Today, my guest is Cassandra Wilcox, who goes by Cassie. She is the CEO at Code Hangar, a software development company here in Orlando. She is also really active in the community and is involved in multiple organizations like Girls Who Code and Girl Develop It. Cassie founded the Orlando Lady Developers group (LadyDevs) to connect women in the Orlando tech community.

1) Good customer acquisition helps Code Hangar’s success as a company.

When Cassie started Code Hangar with her co-founder, they would take whatever work that would come their way. However, as the business grew, they became more focused on what work they wanted to concentrate on and who their customers would be.

Now they specialize in software app development and have even focused on one code language: React. They know they can be more successful if they lean into one skill set and practice it really well.

Because they’ve been clear on who their customers are and what they are doing as a business, they’re able to connect other businesses and refer clients to different places when the business fit isn’t quite right for them. That helps them build a healthy network within their industry.

At Code Hangar, Cassie and the team spend a lot of time vetting the right clients for their business. She knows this step is a very crucial first step for long term success on a project. She wants to ensure they work with companies that Code Hangar can provide value to. Through trial and error, they have learned not everyone who wants an app developed is ready for that step in their business.

Cassie says that for anyone looking to hire an app development company, they should go through the same steps on their end. “Hiring developers is scary. It’s difficult. Anyone who’s out there trying to hire either a team or an in-house developer, take it really slowly. There are things you should expect from a software development company.”

App development can take anywhere from several months to a year, so it’s really important to feel comfortable with the company or people you’re working with.

2) Code Hangar adds value for their clients through process development and implementation.

“I really love product development and helping new businesses develop their software project.”

Part of the app development process involves helping companies put tried-and-true methods and procedures into place to help the company flow better. Not only does this improve Code Hangar’s productivity, but it helps them service clients on a higher level.

“That way, the next person can come in and replicate and improve upon the process,” Cassie said.

Processes are also important because they allow Code Hangar to help their clients build better software apps.

“Your software product is a living thing. You’re going to build it. You’re going to get feedback. People are going to like some things, they’re not going to like some things. Then you constantly need to be iterating. Constantly be delivering new features to provide value to your customers. Because their needs are going to change, or they might just get bored with you,” Cassie says.

“You don’t have to build the whole thing before you release it. You should build something small and release it. Then come up with a feature release schedule to keep your users engaged and feel happy.”

3) Cassie has grown her career in code through building skills on the job.

Growing up, Cassie thought she would work in a professional field like medicine or law. However, she learned Adobe Photoshop in high school, and from there she was hooked on this combination of art and the digital world. Instead of stressing her out like other subjects she excelled in, this class was a total stress reliever, and she sought out ways to practice it more.

After she graduated high school, Cassie landed a graphic design job at a local marketing company. Because the market was shifting from paper products to digital marketing, the company asked her to help with web design in addition to graphic design.

Website work got Cassie interested in web development, so she explored how to develop on her own. She started writing code on her MySpace page like many other young developers at the time.

Because her dad always encouraged her to be entrepreneurial, she decided to market her skills on Craigslist. “Some of it was weird work,” she told me, “but I really enjoyed working with people. You start building up your relationships, and you build up your skills.”

As Cassie worked for different customers and tried out new projects, her web development skills improved.

Eventually, she transitioned to working for an agency that focused on website work. There, she struggled to defend her artist work because of a lack of formal education behind design theory. She decided to make a change.

“I wanted to focus more on code than on design because it’s more mathematic, and it either works or it doesn’t. There’s less judgement calls there, and it was easier for me,” Cassie said.

She transitioned into focusing solely on code, which led her towards the path of opening Code Hangar years later.

4) Know your boundaries, and set them.

The tech industry is still very male-dominated. While Cassie has not experienced discrimination and sexism other women might face in the industry, she recognizes she has to be very clear with her boundaries – to herself and the people she works with. This is especially important when some of the men she works with act inappropriately.

Cassie felt timid early in her career, but she’s grown more confident in standing up for her boundaries over time. Now, when Cassie encounters inappropriate behavior, she makes sure to shut it down immediately.

“Sometimes inappropriate people don’t know how inappropriate they’re being,” Cassie said. “[However,] you don’t want to assume bad intention. You always want to assume good intention. You also need to be clear with yourself what your boundaries are and make that clear to someone else without accusing them of evil.”

Cassie also has a great support network she can talk to when she needs to process why she felt uncomfortable by an interaction. “As a woman, you need friends you trust to say, ‘Hey, this happened, am I crazy or not?’” she said.

When it comes to inappropriate behavior, Cassie acknowledges that each person has to decide for herself where she stands on an issue and how she will handle it.

5) There are a lot of organizations in Orlando for Women in Tech.

While Cassie found a way to surround herself with awesome people to collaborate with, she still found it kind of isolating to be the only woman in the room sometimes. She wanted to find a way to connect with more women developers in Orlando.

The first organization she volunteered for was Girls Who Code, a program that helps middle and high school girls learn to code. Working with young girls there, Cassie saw for the first time a whole room of female coders. “It was a completely different environment than I had experienced,” she said.

She immediately craved more and wanted to do the same for career-aged women.

That summer, she started Orlando Lady Developers so she could meet more women in the career field she was in.

Through this program, Cassie engaged in broader conversations about feminism because they just weren’t talking about it in the male-dominated spaces she was currently working in.

“The focus [of Orlando Lady Developers] was identifying women who were software developers or were interested in software development, providing a space for everyone to get together, and providing a platform for women to speak about technical topics in a comfortable space, and just work together.”

Orlando Lady Developers has now been running for 2 years.

More recently, Cassie has helped start a local chapter of Girl Develop It, a national program that provides affordable classes in web and software development for adult women.

All of these female-focused organizations Cassie has been a part of have opened the door to a lot of feminist discussions she wasn’t having previously. It also opened her eyes to problems she hasn’t directly faced in her own career that others have.

Before some of these discussions, Cassie often fell into the trap of wondering why it was so hard if she was able to achieve something without much pushback about her gender.

“I had to understand that there were a lot of people out there that don’t get the same support that I do, and by saying, ‘What’s wrong with everyone else,’ I’m not helping. So I need to extend the privilege that I have to others that don’t have that same privilege,” she told me.

“The more different kinds of people you surround yourself with in business and in life, the better you can grasp the reality of the world.”

About Cassandra Wilcox

Cassandra is the CEO at Code Hangar, a software development and consulting company that specializes in helping startups design, build, and launch amazing web and mobile experiences. She shares her passion for software development as a Girls Who Code Instructor, Founder of the Orlando Lady Developers Group, and Founding Chapter Leader of Girl Develop It Orlando. When she’s not writing or teaching code she likes to hang our with her Siberian Husky and play guitar.

Links from the Show

Follow Cassandra on Twitter
Visit the Code Hangar Website
Visit the Girls Who Code Website
Visit the Girl Develop It Website
Visit the Orlando Lady Developers Website
Visit the Orlando Devs GitHub
Chat with the community on the Orlando Devs Slack

The post Rocking Code as A Lady Developer with Cassandra Wilcox – Episode #53 appeared first on Orlando Lady Boss.