Refactoring a Career Through Consistency: TodayCode’s Joeun Park’s MVP Story

SoyoungLee

Microsoft

Dec 23, 2025

How daily practice shaped a 20+ year developer into a creator, educator, and Microsoft MVP

Joeun Park is building milestones through consistency and community

Joeun Park’s MVP story is not defined by a single breakthrough, but by decades of steady, intentional progress. With more than 20 years of experience as a developer, she began coding long before developer communities and content platforms became mainstream. Over time, she navigated shifting technologies, industries, and life stages, continuously reshaping her role. After many years as a backend engineer, a major life transition prompted her to expand into data science, content creation, education, and community leadership—ultimately leading to her work as the founder of TodayCode and as a Microsoft MVP.

Park’s journey into software development began early. She wrote her first programs in elementary school using GW-BASIC, exploring computers out of pure curiosity rather than career ambition. In middle and high school, she became deeply involved in PC communication communities, where people built things together, shared knowledge, and learned collaboratively. Many of the connections she formed during that time remain active today, with peers still working as developers.

Joeun believed that once the core principles of software engineering were understood, adapting to new languages and frameworks was possible.

She studied Information and Communications Engineering at university and later pursued a master’s degree in Information and Computer Education, originally intending to become a teacher. However, abrupt policy changes drastically reduced hiring for computer teachers nationwide. Faced with a closing door, Park pivoted back to industry—a decision that came with significant challenges. At a time when discriminatory interview questions were commonplace, she reportedly submitted nearly 3,000 applications before securing her first role at an IT company in Korea.

From there, her career gained momentum. Over the next decade, she worked as a backend developer across diverse domains, including gaming and advertising. Each transition brought new business contexts and new technical stacks—ASP, PHP, Django, Ruby on Rails—often outside what was considered “mainstream.” Park viewed these shifts not as disadvantages, but as training. She believed that once the core principles of software engineering were understood, adapting to new languages and frameworks was possible. Working in smaller teams, she often took on overlapping roles as a backend engineer, data analyst, and data engineer—experience that would later support her transition into data science.

Joeun has been active in the Python Korea User Group for over ten years. These long-term community roles strengthened her belief that sustainable growth happens faster when people learn together.

Community involvement was another central pillar of her growth. Park has been active in the Python Korea User Group for over ten years, consistently contributing through knowledge sharing and community engagement. She has also participated in PyCon Korea both as a speaker and as an organizer, helping shape the conference from behind the scenes as well as from the stage. These long-term community roles strengthened her belief that sustainable growth happens faster—and more meaningfully—when people learn together.

A major turning point came after two years of parental leave. Upon attempting to return to work, Park faced pressure to resign. While formal processes allowed her to return on paper, there was no longer a team or role prepared for her. Eventually, she chose to leave the company. Rather than viewing this period as a pause, she treated it as preparation. She committed to a personal rule: do something every day. Her “one commit a day” practice—sometimes no more than a single line of text or a comment—became a way to maintain continuity, confidence, and momentum.

In 2017, she launched a YouTube channel called TodayCode, meaning “share what you learned today” and “write code today.” What started as a personal learning log quickly evolved into a platform. Her early content focused on hands-on, practical topics such as Kaggle, public data analysis, and applied data workflows—addressing a gap she saw in overly theoretical materials. As the audience grew, so did invitations to teach, consult, and collaborate. TodayCode became a company, and Park’s professional identity expanded to include data scientist, creator, educator, mentor, and community organizer. Her sustained contributions were eventually recognized with her selection as a Microsoft MVP.

Joeun defines a successful developer as someone who helps others grow.

Park’s impact lies in demonstrating that small, consistent actions can fundamentally reshape a career—especially when setbacks occur. Her daily commit habit is not about visibility or metrics; it is about continuity. Even on days when progress feels minimal, continuing to act builds confidence and keeps learning active. Over time, those small actions compound into real skills, tangible outcomes, and new opportunities.

She defines a successful developer as someone who helps others grow. Through YouTube, teaching, mentoring, and long-term community involvement, she has worked to create environments where beginners and non-traditional learners can progress sustainably. Her decade-long engagement with the Python Korea User Group and her contributions to PyCon Korea exemplify this philosophy in practice: knowledge grows when shared, and communities accelerate individual growth. By openly sharing her experiences around parental leave and career disruption, she has also contributed to broader conversations about fairness and sustainability in tech. Her work as an MVP reflects not just technical expertise, but long-term community building.

Joeun says, "Learning and growing together often changes not just the speed of progress, but its meaning"

Joeun Park’s story is a reminder that careers can be refactored—sometimes by choice, sometimes by circumstance—but rarely without consistency. If you are questioning your direction or navigating change, start smaller than you think you need to. Make one commit. Write one note. Share one thing you learned. Those actions add up. And if possible, step into a community. Learning and growing together often changes not just the speed of progress, but its meaning.

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