin however, turned out to definitely not be enough.
For anyone who has ventured there before, you might have already felt it for yourself. Berlin is a GREAT city. And in 2016, post-Brexit UK wasn’t exactly winning any awards for “appealing place to live for the broke young adult”.
So a year became two, two became three and before you know it, I’m a veteran Berliner with a German passport and a hot German husband to boot.
Funny how things work out.
Yes, I am gleefully back in the Schengan zone and living my life in Berlin quite contentedly.
Professional Career
My professional career is probably also worth a little run through so here are the highlights.
I studied Natural Sciences in the UK - mathematics, chemistry and physics - before realising that I didn’t particularly love mathematics, chemistry or physics at all.
Slight problem.
Being young and carefree, I decided instead to follow something that I did love, and still do love: languages.
This love of learning new languages was what first took me to Germany and ultimately to my whole new life as a UK/German national, living the good life in Berlin.
In Berlin I worked firstly in the chemical industry, it being what I was suited for, before realising that my problem solving mindset might be well suited to coding and the world of tech.
Luckily, I was right and I took to coding fairly quickly. I sidestepped my way through a range of job titles (Data Analyst, Data Engineer, ETL Engineer) before landing at “Software Developer”.
Wearing many hats in my career
I have always considered myself a bit of a “jack of all trades master of none” when it comes to programming. Something that used to be a bit of a hindrance but now with the dawn of AI, is actually a blessing in disguise!
You name it, I can do a bit of it. Frontend, backend, data engineering. Don’t ask me about networks though because that will always remain an enigma to me.
Any network engineers out there? Please take my respect.
My last role before quitting the world of 9-5 for good was as “Software, data and AI Team Lead*”
(My boss quickly tacked the word “AI” onto my job title without any addition qualifications, once it became clear that clients only wanted to hear AI, AI, AI and AI)
Being a Team Lead was probably the most fun I have had in a job so far. Much more than coding, I like people and more importantly, bringing people together. It’s something I think I am fairly good at and at the very least, I enjoyed taking the role of manager from someone who - if my experience is worth anything - could potentially make life miserable for the developers by being a bit of a general arse.
What Am I Up To Now?
And now? Now I want to take my strengths and put them into something that I really care about.
Learning and teaching.
I have a whole bunch of reasons for learning AI and starting this journey, so many that I even made a separate post about it- ta da.
I hope that gave you an intro into me, who I am, what I care about and convinced you that I am in some way, maybe, sort of, qualified to help you with your AI learning journey.
