In July of 2017 I gave a speech to the entire technology department titled “Just go for IT”. I opened my speech by saying “One of the defining moments of my life was when I chose to pursue my interest in technology”. That statement still stands having been nine years since I made that life changing choice.
When I say life changing I mean it. That one choice was a domino effect that led to even better choices and opportunities. Like most major life decisions, it wasn’t easy. To choose technology meant that I would push my graduation date. Since I was paying for school myself I’d incur more student loan debt. Also, I would have to tell my parents I’ve changed my mind a semester before graduation.
The hardest part of all was telling my parents. Since I was a little girl I was always told ‘you’d be a great teacher. You like to boss your cousins around’. Today I know that my ‘bossy’ was actually leadership. Growing up I just didn’t have STEM role models. When you’re young you trust your family to know what’s best for you. You follow the path your family has laid before you. There’s no playbook for when you discover that path actually isn’t best for you. It’s gut wrenching. You feel like you’re letting your family down. To my surprise my parents were supportive. They didn’t care that my graduation date was pushed back. They just wanted me to do what makes me happy. Being a teacher didn’t make me happy.
Growing up there weren’t programs for girls like me who wanted to build and engineer. I had to discover those fields in college. I changed my major twice in college. I went from teaching to accounting. At the time I was working 30hrs/week in the cash office of a retail store and I didn’t mind the math aspect. Well, I didn’t get accepted to the accounting program. I was devastated. I had to go back to the drawing board.
When I applied to the accounting program I was required to pick a backup major. I picked an interdisciplinary degree which basically meant I could explore multiple subjects. Somehow I landed in the business school studying business law and global politics. I was attracted to this field because of critical thinking and having to consider multiple factors before arriving at a decision.
Here’s when the story gets good — the fall semester before graduating in May, with a B.A. in Business Law and B.A. in Global Politics, I had a conversation with a classmate about what we were planning to do after graduation. I found myself with the familiar feeling of not wanting to walk the path I was on. I figured I could always be an assistant manager at the retail store. Management at the store was impressed by my leadership and work ethic. Little did I know I would achieve so much more. During the conversation with my classmate I noticed two computer science majors working on a midterm project. I said to my classmate “I wish I would have pursued tech”. He looked at me and said “why don’t you? There’s a program in the business school you could do”. I immediately looked into the program and the classes. It seemed just too perfect. I met with the program advisor Maria and told her my story. She shared everything I had to do to switch my major including an application with an essay.
Waiting for the response from the department was on my mind 24/7. I found out I was accepted to the program a few weeks into my last semester as a Business Law and Global Politics major. I had to hit the ground running and get all the upper division classes completed. Since I was already in the business school I had already completed the core curriculum. My prudent planning, and help from Maria, made it possible for me to finish the B.S. in Computer Information Systems(CIS) within a year.
CIS felt like home. This was where I met a lot of friends and people with similar interests. I got involved in student clubs and even co-founded the Women in STEM club. Joining clubs really made one of the largest campuses feel like a small town. One of the best decisions I made was applying.
Fast forward almost 8 years and I have a lot more accomplishments on my resume. I’m now a Developer Advocate for public cloud adoption. I’ve been the subject matter expert for web applications on IaaS and PaaS platforms. I co-created a code learning program aimed to increase women’s participation at the annual company hackathon. Most recently I’ve started an internal company podcast about good builder behaviors in the cloud. It’s been awesome!
The point of this story is to explore. Explore and go after your interest. If you’re interested in technology and don’t know where to start, take a class or ask someone for advice. Just have the conversation. Trust me when I say — it’s a far better feeling to have tried and failed than to wonder if you would have succeeded.
