Rabu, 28 Juni 2017
Senin, 26 Juni 2017
Minggu, 25 Juni 2017
Sabtu, 24 Juni 2017
Coding Like a Girl: Resources for Women in Tech and Developer Roles - envato.com coupon
People that work in technology, particularly developers, tend to be fixers.
They see problems and want to craft solutions. They look for how they can creatively hack away at a challenge, working with their peers, to build to a better outcome.
As an industry, they’re working on a big problem. The lack of women entering Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines (widely held to be the most critical sectors of the coming century), and the systemic issues in tech that see gifted female players withdraw.
There’s a gap, and it’s not going away anytime soon.
Melbourne creator and coder Ally Watson has been minding that gap, and launched a new project to help close it.
Code Like a Girl seeks to connect girls and women involved in the tech industry or who enjoy coding.
Envato Senior Developer Shevaun Coker is taking to the stage to share her story to help kick it off.
Here’s a sneak peek at that story, and a chance to meet one of our talented team members.
Shevaun Coker, Envato Senior Developer
When – and why – did you decide to go into IT?
Shevaun: It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when I decided to make programming my career, but I have a few different experiences that all set me on the path to be a developer.
The first is also my first coding experience, which was in my first year of high school, during a “technology” module. We were given little round robots with wheels and keypads, and we could program them to move around the room and play musical notes. I made my robot dance in circles while playing twinkle, twinkle little star, and I thought that was the coolest thing ever!
That experience made me switch schools in Year 12 in order to attend a school that had a programming class. I took that class in Years 12 and 13, and at the end of Year 13 we all sat a scholarship exam and from that a number of us (including myself) were awarded a scholarship for our first year’s fee at the local university.
So it was an easy decision to study Computer Science and I enjoyed it so much that when I graduated I immediately started looking for programming jobs.
What factors do you think made it possible for you?
Shevaun: Having that initial exposure to programming at high school, and being able to take a class in it. Also my high school programming teacher, Mrs Baker, was a fantastic teacher and really encouraged my passion for coding.
What’s the most inspiring application of your skills you’ve experienced in your career to date?
Shevaun: I was working for the Ministry of Social Development in NZ when the Christchurch earthquake happened. A lot of businesses had to close and employers were left unable to pay their employees.
Our developer team banded together and worked round the clock to deploy a web application that would let people apply for and receive emergency benefits within a couple of days.
It was amazing to be able help people going through a really tough point in their lives.
What’s a great idea you’ve encountered to help reverse the gender gap in technology?
Shevaun: Buildkite sponsored “gender pay gap” subsidised tickets for women to a recent Railscamp, which was a great way to increase accessibility and let more women attend.
What other women in technology do you admire?
Shevaun: I admire people like Sandi Metz and Katrina Owen, who not only are passionate about constantly improving their craft, but are helping the rest of world do so too with their awesome presentations, books and blog posts.
What are you most proud of about being a developer at Envato?
Shevaun: Envato is full of caring, passionate and friendly people, which makes for an amazing work environment and one I’m very grateful for.
What excites you most about the next few years in tech?
Shevaun: As more and more of the world moves online, there is always more work to do and better ways to do it. The room to grow and take on new challenges is infinite.
If you’re in Melbourne you can catch Shevaun and many other talented female technologists at the Code Like a Girl launch event.
Resources for Women in Tech
Here’s just a handful of the many terrific organisations and initiatives set up to change the fortunes of women in technology worldwide.
Women in Technology International is a global network of women working in tech, dedicated to advancing career opportunities and building meaningful connections.
Black Girls Code provides young and pre-teen girls of color opportunities to learn technology and computer programming skills at a critical time in their lives.
Girls in Tech is a global organization focused on nurturing women to positions of influence in technology.
Rails Girls is a global organization aggregates resources and creates a network to help women leverage technology to bring their ideas to life, and bring more women into the folds of programming careers. Envato Developer Trung Le is helping bring this to life in Vietnam.
