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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
🌱👩🏼‍💻 Reluctant software engineer 💘 Eternal crybaby 🗞 Journo writing about sex and tech 🍑🔌🏳️‍🌈 (she/her)
Berlinworkwithcarolyn.comJoined March 2017
368 Following
11.1K Followers

Carolyn Stransky’s Tweets

Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
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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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
Does anyone else also read 3-4 different books at once and alternate between them depending on your attention span and mood? 📚🙆🏼‍♀️
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
Published my first NPM package EVER 👩‍💻🚀🤙💃 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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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
Lmao at the amount of men in my DMs since GraphQL Summit telling me how much better I’d look without tattoos 🙃 not really the point of the panel my dudes
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
Not normally one to jump on coding discourse, but it’s wild how many replies think choosing “ambiguous sections” over semantic HTML is a vibe or personality trait and not just… bad web development 🥴
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Madza 👨‍💻⚡
@madzadev
Which type of developer are you? 👨‍💻👩‍💻
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
Signed a contract today for a job that starts in December and honestly I’m so relieved. Thanks to everyone who reached out, passed along my CV, etc. I appreciate it ❤️ I’ll probably blog about my job hunt but for now, I’m unpinning my original tweet and taking a day off 📌👀🥂
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
Alright I can officially confirm that starting your second engineering job is way more scary than your first (sorry junior devs) Let’s see how this goes! 🙏💫🌱👩‍💻
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
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 😆
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
One surprising part of this salary convo is that people have stock options/equity that actually makes them money?! I’ve been working in startups too long because when I see “500 shares” it might as well say 500 dreams or 500 nice thoughts 😆
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
I’m going to get hundreds of these stickers and wear them to every tech event so dudes stop assuming I’m “not technical”
A sticker that says “I write code so I know stuff”
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
Starting today, I’m officially full-time remote ✨👩‍💻🌐🎉 Can I put “digital nomad child of the world” as the title of my CV yet?
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
Today’s my birthday 🍰 Being 27 largely sucked for various reasons so that’s why today I’m shamelessly asking for compliments to start my 28th year thank yooou ❤️
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
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
@EmmaWedekind
added this disclaimer to her talk about building portfolios with Gatsby 💜 #GraphQLDay
Emma presenting a slide that reads “A portfolio is not a necessity.”
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
This article is pretty accurate to my experience with and knowledge of engineering salaries in Berlin as well. 🔎 TLDR 🔍 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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@ambrwlsn@indieweb.social
@ambrwlsn90
Some Berlin software engineer salary info medium.com/@DroidAlexandr
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
For this year’s #Hacktoberfest, I want to focus on eliminating isolating words like “simple” and “easy” and any variation from open source docs. If you run into any instances, please send them my way! 🎃💻✍️
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
Frontend devs: What are some tools/technologies/buzzwords that people describe as “simple” or “easy to pick up” but you just... don’t get? My DMs are also open if you want to privately tell me the things you pretend to know 💌
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
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 💖
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
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 😂
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
First time at the new Berlin airport and holy shit this is like... a real ass airport with actual seating at the gates I wasn’t ready
Actual checkin desks.
Empty seats at the gate like a normal airport.
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
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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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
It bothers me how people talk about being a junior developer like it’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 “hide” it.
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
It’s wild to be back at a JavaScript conference because I’m so… 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? I’m like 3 jobs behind.
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
I find it funny how many people think my years in tech before becoming a developer “don’t count” 🙄 What they fail to realize is that I’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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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
Only one person at this conf noticed my nails so now turning to twitter for validation hello ✨💜
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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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
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 what’s going on outside and collect myself a bit before my meeting. Felt good 🤷‍♀️
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
Two different people referred me as an “events manager” 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 😲🙄
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
✨📢✨ I’m now an open source engineer at @MeeshkanML - a smol, Finnish machine learning company. To start, I’ll be maintaining, building features and writing docs for their Unmock repos - orrr whatever else comes up because there are only 4 of us 😅 🔗 github.com/unmock
A silver plaque with the meeshkan logo on it.
