Caster Profile: Michael Tirona

Caster Profile: Michael Tirona

CodeCast is nothing without our incredible community, and our community wouldn’t exist without our creators. Today, we want to put one of those creators into the spotlight and find out a bit more about him. 

Michael Tirona is a recent bootcamp grad who has a knack for teaching and presenting. We’re thrilled that he’s making Casts, and his series on making a Linktree clone is definitely worth checking out. We recently had the pleasure of interviewing him and finding out a bit more about him and wanted to share that with all of you.


Q: What are you currently doing for work?

A: I’m a tour coordinator at Redfin. When potential buyers request to see homes, I work with the agents to get the tours for those homes booked!

Q: Oh awesome! What first inspired you to get into development?

A: I became interested in coding about a decade ago, but had a hard time getting started on my own. Then in 2020 before the pandemic, I decided I needed a career change, found out about coding bootcamps, and signed up for a web development bootcamp!

Q: Bootcamps are great. We’re a big fan of them here at CodeCast, with all our devs, including myself, having gone through them at some point. Where did you go and what else have you done (or are you currently doing) to learn to code?

A: I attended UCI’s Full stack web development bootcamp! On top of that, I’ve been using courses on Udemy to brush up on some things and learn new things!

Q: That’s sort of a trick question, isn’t it - since as developers we’re kind of always “learning” to code. It’s hard to ever feel “ready” to apply for jobs. What was your ‘yes’ moment when learning to code?

A: It happened when I realized I was starting to understand how to think and learn like a developer. JavaScript functions started making more sense as I became more aware of the different steps I’d need to consider. In a broader sense, my bootcamp experience helped me greatly. Having that structured environment helped a lot and it ultimately showed me that I can learn how to code! That’s going to carry me through my career. I know how to think like a coder now, so learning something new is just a matter of putting the work in.

Q: So, which aspect of development is the most exciting for you?

A: I love being able to meaningfully contribute to something. I’ve had plenty of jobs where I’m doing a ton of work, but it’s not building towards anything. With development, you’re building something. Even if it’s just a small part of a project or you built the whole thing by yourself, you’re making something people will use. 

Q: Is there a project you’re currently working on that you’re excited about?

A: I’ve been working primarily with front-end for a while, so I’ve got a full-stack app in mind that I’m excited to start!

Q: Are there languages that you enjoy working with more than others?

A: I know it’s technically not a language, but I love working with React. It’s just some JSX, but it’s satisfying building a project bit by bit and then being able to stack all those separate pieces together into one final product. In terms of an actual language, I’ve been learning Python and it’s been great! Easy to pick up after working with JavaScript.

Q: React and I are in a love-hate relationship, but I can definitely appreciate what you’re saying. What is your favorite thing that you’ve built to date?

A: I built a React site all about the Marvel Cinematic Universe! I did it primarily to practice, but I’m a huge Marvel fan, so it was a project I was passionate about and that made it easy to stay motivated. It helped that I was able to build something I’d want to see myself.

The marvel site he made, mcuandyou.com.

Q: A marvel fan! That ties right into our next question, so I appreciate the easy segue. What is your favorite thing to do in your free time?

A: I love watching movies and shows and playing video games. I just started watching “Succession” and I’m playing “Guardians of the Galaxy” right now.

Q: Nice! So cliche time - what is your go-to method to caffeinate yourself?

A: I’m easy, I love coffee. I have a fancy Keurig at home that can froth milk and do lattes, but I usually just make myself a hot coffee. Every once in a while if I’m feeling festive, I’ll bust out the flavored syrups and make myself a latte.

Q: Yeah, I’ll drink pretty much anything caffeinated myself. It helps me through those difficult moments. What would you say has been the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome thus far in your coding career?

A: My biggest challenge by far has been staying on myself to make sure I’m building upon what I learned to keep the knowledge fresh and grow my skills. You can do tutorials all day long, but when you build something yourself, that’s when that knowledge you’ve been building really gets put to use.

Q: Totally agree. Things always feel like they make sense until you have to actually apply it. We appreciate you taking the time to do this and are absolutely loving all the content you’ve produced so far. So we have to ask, what makes you excited about using CodeCast?

A: CodeCast helps me understand what I’m doing better! Normally when I code, it’s just in silence with my headphones on. When I use CodeCast, even though I’m by myself, it feels collaborative because I’m making sure I’m explaining myself well and I’m talking through the process. It’s helped keep me focused, and it’s great that anyone watching can take a look at your code in the cast! That is going to make learning new things so much easier.


If you haven’t watched any of Michael’s content yet, be sure to check him out and follow him because we know he has a lot more up his sleeve! You can also find checkout out his portfolio!

Sign up & Join Our Newsletter!

Subscribe & keep up with the latest news and updates from CodeCast

Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.