From Psychology to Software Engineering: How I Found My Calling

In college, I double majored in Psychology and Biology. My academic interests were very limited; if it wasn’t alive, I probably wasn’t interested in it. All of that changed after I started working in a psychology research lab.

One of my professors was conducting facial recognition research to uncover implicit biases. This is a topic I was (and am still) very passionate about, so I applied to join his research team. I was tasked with data analysis, which didn’t initially excite me, however as I dug deeper into finding methods that improved the efficiency and accuracy of data collection and analysis, I discovered the field of data science. I loved finding ways to make data analysis run more smoothly, I even started learning a few programming languages to build simple machine learning models. I quickly realized that I wanted to begin a career in tech.

After I graduated college, I began working in the data science field. My work primarily focused on analyzing data. I felt unfulfilled, but I never fully realized why until I had to work with the software engineering department on a project. I was so captivated by the work they contributed. It reminded me that my love for tech sparked from developing software for data, instead of analyzing it. That’s when I made the decision to pursue software engineering.

I am very grateful for all of my academic and professional experiences. My time in the data science field helped me learn about and appreciate all the different roles in tech, and also has helped me find my true calling. I’m very excited to see where the software engineering field takes me!