Dana McMullen
Dana currently serves as a Website Accessibility Specialist at SIDEARM Sports. Prior to that, she was a Program Manager, Website Accessibility Instructor, & Teaching Assistant for Careers in Code. She is a proud graduate of the first cohort of the Careers in Code in Code. In August 2019 she graduated from the program as a full-stack web developer. Prior to that, most of her technology career was spent at Syracuse University and Onondaga Community College from 2002–2009 as an Assistive Technology Specialist. She was tasked with helping college students with disabilities learn to use specialized technology to help them with reading, writing, and using the internet.
During this time, she also worked as a private technology vendor for the NYS Commission for the Blind as a JAWS Technology Instructor. She is certified to teach and support JAWS (Job Access with Speech), a text to speech screen reading software for individuals whose vision loss prevents them from seeing screen content or navigating with a mouse.
Most recently, she helped Hack Upstate launch their first ever virtual/remote hackathon, and as program manager for Careers in Code, she helped with planning and launching its first virtual coding and programming bootcamp.
She is most excited to see more employers embrace the concept of workers working from home as a result of the pandemic. She is also excited to see the increase in the number of remote learning opportunities available that are free or low-cost.
Outside of work, she likes to spend time with family, rollerskate, ride a bike, read, take online courses to learn more about programming, and watch Marvel movies.
In her own words:
"Some years ago, I left a career in Assistive Technology to care for a sick loved one. When I tried to return to my former profession, so much had changed that I wasn’t able to return to the same position with the same type of pay. As a result, I started attending meetups to expose myself to free learning opportunities and to help me make connections while I tried to figure out my next career move. I found out about Careers in Code because I thought it was another one-day meetup, and so I signed up for it. Jesse Peplinski, program founder, called and made me aware that it was a 24-week bootcamp. After talking with him and understanding the full commitment of what would be required, I decided to apply. Fortunately I was accepted and my career in tech has really taken off. I haven’t looked back since then!"