The same plague but now I’m using it to take a mirror selfie.
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
For the first time in my tech conference history, no one has assumed I’m not technical and instead, 3 people have mistaken me for senior. Should I move to Finland????
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
If you think communicating technical topics is just as important as writing code, start paying technical writers as much as you pay developers 👏👏💯📢
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
I've received so much love and support since my talk, I'm actually a bit overwhelmed (in the best way)
@react_india
, you're a wonderful crowd 🥰🏖️🥂💻 Not sure if these are useful, but here's a link to the slides just in case! #reactindia #reactindia2019
speakerdeck.com
"Intuitive" Tooling
A talk focused on how everything in the frontend world isn't "easy" and how we can learn to teach with empathy. Current deck from: React India Recording: bit.ly/tooling-finland
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
My first keynote y'all 🙌🗝️🙊 Is this finally my opportunity to talk about crying at work on stage??!
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JSKongress
@JSKongress
“The way you do anything is the way you do everything” @carolstran – upfront we asked your #jskongress keynote speaker some questions, read on buff.ly/2luvHpw
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
Please admire my latest body art (and first cover up - before on right, after on left) 🐍🌹 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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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
Deleted my salary tweet because I don’t want to forget and have it used against me later in future negotiations (sad reality we live in) - but don’t mind sharing my 🏫⏳🏷🌍💸 via DM. I’ll also drop this here re: Berlin engineering salaries ⬇️
Quote Tweet
Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
This article is pretty accurate to my experience with and knowledge of engineering salaries in Berlin as well. 🔎 TLDR 🔍 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/sta…
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
Apparently posting a selfie with your setup is a thing this year? So here’s mine, with all the essentials: 💄☕️🌹🖥🥤🎙💻🦀🖊 (in that order) Excited to be your MC the next two days #writethedocs 😍
My messy desk with coffee, a microphone, monitor, water bottle, lipstick, laptop, flowers and MORE.
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
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 ‘normal’ night??? It was wild here’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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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
It’s my one year anniversary of getting fired in the middle of a global pandemic 🙃 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, I’m writing regularly again. I’m happy 🥰
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
Replying to
@carolstran
Also... I’ll never understand what these trolls expect to happen when they send messages like this?? Like I’m over 1/3 of the way through a sleeve but now that YOU random man on twitter told me you don’t like it, I’ll spend thousands to get them removed??? Wut
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
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 😟
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
Today’s my birthday 👑 So here are some of my favorite, unpublished toilet selfies from the past month that you all must enthusiastically enjoy! Then later Karneval photos 🎈
Mirror selfie where I’m in an artsy geometric toilet.
Mirror selfie where I’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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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
I got COVID and missed the actual dates, so girlfriend and I decided to do a little delayed christmas/nye fusion this weekend 🥰 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.
shelley
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
Replying to
@carolstran
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 🥰 This happens any time I give a talk with my tattoos visible and it’s annoying so this time I complained about it out loud here 😆
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
Have I ranted on this website about how much I hate the term “soft” as a descriptor for any skill or content topic that isn’t just writing code? Because I do
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
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! That’s actually why I’m interested in these topics.
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
🙋‍♀️ Anyone else always work on two tasks at the same time - one that’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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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
Replying to
@carolstran
First thing: My permanent residency was approved today 🇩🇪✨ 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 🥲
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
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 didn’t get it.
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
Working for an early-stage startup is always hard, but I’m finding it especially difficult the last few weeks. Everything is still go go go and meanwhile, I’m barely able to get out bed some days 🙃 If anyone else feels like they’re struggling, you’re definitely not alone.
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Carolyn Stransky
@carolstran
It’s 4 AM in Berlin and I just got home - not from clubbing or karaoke, but from playing video games at a friends place 🎮💥 Next step is to find someone to play D&D with 😆
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