Hello, my name is Ada Nguyen and I am so excited to be finally graduating from OSU. The journey has been tough but I am so grateful for the opportunities that have opened since starting this Post Bac Program.
What got you started with software:
I graduated from the University of California San Diego in 2017 with a Biology degree. I didn't have the passion to apply to graduate school and pursue a medical career. Becoming a doctor was my parent's dream not necessarily mines, I should have been an engineer the first time around. My younger brother inspired me to pursue this field and I have thoroughly enjoyed the coding process. I do like writing, debugging, and rationalizing code. It is definitely cathartic when the code is executed as intended after hours of troubleshooting. My goal is to continue in this field and explore more developing opportunities.
Current job or internship:
Currently I work full time as a Software Quality Engineer Intern at Becton & Dickson in San Diego. I was fortunate enough to land the summer 2022 internship and continue here presently. I am part of the System Integration team. We are mainly doing physical and manual testing on the medical devices, but will move on to automation through Cypress in the next year. Automation is such a powerful tool, and I am excited to learn and hopefully become an expert. My proudest moment this year was being able to sign an offer letter with the company. It becomes effective once I graduate, so I am beyond thrilled for the next chapter.
More exposure:
Web development was one of the classes I would really want to dive more into. The introduction class was a great course that helped build a foundation that could really be built upon more independently. My programming language goals are to be more proficient in javascript, html, and React. Server and client side rendering for human interaction to me is so cool. We interact with web pages everyday, so expanding my code knowledge to include that will make me a stronger candidate in the future.
Current Interest:
I recently purchased a gym membership, so I have been attempting to workout to build some muscle. I have ran 2 half marathons in the past year, one of the hardest challenges because 13 miles is a lot. I regretted signing up everyday I was training, but was able to finish each time within 2 hrs. I have picked up tennis as another way to exercise. My 10 year experience with badminton has shown not to be as helpful in this adventure. Both sports use very different muscles, so there was a big learning curve for tennis. Overall, I am striving to be healthier and more active this year.
Words of encouragement:
For those who don't have a job lined up after graduation, it's ok don't give up! I spent so many months applying, stressing, and doubting myself before I finally got an internship offer. It is a tough job market right now, but don't let that deter you from applying. Also be proactive, I have reached out to recruiters personally on LinkedIn to try to get a foot in the door and surprisingly most recruiters were so willing to talk. The feedback from them provides a better understand what type of candidate they are searching for, so you can tailor yourself to the position.
Looking forward to working along side of you all! Thank you for reading my first ever blog.