Geek Girl Dinners are a global network with local outposts in various cities, that host socials, dinners, bootcamps – anything to connect women in tech, extend their skills and open up new horizons.
Anita Borg Instituteis dedicated to the transformative impacts of technology – and of women within the technology fields. Founder Anita Borg is the woman behind the annual Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (the largest gathering of women technologists on the planet).
Girls Who Code works with high school students to teach them and equip them with the resources to get involved in computer science.
CodeEd is a U.S based organization that teaches computer science to middle-school girls
appcamp4girls is a North American spin on holiday camp where girls can use their creative talents to design and building applications.
Program a New Future
Rewriting the future for women in technology starts with early education – shattering stereotypes, recalibrating expectations and shining a light on heroes living those changes.
These initiatives are focused on empowering younger women; teaching them that there’s no one way to program, and no one type of person that is a programmer.
Kodable offers light touch curriculum content to teach elementary age children programming.
Iridescent Learning aims to help children get started in the field of engineering, and specifically focuses on those in underserved areas.
Hello Ruby is a book for children between five and eight interested in learning programming. It uses the Ruby language (and a character named Ruby) to teach basic concepts through reading and illustration. It’s a great way to engage a young girl in the craft.
code.org is a U.S. non-profit is on a mission to make coding more inclusive – to everyone – with a focus on underrepresented groups like women and minorities.
Read Envato co-founder Cyan Ta’eed’s playbook for combating imposter syndrome
Creating an even playing field and changing fortunes for women in technology is a long game, but like many industry peers, Envato is invested for the long haul.
This article was originally published on Inside Envato in August 2015.
The post Coding Like a Girl: Resources for Women in Tech and Developer Roles appeared first on Envato.
envato.com coupon from Envato http://ift.tt/2tHPthb
envato.com coupon
What is WordPress Managed Hosting? - envato.com coupon
The trickiest part of setting up a website is the technical aspect. This can include coding a layout, but if you go with a ThemeForest theme you’ll be all set there.
But the other tricky part is web hosting and installing WordPress to get your site online. Thankfully with managed hosting this process can be super easy.
Managed hosting is where you pay a web hosting company to fully maintain your server. This means they’ll setup, configure, and secure your server 24/7. They provide all security updates and data backups to make sure everything’s running smoothly.
But there are many different types of managed hosting so it’s good to learn more about the industry. In this guide I’ll explain what managed WordPress hosting is and why it might be a good choice for your next web project.
Managed WordPress Hosting: The Basics
The term “web server” describes many moving parts. Stated simply, this is just a computer meant to be online 24/7 to deliver websites to visitors. But it’s obviously more complicated than that.
A managed hosting platform installs everything so you don’t need to worry about the server setup.
If it’s managed WordPress hosting then they’ll also install WordPress and optimize the server to load faster. This usually comes with other benefits such as:
- Malware sweeps & virus removal
- Protections against DDOS/injection attacks
- Automatic server updates
- Automatic website backups
- Problem solving whenever an issue arises
If you go with semi-managed hosting(or “unmanaged”) then you’ll need to deal with some of these things yourself. Granted most hosting companies are very secure and will protect you from hacks/downtime.
But managed hosting basically guarantees that you don’t need to do anything. It’s the surefire way to manage a high-volume WordPress site while moving all the technical work over to the experts.
If you want access to your server but don’t want full responsibility then a shared hosting account might be better. The problem is that these shared accounts are very poor quality and do not hold up for larger websites.
If you have a WordPress site doing more than 100k pageviews/mo then you might be better with a managed server.
But to properly compare managed hosting against typical “unmanaged” hosting you’ll first need to understand a little about web hosting in general.
The Details of Hosting a Website
All websites basically run with the same software, it’s just the details that change. For example a WordPress site needs a few things:
- Web server software
- PHP software
- Database software
Both managed & shared hosts automatically set up these environments. So if you buy an unmanaged hosting account you still get this software pre-configured and ready to go.
