Claire Tregunna

Hi, I'm Claire!

I live in the United Kingdom in a little county called Herefordshire. I was born in Bath and spent the first 30+ years of my life living in the South West of England before a job opportunity for my wife brought us to the Midlands.

I enjoy coding using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript (when my brain is functioning), alongside learning the piano and generally doing everything my dog or 2 cats demand of me.

I have a good old-fashioned college education. In fact, I have been to college twice due to a change in career direction. I have never been overly academic, preferring more practical-based learning. I had dreams of many jobs when I was little, from a firefighter (no-go due to fear of heights) to a vet (no-go due to being rubbish at science). I was always drawn more to practical learning; I like to build or devise something as I learn, and I get a finished product at the end of it.

I trained as a chef when I left school, very much enjoying the practical learning of creating recipes and plates of food. However, for various reasons, I left the sector and moved into animal care. From there, I have cared for and found homes for hundreds of cats and dogs while managing an animal rescue shelter.

I can’t really remember what initially drew me to coding, but I do recall making a super basic page, "HELLO WORLD!", and then changing the fonts and background. I loved that I could do that, so I guess that's where it started.

My wife works in IT, so she was always able to support me and help me with understanding some concepts. She even turned me onto a Mac lover. . .who needs Windows, ha!

I find it fascinating what can be developed or built using coding and tech. A lot of it goes way over my head, but when I can see something on a screen, just made from HTML and CSS, it’s amazing, and I love that the technology continues to develop, allowing us to do so much more.

I don't remember how I first found Treehouse. I do remember I had been working on a CIW course, and it was rubbish. It included PERL, which I never understood.

I wish I had known about Treehouse before I took on that CIW course; it would have saved me time, money, and stress.

My first memory of Treehouse was around 2011/2012ish. I remember seeing a tweet offering a free membership for a period of time. I was unemployed at the time and wanted to learn more about coding. I was super lucky to be gifted one of the memberships, so went about working through the Treehouse Tracks and LOVED IT!

Work eventually got in the way, and I stopped my membership. But a number of years later, COVID hit, and I was fortunate enough to get six months' access to the Front End Web Development Techdegree. Those long, isolated days and nights were then filled with the Techdegree. I worked through the lockdowns, and the animals still needed caring for, but my lunch breaks and evenings were spent working through the videos and projects.

Treehouse has such a variety of learning, and the easy-to-follow videos, challenges, and practices are fantastic. The community is amazing, especially in the Techdegrees.

The Slack team (shoutout to Brian and Dustin, who helped me loads!) is awesome, and I still love being part of that community even after my Techdegree, getting to help other students when I get a chance.

JavaScript was always my nemesis; it still is sometimes. However, I look back at some of my TD projects and even sites I have built since, and I look at my code and think, "Wow, I wrote that!" And that is thanks to Treehouse (and a little Googling).

I don't work in tech, sadly. I am currently a fundraiser for a children's cancer charity here in the UK. However, a project I have at work is a platform we use to help families raise money in memory of a loved one, and my coding experience helps with this, which is great!

I don't mind not being in the tech industry. I enjoy my job, and I like the fulfillment of working in the charity sector. However, having the coding skills helps give me confidence in elements of my job, like the platform mentioned above, where no one else on my team has that.

Plus, I still go on Slack to help other Techdegree students, if and when I have the time, which is great. Not only because I get to keep coding, but it also helps me learn more and develop skills to teach others, which again, I can use in my job.

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