Initially, younger me manifested an education and career in Primary Care Healthcare. Near the end of my third year of University, my best friend who was in the same path as I am, brought up wanting to learn Python. This thought sat on the back of my mind for a few years. After graduating and receiving my Human Biology degree, I took a break from education to work on my application for Graduate school.

While working entry level Healthcare jobs to get clinical hours for my Physician Assistant application, I started feeling disappointed towards the work environment and politics of Healthcare. This became overbearing and I did not feel the same passion for the field as I had in the past.  I looked at other options and decided to pursue other careers starting with working in the Clinical Laboratories.

One day, during my downtime at work, I remember my friend mentioning learning Python. I thought I should be more productive with my downtime and decided to learn Python through YouTube videos. This lead me to take Python and website building courses on Udemy. Once the Pandemic lockdowns occurred, I decided it was a good opportunity to fully focus on this career change by taking advantage of my Company’s tuition reimbursement and enroll in Oregon State University Online Computer Science program.

Currently, I work on-site full-time at a large Biotech Diagnostics company concurrently while taking classes for this program. I try to have as much work-life balance as possible. Honestly, it is very difficult in the sense where I always feel I’m –as how youngsters say it— grinding. I would like to add that it’s not as fun as grinding in video games. On my free time, I enjoy being as active as my energy reservoir allows. Even when it is empty, more often than not, I still exercise. Caffeine and discipline goes a long way!

I was a powerlifter for five or six years but decided to stopped last Summer. Now to be active, I chose to casually workout, ride my road bike, go running, snowboarding, and training kickboxing/jiu-jitsu. A big goal of mines is to promote to blue belt in jiu-jitsu! When I am not exercising I try to catch up on watching the Anime and re-watch horror-thriller films.

This is my last quarter in the Oregon State University Online Computer Science program. A small last push until I am able to invest more time into my hobbies!