Welcome to my blog where I will be sharing my experience in creating my, hopefully, super amazing capstone project! But since we will be spending the next 10 wonderful weeks together, I feel it is only fitting that you get to know me a little first so here it goes….

My name is Brittany but you can call be Britt (hence the blog name). I was born, raised, and still live in Klamath Falls, Oregon. That may seem like a dull life but I spent most of my childhood travelling because I played competitive racquetball for 14 years, so I did not mind coming home to a small town. Soon however, I will be trading my small town for a smaller town because I am moving to North Bend, Oregon at some point in the next several months. “What in the world could make you move from a small town to a smaller town, especially when you are wanting to be in SWE?!” do you ask? Well, my husband bought the North Bend Liquor store which is something we have been working towards for years so I this was an exciting development on our lives.

My hobbies include most things outdoors such as hiking with my dog, mountain biking, adventure motorcycling, pickleball, and much more. In addition to my dog, I also have 5 cats but I promise that I am not a crazy cat lady 🙂

How did you end up in CS?

I received my first Bachelor’s degree in Biology Health Sciences Pre-med from the Oregon Institute of Technology. The program was a rigorous one that intended to prepare us for medical school which was the plan I had been working towards for years. However, by the time I was going to apply, I had been working with hospice and stroke patients for 10 years, so I spent many years caring for patients in their years, months, days, hours, minutes, moments…..

Anyways, it took its toll on me, physically, mentally, and emotionally.

I worked night shifts often, which provided a lot of downtime while my patients were sleeping, and one night I decided to take some tutorials on building a basic site using HTML and CSS. This sparked something in me and before long I decided to put off medical school and apply to the OSU CS program. From my first programming assignment in 161 to my current capstone, I have not looked back and could not be happier that I took a leap of faith to try something new.

So I guess you can say that I ended up down this path due to boredom, curiosity, and a need for change.

Do you still work in healthcare?

No-ish! After my first term in the program, I was offered a job as a Data Analyst for a coordinated care organization which helps manage the OHP population in the county. So I get to work with medical data but without the direct patient care which was a nice balance to have. I have now been at the job for 3 years and am now a Senior Data Analyst for the organization.

What’s next?

This is my last class in the program and I could not be more excited to see the finish line! But as for what comes next, I would love to move into a SWE role that still allows me to work with data, which I find to be complex and challenging.

As for the near future, I cannot wait to see which project I end up working on, I know they will all be challenging in their own ways and I am happy to share this last sprint to the finish line with all of you!