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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
๐ŸŒฑ๐Ÿ‘ฉ๐Ÿผโ€๐Ÿ’ป Reluctant software engineer ๐Ÿ’˜ Eternal crybaby ๐Ÿ—ž Journo writing about sex and tech ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ”Œ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ (she/her)
Berlinworkwithcarolyn.comJoined March 2017

Carolyn Stranskyโ€™s Tweets

Do you ever take a break from tech and then realize that most of what we do doesn't fucking matter or am I just dangerously close to burning out?
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Does anyone else also read 3-4 different books at once and alternate between them depending on your attention span and mood? ๐Ÿ“š๐Ÿ™†๐Ÿผโ€โ™€๏ธ
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Published my first NPM package EVER ๐Ÿ‘ฉโ€๐Ÿ’ป๐Ÿš€๐Ÿค™๐Ÿ’ƒ It's teeny tiny and not useful for anyone but my company but I DID IT and it feels oddly satisfying to `npm install` your own package.
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Lmao at the amount of men in my DMs since GraphQL Summit telling me how much better Iโ€™d look without tattoos ๐Ÿ™ƒ not really the point of the panel my dudes
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Signed, sealed, delivered - your girl is no longer a junior dev! (on paper at least) ๐Ÿ‘ฉโ€๐Ÿ’ปโœŠ๐Ÿพ๐Ÿ–ค๐ŸŽ‰๐ŸŽ‰๐ŸŽ‰๐Ÿ’…๐Ÿผโœจ
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Not normally one to jump on coding discourse, but itโ€™s wild how many replies think choosing โ€œambiguous sectionsโ€ over semantic HTML is a vibe or personality trait and not justโ€ฆ bad web development ๐Ÿฅด
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Which type of developer are you? ๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿ’ป๐Ÿ‘ฉโ€๐Ÿ’ป
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Signed a contract today for a job that starts in December and honestly Iโ€™m so relieved. Thanks to everyone who reached out, passed along my CV, etc. I appreciate it โค๏ธ Iโ€™ll probably blog about my job hunt but for now, Iโ€™m unpinning my original tweet and taking a day off ๐Ÿ“Œ๐Ÿ‘€๐Ÿฅ‚
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Alright I can officially confirm that starting your second engineering job is way more scary than your first (sorry junior devs) Letโ€™s see how this goes! ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿ’ซ๐ŸŒฑ๐Ÿ‘ฉโ€๐Ÿ’ป
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I always lose a bunch of followers when I do threads on something sex-specific and I just imagine all of the javascript dudes who follow me after a react conf or whatever and then feel scandalized ๐Ÿ˜†
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One surprising part of this salary convo is that people have stock options/equity that actually makes them money?! Iโ€™ve been working in startups too long because when I see โ€œ500 sharesโ€ it might as well say 500 dreams or 500 nice thoughts ๐Ÿ˜†
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Iโ€™m going to get hundreds of these stickers and wear them to every tech event so dudes stop assuming Iโ€™m โ€œnot technicalโ€
A sticker that says โ€œI write code so I know stuffโ€
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Starting today, Iโ€™m officially full-time remote โœจ๐Ÿ‘ฉโ€๐Ÿ’ป๐ŸŒ๐ŸŽ‰ Can I put โ€œdigital nomad child of the worldโ€ as the title of my CV yet?
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Todayโ€™s my birthday ๐Ÿฐ Being 27 largely sucked for various reasons so thatโ€™s why today Iโ€™m shamelessly asking for compliments to start my 28th year thank yooou โค๏ธ
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The biggest lie I was told when I first started coding was that I needed a personal website/portfolio to get a job. So I really like that added this disclaimer to her talk about building portfolios with Gatsby ๐Ÿ’œ #GraphQLDay
Emma presenting a slide that reads โ€œA portfolio is not a necessity.โ€
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This article is pretty accurate to my experience with and knowledge of engineering salaries in Berlin as well. ๐Ÿ”Ž TLDR ๐Ÿ” Junior: 40 to 50k Euro Mid: 50 to 70k Euro Senior: 70 to 85k Euro Managers: 85 to 110k Euro ...with about a 5k buffer more or less.
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Some Berlin software engineer salary info medium.com/@DroidAlexandr
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For this yearโ€™s #Hacktoberfest, I want to focus on eliminating isolating words like โ€œsimpleโ€ and โ€œeasyโ€ and any variation from open source docs. If you run into any instances, please send them my way! ๐ŸŽƒ๐Ÿ’ปโœ๏ธ
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Frontend devs: What are some tools/technologies/buzzwords that people describe as โ€œsimpleโ€ or โ€œeasy to pick upโ€ but you just... donโ€™t get? My DMs are also open if you want to privately tell me the things you pretend to know ๐Ÿ’Œ
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Having one of those days where being a woman in tech is really fucking difficult. I'd love to hear some inspiring stories of women succeeding or see some cute animal photos pls & thank you ๐Ÿ’–
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So I work remote and I just met a couple of my colleagues for the first time and I was so nervous???? It was like a sort of weird professional first date? Except where I was two glasses of wine ahead? Yikes ๐Ÿ˜‚
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First time at the new Berlin airport and holy shit this is like... a real ass airport with actual seating at the gates I wasnโ€™t ready
Actual checkin desks.
