I never meant to be a programmer; some things are just meant to be. My Software Engineer Dad strongly encouraged me to pursue computers, and I strongly told him I’d never do it. A few years and a couple majors later, I took an Intro to C class and something clicked like never before. Now I’m an engineer as well with rising interests in Human-Computer Interaction, UX Design, and Cybersecurity.

My underlying passion is to help and to teach. My pre-engineering aspirations were first in medicine, then in counseling. In four years with the Ballroom Dance Club, I went from having zero knowledge to teaching groups of 50 or more. I taught a group of Sophomores how to use git effectively. And of all my tasks and projects, my favorite have been those that made my team’s job easier.

Robert C. Martin talks about the need for professionalism and craftsmanship in the industry, even going so far as to write a Programmer’s Oath inspired by the Hippocratic oath and ancient scribes. I don’t know if he’s right about what that should look like, but I do believe in being a better class of programmer, in learning from those that have come before, and in treating the things I create with the respect and wonder they deserve.