Hello! Welcome to my CS 467 (Online Capstone) blog. I’ll start off this week’s blog entry with an introduction about myself and what I’ve been up to during my time at OSU. Sorry if it’s a bit heavy for an introduction but I’d like to be upfront about my struggles.

Like a lot of my fellow students, I never thought I’d ever end up in the tech field. I grew up as a low-income, first-generation student and dreamt of becoming a medical provider to help out my local community. I focused on getting a Biology/Psychology degree at my first university and thought I’d be set for medical graduate studies so I decided to take a gap year as a medical assistant. But eventually I couldn’t take it anymore – I felt too much empathy towards our patients; I hated fighting with medical insurance companies; and I felt myself becoming deeply unhappy with my life.

I ended up having to quit my medical assistant job and had to take a break away from everything and everyone. For once in my life I didn’t have a strictly planned goal – what do you do when something you’ve planned for years doesn’t come to bear fruit? It was hard to shake off the feelings of guilt and shame when I had to tell my family about my abrupt change in career plans, after they had toiled so hard to help me pay for my college education.

But I soon found another goal, something that I’d briefly considered back when I started college. I’d always been interested in technology, enjoyed creating projects, and was pretty artsy… so why not try a career in tech? Back in sophomore year of college, I’d considered switching into the Computer Science major and was quickly rebuffed by my counselors. I’d attended a competitive university where switching majors was difficult, even more so if it was between different schools/disciplines. So I quickly gave up and went back to studying my Chemistry notes.

Yet when I stumbled across the unofficial OSU Post-Bacc subreddit after quitting my medical assistant job, I realized that maybe I still had a shot in the tech field. I spent dozens of hours for many weeks researching the OSU CS Post-Bacc program along with the other competitors, fueled by hope that maybe I could still have a career in something (I was a very dramatic early 20 something year old!). Every time I read a positive review or posts from alum about how they’d changed their lives with a new career in tech, I felt excited and hopeful. Later on, I started contacting current students and alums directly for informational interviews and read blogs and testimonials online as well.

And thus, I ended up enrolling in the program in early 2019 and have been here ever since. Though I have many complaints about the program, I’m grateful that it has allowed me to pivot into a field that I’m much more passionate about. Having the undergraduate CS student status gave me access to internship opportunities, which further cemented my love for the field and confirmation that I do belong, and to receive full-time Software Engineering offers as well.

In the end, I’m both sad and happy about my OSU journey coming to an end soon. It’s a bittersweet feeling to know that a big part of my identity as a CS student and fun memories of the program will come to an end. I couldn’t have come this far without the amazing support from my fellow students and alums. Yet things must always come to an end and I hope I can go out with a bang!