Empty seats at the gate like a normal airport.
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Iโ€™m currently playing a game about the Berlin airport that was supposed to open in 2011 but never did. The goal is โ€œto spend as much tax payer money as possibleโ€ ๐Ÿ˜‚ #flughafenspiel
Photo of the game board, shaped like an airport with chips and playing cards.
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Any other women in tech out there feel this intense pressure to be THE MOST TECHNICAL and dedicate your work to being an expert, etc - even though coding 100% of the time sounds boring and you feel like you could make a more meaningful impact doing things beyond producing code???
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It bothers me how people talk about being a junior developer like itโ€™s something to be ashamed of. Being a junior has its challenges, but it also encourages growth and needs more representation. Juniors have a perspective that deserves to be heard, stop telling us to โ€œhideโ€ it.
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Itโ€™s wild to be back at a JavaScript conference because Iโ€™m soโ€ฆ out of the loop. Wtf is remix? Is Svelte still a thing? Why are these perfectly reasonable looking components code crimes? Where is everyone even working now? Iโ€™m like 3 jobs behind.
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I find it funny how many people think my years in tech before becoming a developer โ€œdonโ€™t countโ€ ๐Ÿ™„ What they fail to realize is that Iโ€™ve found success as a dev *because of* those other years of experience. Learning to code is only part of the job.
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Only one person at this conf noticed my nails so now turning to twitter for validation hello โœจ๐Ÿ’œ
My hand showing off long acrylic nails that are dark purple with sparkles on the tips.
Another view of my nails.
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Confession of a remote worker: I actually miss commuting? Took the train for the first time in forever today and I was able to listen to a podcast, meditate, watch whatโ€™s going on outside and collect myself a bit before my meeting. Felt good ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™€๏ธ
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Two different people referred me as an โ€œevents managerโ€ today at my own JavaScript meetup so I just want to set the record straight that I am - in fact and against all odds - a software developer ๐Ÿ˜ฒ๐Ÿ™„
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โœจ๐Ÿ“ขโœจ Iโ€™m now an open source engineer at @MeeshkanML - a smol, Finnish machine learning company. To start, Iโ€™ll be maintaining, building features and writing docs for their Unmock repos - orrr whatever else comes up because there are only 4 of us ๐Ÿ˜… ๐Ÿ”— github.com/unmock
A silver plaque with the meeshkan logo on it.
The same plague but now Iโ€™m using it to take a mirror selfie.
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For the first time in my tech conference history, no one has assumed Iโ€™m not technical and instead, 3 people have mistaken me for senior. Should I move to Finland????
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Year one as a developer: DONE โœ…๐Ÿฅ‚๐ŸŽ‰
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A big (and donut-worthy) day! Iโ€™ve joined the @Blacklane team as a frontend developer ๐Ÿ‘ฉ๐Ÿปโ€๐Ÿ’ป๐ŸŽŠ๐Ÿฉ If anyone has tips for surviving your first engineering role, please send them my way ๐Ÿค“
Desk in the Blacklane office with company notebook and tote bag
A cream-filled donut with pistachios on top
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If you think communicating technical topics is just as important as writing code, start paying technical writers as much as you pay developers ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ’ฏ๐Ÿ“ข
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I've received so much love and support since my talk, I'm actually a bit overwhelmed (in the best way) , you're a wonderful crowd ๐Ÿฅฐ๐Ÿ–๏ธ๐Ÿฅ‚๐Ÿ’ป Not sure if these are useful, but here's a link to the slides just in case! #reactindia #reactindia2019
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My first keynote y'all ๐Ÿ™Œ๐Ÿ—๏ธ๐Ÿ™Š Is this finally my opportunity to talk about crying at work on stage??!
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โ€œThe way you do anything is the way you do everythingโ€ @carolstran โ€“ upfront we asked your #jskongress keynote speaker some questions, read on buff.ly/2luvHpw
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Please admire my latest body art (and first cover up - before on right, after on left) ๐Ÿ๐ŸŒน by Bobby Anders at Sticks & Stones Tattoo in Berlin
On the left is a photo of a brand new serpent with leaves and roses that goes through the middle of my back and left shoulder. On the right is the original sad small faded serpent that is only in the middle.
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Deleted my salary tweet because I donโ€™t want to forget and have it used against me later in future negotiations (sad reality we live in) - but donโ€™t mind sharing my ๐Ÿซโณ๐Ÿท๐ŸŒ๐Ÿ’ธ via DM. Iโ€™ll also drop this here re: Berlin engineering salaries โฌ‡๏ธ
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This article is pretty accurate to my experience with and knowledge of engineering salaries in Berlin as well. ๐Ÿ”Ž TLDR ๐Ÿ” Junior: 40 to 50k Euro Mid: 50 to 70k Euro Senior: 70 to 85k Euro Managers: 85 to 110k Euro ...with about a 5k buffer more or less. twitter.com/ambrwlsn90/staโ€ฆ
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Apparently posting a selfie with your setup is a thing this year? So hereโ€™s mine, with all the essentials: ๐Ÿ’„โ˜•๏ธ๐ŸŒน๐Ÿ–ฅ๐Ÿฅค๐ŸŽ™๐Ÿ’ป๐Ÿฆ€๐Ÿ–Š (in that order) Excited to be your MC the next two days #writethedocs ๐Ÿ˜
My messy desk with coffee, a microphone, monitor, water bottle, lipstick, laptop, flowers and MORE.
