From Medicine to Code
My journey into software started with my desire to help people that developed when I was very young. I've always really enjoyed the feeling of doing good things and making people's lives easier. I took a lot of pride in it, even if it was a small act of kindness that brightened someone’s day for a little while. I enjoyed the fun and feeling of fulfillment. So helping my parents figure out all the electronics around the house when I was a kid just came naturally.
As I got older and was going through middle and high school, my favorite subject was always science. I had a long term goal of becoming a surgeon and helping people by saving lives in the OR. That goal probably came from a combination of my desire to help people, my growing interest in science, and my parents’ influence. At the same time, however, I noticed that I was becoming more and more of what my friends and mom called a "tech geek". I played video-games, I was into the latest laptops, cell phones, and game systems.
At that point, I essentially ignored my obviously growing interest in tech and kept up with my pre-med studies. I got a job as a Pharmacy Technician when I turned 18 and I’ve been doing that since then. One day though, I was reading about Tesla and Elon Musk and his endeavors to essentially change the world single-handedly and I took some time to really think about the potential impact that tech could have. I thought about all of the companies that were changing and improving the way society operated like Uber, Airbnb, IBM, and the rest. I realized that I could help significantly more people by applying the power of software and technology instead of working as a doctor or surgeon and saving a single patient at a time. The relatively nice salaries that software engineers are paid seemed to be a nice bonus too.
I planned on changing my major in college from Biology with a focus on Molecular Bioscience, to Computer Science. Before the switch was completed, I dove headfirst into coding with no previous experience when one of my coworkers asked me to help him build an app for a business idea he had. It was a lot of fun and I was teaching myself how to code in Javascript and use Android Studio along the way. Another thing that happened when I was going through the major change was my discovery of tech boot camps. I took some time and looked them up to see what they were all about and I made the decision that they were the way to go. It took me some time to get myself in an ideal situation to really immerse myself in code, but I finally started at General Assembly and I’m on my way to being able to make an impact in the best way I know how to.
