For today’s blog, I wanted to discuss an issue bothering me a bit regarding my career in CS.
So I originally went into CS wanting to mix data science and software engineering in the medical field. However, entering this program, I realized that it’s taken me to a software engineering role. Still, I don’t know if that’s necessarily the direction I want to continue in my career.
Furthermore, I just completed a summer internship program at a great company, Medtronic, the world’s largest medical device company (I say that to highlight how fortunate I’ve felt in my opportunity). The work is fascinating. I’ve accepted an offer to do software engineering in firmware and embedded devices. However, I don’t necessarily feel passionate about it. I’ve spoken to a friend, and he advises staying for at least a year since your first year is really more about learning basic principles of software engineering. Plus, the pay is pretty good. The company also allows its worker to explore other software engineering tracks as well. Perhaps I’m too focused on assuming what I’m passionate about, and I should just try it out and see if I like it?
But still, I don’t know. Before getting to computer science, I worked in quality improvement, but more in the data analytic aspect of it. My job was to provide data insight to the primary clinic and the operational and primary care services given to patients. I saw my role provide knowledge to key stakeholders to make the best decisions on how to improve the care we provide to patients.
Though I still will be working in the healthcare industry, I feel that the career path is taking me further away from that. Therefore, I need to take a step back to recalibrate my approach.
