Welcome to my blog. This first post summarizes my background and the purpose of this project.

About Me

My name is Nep Orshiso and I’m from Kansas City, MO. I’m an Ethiopian-American and I’ve lived in the Midwest most of my life. I have a B.S. in Finance and Marketing and a minor in Economics from Truman State University.

I moved to Atlanta, GA in August 2019 to join the DigitalCrafts Full-Time Immersive Program to make the transition into software development. Previously, I worked at a large retirement services provider as a junior manager in their call center.

Interests

Technology, Personal Finance, Economics, and Politics are subjects that interest me. I’m particularly interested in the intersection of technology and finance. I’d like to explore a few data analysis Python libraries and the Flask framework. Regarding JavaScript, React and Vue are two frameworks I’d like to learn more about.

I’m also a big fan of podcasts. They make commuting and exercise bearable.

My Favorite Podcasts:

• NPR: Planet Money & The Indicator
• Freakonomics
• Animal Spirits
• FiveThirtyEight

I like football and soccer. I’m a fan of the Kansas City Chiefs and also support Arsenal in the English Premier League.

Tech Background & Choosing DigitalCrafts

Motavera

At Truman, I co-founded a startup called Motavera. The idea arose due to experiencing a snow storm during a spring career fair that caused several companies to not show up. The goal was to create an online platform that made it easy for students and recruiters to connect over entry-level and internship opportunities.

I was on track to go straight into the Fortune 500 post graduation and never saw myself getting involved in a startup but life threw me a curveball and I took the opportunity.

It was a fun experience and I learned a lot. I may write a post on how that company was started and some of the lessons learned from its failure.

Python at Truman

I took a Python class at Truman which helped establish a base foundation for my DigitalCrafts experience. Python was fun and offered me a different type of challenge than the business classes I was taking.

Choosing DigitalCrafts

I wanted to move to Atlanta and work in tech. I wanted to learn technical skills full-time in a classroom setting with an instructor and other students. DigitalCrafts is highly-rated and the reviews from previous students, its employment placement data, and interacting with leadership during the interview process convinced me that the program aligned with my goals.

Purpose of the Blog

The “why” behind this blog…

• Document personal projects
• Research and communicate technical topics
• Practice writing and communicating ideas
• Play around with React & Gatsby (this blog is a React app)

Alright, I’ll end it here. I have a few ideas for my next post and hope to get that up sometime this month.