When it seems like everyone around you has worked in the same field for a really long time, making a career pivot with confidence can be tricky. But not everyone’s been coding since their early college days like Robbie and Chuck. Kara Luton started on track to become a professional ballerina. After college and a stint in music publicity, burnout prompted Kara to make a hard left and begin a career in tech.  With all the developer bootcamps and online resources now available, making the switch has never been more accessible. Not to mention, the skills Kara learned as a ballerina and a music publicist helped shape the developer she is today. From staying dedicated and detail-oriented, learning to write and learning from burnout, Kara wouldn’t change anything about her unconventional path to software. In this episode, Chuck and Robbie talk with Kara about her experience learning and relearning Ember, why she loves the Ember community, her advice for those looking to switch careers, Kara’s cool home office, and why every developer has something valuable to offer.  Key Takeaways [00:58] - A brief introduction to Kara.  [03:16] - A whiskey review.  [08:51] - Kara’s non-traditional path to tech.  [15:57] - Kara’s experience in a bootcamp and her thoughts on bootcamps as a developer launchpad. [17:34] - How Kara found Ember.  [23:10] - Kara’s advice for people looking to make a career pivot. [28:44] - Why Kara’s looking forward to contributing to open source projects.  [32:30] - How Kara’s home office setup has evolved.  [37:57] - Kara’s thoughts on NFTs.  [40:17] - Why Kara loves animals and a deep dive on her two pet dogs.  [47:48] - More of Kara’s hobbies outside of the web and a chat about Marvel movies.  [58:48] - A soccer and sports-themed whatnot.  Quotes [15:20] - “Ballet, it’s very detail-oriented and I feel like that’s something that’s really helped me in my career as a developer, like missing a semicolon or understanding the different syntaxes — it’s really helped me a lot. I’m really really grateful for my time doing ballet.” ~ Kara Luton [29:37] - “Contributing to the framework that you use will give you such good knowledge of it, even if it’s something small.” ~ Kara Luton [31:59] - “You never know if something you say, the way you phrase something, will just make it click for somebody in a way that they haven’t understood it before. I really really recommend people writing blog posts.” ~ Kara Luton Links Kara Luton CrowdStrike Glimmer.js Three Chord Bourbon Strange Collaboration Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery  Nashville Predators Joffrey Ballet School Summer Intensives Belmont University freeCodeCamp Codecademy  Ember.js Ryan Tablada Rock & Roll with Ember.JS Ember Octane Dev.to Ed Faulkner CodeNewbie Jessica Rose Alex Graul National Geographic Dependabot  Ember Learning Team The Ember Times  The Difference Between Regular Functions and Arrow Functions Introduction to CSS Grid: What You Should Know Kara’s work from home setup Yeti Blue Microphones Amazon Quartet Whiteboards Lume Cube The Frame TV Damien Hirst’s NFT Bored Ape Yacht Club Web3 is going just great Taras Mankovski  Whiskey Web and Whatnot: Alternatives to Relay, the GraphQL Stack, and Adulthood with Charles Lowell and Taras Mankovski Connect with our hosts Robbie Wagner Chuck Carpenter Ship Shape Subscribe and stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Whiskey Web and Whatnot Top-Tier, Full-Stack Software Consultants This show is brought to you by Ship Shape. Ship Shape’s software consultants solve complex software and app development problems with top-tier coding expertise, superior service, and speed. In a sea of choices, our senior-level development crew rises above the rest by delivering the best solutions for fintech, cybersecurity, and other fast-growing industries. Check us out at shipshape.io.