Melanie Garvey is a Coding & Cocktails alumni who just wrapped up her associate’s degree in web development at Johnson County Community College. Just before graduation, she was offered a role as an integration engineer at Mylo, a division of Lockton Insurance.  

KCWiT: Melanie, tell us about Mylo. What do they do?

Melanie:  Mylo provides consumers with the market’s most competitive and customized insurance quotes.  Our digital approach makes the process of purchasing the correct insurance policies more efficient so each consumer can feel confident that what matters most to them is covered.

KCWiT: What do you do as an integration engineer? How is that different from web development?

Melanie:  The role of Integration Engineer serves as a technical liaison between our internal teams and clients.  As apart of the engineering team I do actively write both front-end and back-end code like any other web developer.  However, it is also my responsibility to accurately represent our capabilities and gather the information needed in order to find the best technical solution for our clients.

KCWiT:  What would you like to tell other KCWiT members about interviewing for your first technical role?

Melanie: It was intimidating but I was able to put the nerves aside, be myself and use my studies/knowledge to answer the questions to the best of my ability.

KCWiT: What led you to pursue your web development certificate?

Melanie:  There are many reasons that led me to go back to school to get an Associates in Web Development from JCCC.  I have a liberal arts and marketing background so I always thought that a career in tech was out of the question of me.  However, I discovered code while writing a blog that I started as a creative outlet & found myself wanting for find out more.  KCWiT’s Coding & Cocktails surfaced in my search & after attending a couple of classes I was hooked. KCWiT made the idea of taking this hobby and turning it into a career not seem so far-fetched & out of my reach.

KCWiT:  Have your experiences with KCWiT helped you professionally? If so, how?

Melanie:  Yes! More than anything KCWiT helped me come out of my shell.  I became not so intimidated by tech because I realized that people in tech actually come from all kinds of academic and professional backgrounds.

KCWiT: Now that you have graduated, what is the next thing you are looking forward to?

I’m looking forward to continue to learn as much as possible and studying the science of web development.  Code is all around us so having insight into how that technology works is a powerful skill.

You can connect with Melanie at https://www.linkedin.com/in/melanie-garvey/ or give her a shout out on Slack!