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Itโ€™s my one-year anniversary of working fully remote ๐Ÿ‘ฉโ€๐Ÿ’ป๐ŸŽ‰ If you have any questions about remote life beyond corona times, AMA.
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Have I mentioned that I went out the other night? Like out out?? Ate at a restaurant? And drank at a bar? Basically had a โ€˜normalโ€™ night??? It was wild hereโ€™s proof
Me sitting at a restaurant holding a menu.
A rooftop bar with a view of the TV tower in Berlin.
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Itโ€™s my one year anniversary of getting fired in the middle of a global pandemic ๐Ÿ™ƒ But while that absolutely sucked shit, it turned out to be a net positive! I participated in Google Season of Docs, my day job finally fits my lifestyle, Iโ€™m writing regularly again. Iโ€™m happy ๐Ÿฅฐ
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Replying to
Also... Iโ€™ll never understand what these trolls expect to happen when they send messages like this?? Like Iโ€™m over 1/3 of the way through a sleeve but now that YOU random man on twitter told me you donโ€™t like it, Iโ€™ll spend thousands to get them removed??? Wut
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Looking at your CV and realizing over half of the companies no longer exist is such a weird, wild, grim part of working for startups ๐Ÿฅด
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Learned this morning that my bf has been putting the thermometer that I always put in my mouth IN HIS ARMPIT. Truly horrifying quarantine discovery ๐Ÿ˜Ÿ
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Todayโ€™s my birthday ๐Ÿ‘‘ So here are some of my favorite, unpublished toilet selfies from the past month that you all must enthusiastically enjoy! Then later Karneval photos ๐ŸŽˆ
Mirror selfie where Iโ€™m in an artsy geometric toilet.
Mirror selfie where Iโ€™m wearing a crop top and purple lipstick.
Mirror selfie in a tiny round mirror in a room with orange lighting.
Mirror selfie mostly featuring a black toilet.
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I got COVID and missed the actual dates, so girlfriend and I decided to do a little delayed christmas/nye fusion this weekend ๐Ÿฅฐ Feeling especially grateful because arguably the best thing to happen to me in 2021 was her.
Mirror selfie showing off our matching Christmas pajamas.
A meat and cheese platter on a pig-shaped cutting board.
NYE themed donuts from the popular vegan Berlin shop.
The view from our couch that shows A Muppet Christmas Carol on the TV. You can also see our tree and some gifts on the table.
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For the record the GraphQL Summit team is so lovely and strongly enforces the Code of Conduct so nothing but praise from me on that ๐Ÿฅฐ This happens any time I give a talk with my tattoos visible and itโ€™s annoying so this time I complained about it out loud here ๐Ÿ˜†
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Have I ranted on this website about how much I hate the term โ€œsoftโ€ as a descriptor for any skill or content topic that isnโ€™t just writing code? Because I do
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A funny thing about openly tweeting about sex and sex tech is that people tend to assume that you have zero issues or sexual trauma. Spoiler alert: I have plenty! I have a very complicated relationship with sex! Thatโ€™s actually why Iโ€™m interested in these topics.
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๐Ÿ™‹โ€โ™€๏ธ Anyone else always work on two tasks at the same time - one thatโ€™s hard and one that you know you can do so you can use it to feel good about yourself when the hard one is too hard?
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First thing: My permanent residency was approved today ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ชโœจ After 7 years in Germany, a career change, 5 different visas (each with their own weird wild issues) and an uncertain summer leading up to it - this is honestly such a relief. Feeling exhausted but also very proud ๐Ÿฅฒ
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We have a tendency to only share good news here so I want to be open about something different. As some of you know, I applied for a Mozilla Fellowship focused on machine learning, journalism and ethics. I made it far in the process but... I didnโ€™t get it.
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Working for an early-stage startup is always hard, but Iโ€™m finding it especially difficult the last few weeks. Everything is still go go go and meanwhile, Iโ€™m barely able to get out bed some days ๐Ÿ™ƒ If anyone else feels like theyโ€™re struggling, youโ€™re definitely not alone.
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Itโ€™s 4 AM in Berlin and I just got home - not from clubbing or karaoke, but from playing video games at a friends place ๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿ’ฅ Next step is to find someone to play D&D with ๐Ÿ˜†
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Wrote my first unit test today! ๐Ÿ™Œ๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ–ฅ๐Ÿ’–๐Ÿ•ต๐Ÿปโ€โ™€๏ธ๐Ÿพ๐Ÿฅ‚๐ŸŽ‰ Small victory, but Iโ€™m excited about it ๐Ÿ˜… #codenewbie
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