Trying to decide if you should attend a Coding & Cocktails event? We think you should; but for a more unbiased opinion, we offer an attendee’s experience to sweeten the pot. Thank you Patrina for your candor!

My first experience with Coding and Cocktails was nothing like I expected.

Instead of a group of female tech experts, I encountered a diverse group of females sharing curiosity and enthusiasm about tech. Of course, some were more seasoned than others but I could not tell you who was an expert and who was not.

The thing is, coding is a skill that allows you to investigate. You can try HTML/CSS, Java, Python whatever. It can be a hobby or a new source of income. If you find yourself happy and comfortable with a certain program or programming language, then that can be your niche. If you run into problems (YES, you certainly will!), someone there has encountered the same problem, or is happy to lead you in the right direction.

What I liked best is the overall sense of camaraderie and commitment to sharing information and ideas. Did I learn how to create a website in four hours with minimal coding experience? Nope, I learned how to identify and solve a problem using different solutions to get a similar result, and I loved it. You can’t call me insane, (“insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results_ Rita Mae Brown) I just enjoy learning anything new, and stepping out of my comfort zone to do it.

For anyone who is curious about coding, and some amazing cocktails come to the next session in February. You can bring a laptop or borrow one it’s no problem, but please leave your expectations behind.