Origin Story
Growing up, I witnessed firsthand the power of perseverance. My mom, an immigrant from Cuba, worked tirelessly as a nine-to-five medical assistant to ensure I had access to the best education she could provide. Her dedication fueled my own drive, but like many first-generation college students, I faced some interesting challenges.
When I was in high school, we didn’t have programs that introduced students to programming. We did have computers, though, and the classrooms with them had air conditioning, making computer classes popular during the summer.
We primarily used the computers to run programs like Word, Excel, and Access on Windows. I was pretty good at it—so much so that our teacher (shout out to Mr. Keenan) encouraged me to keep at it. Throughout the semester, I heard terms like “Computer Science” and “Computer Engineering,” but I didn’t really understand what they meant. I just knew they involved computers.
When it came time to apply to universities and declare a major, I felt completely lost. Some kids seemed to have a clear plan for their future—I didn’t. What I did know was that I was decent with computers (at least with Microsoft Office). So I asked my guidance counselor about majors related to computers. They gave me two options: Computer Science and Computer Engineering. That was all the information I had.
I chose Computer Science on a whim. The word “science” resonated with me—I liked the idea of the scientific method, experiments, and logical thinking. So I declared my major as Computer Science.
When I started college, I quickly realized that entry-level Computer Science courses had nothing to do with Word, Excel, or Access. Instead, they focused on computer hardware, C, and Java. Those first two years were brutal.
I had to work extremely hard—both in and out of class—to keep up. This was especially difficult because I had always been a good student. Suddenly, I was spending all my free time in the math tutoring lounge trying to understand calculus or in the computer lab fixing my C lab assignments to avoid constant segfaults. I thought about dropping out many times. I truly believed I didn’t belong.
But I stuck it out. I found other students who were willing to let me tag along and learn from them. Many of them had parents in tech or had been programming since they were teenagers. I attended tutoring sessions and filled in the gaps with online resources. Slowly but surely, I made it through. I persevered.