An Introduction to Who I Am and What I’m Doing Now
Hello everyone. My name is Alden Chico and this is an introduction to who I am, where I’m from, and my goals and expected outcomes for this course and for finishing the software engineering program here at Oregon State University.
A little about myself. I currently live in Los Angeles County, California and have lived in Southern California for the past 10 years of my life. I graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Irvine and have worked in Electrical Design Engineering and Test Engineering roles since. I have worked for Boeing for the past 1.5 years of my professional career as a Systems Test Engineer on commercial satellites. The job requires me to know the specifications for satellite systems that Boeing manufactures on site in El Segundo and execute the various test procedures needed to prove the functionality of the spacecraft. It’s pretty cool and I’ve learned a lot over my time working at Boeing.
Pivoting into Software Engineering
I decided that Oregon State University’s Computer Science program through ECampus was something I wanted to pursue in the Fall of 2021. There are a few motivations as to why I wanted to take on this challenge 2 years ago. One motivation was to seek new professional challenges. I have been working on electronics hardware over my time working as an electrical engineer. I have gone through the design process for designing and manufacturing electronics and know what it takes to be a thoughtful engineer. I wanted to pursue software engineering to challenge myself in an engineering field where design specifications and requirements change all the time. For hardware design, the specifications are defined at the start of the design lifecycle and are completely rigid throughout the entire lifespan of the project. For software, I knew before I started my classes that the specifications are more based on the ever-changing needs of the user and the idea of working on projects that evolve over time definitely intrigued me when I first enrolled for this program.
Another motivation for pursuing a degree in Computer Science was, admittedly, the money and the ability to work from home. The average salary of a software engineer with a Bachelors in Computer Science is higher than the average salary of an electrical engineer with a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering. Additionally, the work-life balance for Software Engineers who have the capability to work from home would provide me with the flexibility to work on my own time and pursue passions in my personal life. With the ever growing prevalence of inflation and all the stressors that exist in the world today, I would be remiss to say that the monetary and work-life motivations for pursuing a degree in Computer Science did not exist.
The last motivation that I will talk about with regards to my pursuit in Computer Science is my love for problem solving. I was always into math and science growing up and those subjects always scratched an itch in my brain for solving problems. As I grew older, the satisfaction of finishing projects in my professional work and seeing them used for practical reasons gives me a sense of purpose. I enrolled in Oregon State University’s Computer Science program to work on projects and learn new technologies that I would not have worked on otherwise. The structure and foundation that a university like OSU provides is great for how I best learn new material. I knew going into the program that OSU would give me a level of challenge and satisfaction for the work that I would produce over the course of the program.
Thoughts About My Future Career
Now that my time as a student for Oregon State University is wrapping up, I have many serious considerations for what I want to do with my professional career moving forward. I have recently received a security clearance with the US Government that authorizes me to work on government programs. I take my security clearance with a great deal of respect and privilege and I know that my calling now is to work on software engineering projects for the US Government. I am interested in utilizing my talents towards securing our national defense and I know there is much opportunity in the fields of cybersecurity and software engineering that align with this pursuit. There are plenty of aerospace and tech companies in Southern California that work in this field and my goal after finishing this program is to work on projects that help defend our nation’s security. As for now, I am focused on finishing my coursework at Oregon State University and doing my best in creating a finished and polished product for my final Capstone Project 🙂
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