The difference with unmanaged is that you need to install WordPress, install your own theme, and manage your own data backups. This stuff isn’t really too difficult.
But if you don’t have the time or patience to learn then it can be a huge annoyance.
One other aspect of web hosting is email. Many companies want to setup their own addresses like myname@domain.com, and many times you will get this feature included with managed hosting(not always).
A mail server is a whole separate can of worms which is why the managed route is typically better.
WordPress is the simplest way to launch a site and it has amazing security built into the framework. So if you go with a managed host you’re really saving yourself time while foregoing the option to customize & tweak the server.
There are genuine pros & cons to both sides and the choice really depends on your situation.
So let’s go beyond the basics and get into the differences of managed and unmanaged hosts. What really is the difference?
Managed vs. Unmanaged WordPress Hosting
The comparison of managed vs unmanaged can get tricky because the phrase “unmanaged” has a few different meanings.
But let’s look into managed hosting first. It’s basically a catch-all solution where you get everything handled for you. Setup, installation, configuration, and constant maintenance are included in the bill.
You can be pretty much hands-free and let your own IT team handle the server stuff.
This is partially true with unmanaged hosting if you get a shared server.
There are (generally) two types of unmanaged hosting:
- Unmanaged shared servers
- Unmanaged VPS/virtual servers
Shared servers are horribly slow. They’re really only useful for small websites, and even then performance won’t always be great.
The other type of unmanaged hosting is a VPS/dedicated server which gives you full control over a virtual server. This means the entire setup, config, and maintenance is 100% your responsibility.
If you’re reading this guide then you probably don’t want that.
So what’s the real deal between managed & unmanaged? It comes down to basic maintenance & upkeep. Shared hosts are unmanaged but they still come with responsibilities.
If you try a shared host you’ll still need to:
- Update WordPress on your own
- Check for security flaws or hacking attempts on your site
- Watch server loads and try to avoid overloading the server
- Backup your website and keep those backups safe
A good portion of shared hosts do have support teams that can help you. But they won’t always do all the work for you.
This is perhaps the biggest difference between managed vs unmanaged.
It may cost more for managed WordPress hosting but it’s generally worthwhile. You really won’t have to do much but pay the bill each month, and the tech support quality is like comparing economy class tickets to flying first class.
Why Go Managed?
If you ever look at managed host pricing you may be surprised at the massive fluctuations.
Some plans can be as low as $20/month while others can be 10x that price (or more!)
So what’s the real benefit of running with managed hosting? Obviously it’s great for webmasters who just don’t have the time or patience to learn server administration. Managed hosting platforms specialize in what they do so your site gets the VIP treatment.
But the biggest asset of managed hosting is ease of mind. You’re paying for professionals who know how to optimize a server, get it running fast & keep it that way.
When you go managed you’re guaranteed a few things:
- No technical setup
- Faster & easier problem solving
- Consistent website backups
- Updated software & frequent security checks
- Very fast server speeds with high uptime
If you’re willing to handle this stuff on your own then go for it. There’s nothing wrong with learning basic server admin skills and it’s surely a valuable asset!
But there’s also nothing wrong with going managed. It’ll save you time, headaches, and ultimately give you some peace of mind every day knowing your site is in good hands.
Is Managed For You?
Everyone loves WordPress so it’s no question that WP is a great choice. But what about managed hosting? Is it the right call?
This comes down to your budget, your needs, and your technical skillset. If you’re willing to pay a little more to offload the technical stuff then I say absolutely go managed. This way you can focus on running your site and it just makes sense to let experts handle the stuff they do best.
And if you’re looking for a way to get managed WordPress hosting for your site, check out Envato Hosted. It works with high-quality ThemeForest themes and it’s backed with the trust of Envato’s incredible brand in the web design space.
The post What is WordPress Managed Hosting? appeared first on Envato.
envato.com coupon from Envato http://ift.tt/2s1K9Ic
envato.com coupon