My journey as a computer science student began about 4 years ago. I have been working for a small medical company for the last 8 years or so, we specialize in anesthesia systems, for research, private practice, and human use. Over time I grew a bit bored and stagnant in this job, and had always wanted to go back to school to get a higher education. One could say I fall into the non-traditional category of students, as I am in my mid 30s, and almost nobody in my entire family has a formal education beyond high school.
I grew up and have lived in the bay area, right in the heart of Silicon Valley, my whole life. Most of my immediate family still lives in my home town which is on the coast, about 25 minutes south of San Francisco. Living where I do, I feel I am pretty exposed to the ‘tech way of life’, as it seems most the people that live on the peninsula here nowadays are folks that have moved here from all over the country and world for tech jobs.
I wasn’t sure which major I would choose at the time, and had an interest in business administration. One of my best friends is a former software engineer that got his Masters in EE from Stanford, and he encouraged me to try out some coding courses online to see how I liked it. I started out with a Python course offered through Coursera, that was taught by a University of Michigan professor, if my memory serves. I was enthralled with the challenges and mental stimulation of programming pretty quickly. A few of those things that kept me in this field that I discovered early in my programming journey, I still feel the same about today, and they help motivate me to stay on this challenging endeavor of a path.
Rather quickly from that point, I decided to start out at community college as a CS major, fully online as this was the first year into the pandemic. After almost finishing up my Associates degree in CS, I decided I was going to stay a fully online student and transfer to finish my last two years of undergrad. Surprisingly there weren’t many decent universities in California that offered a bachelors in CS fully online. After extensive searching and research, I discovered that Oregon State was clearly my best option, and transferred over at the start of 2023.
I recently switched my minor/focus area from business to a custom build – mostly cybersecurity along with a few business courses. I took the ‘Intro to CyberSecurity’ course over the summer, it was challenging, but one of my favorite courses I’ve taken so far.
As my focus area is now cybersecurity, and I am taking the notorious Defense Against the Dark Arts course this term, I would like to pick a project that is related, if possible. Other areas of interest for me include AI (mainly because it seems to stick out on a resume more than anything these days), and front-end development for web apps, as I probably have more experience in this area compared to many others.
Some other things that I feel are tied to my identity these days are my two adorable cats, my passion and love for the sport of tennis, my love of travel, my insistence to chase goals and strive for a growth mindset.
“There is some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for.” — J.R.R. Tolkien