My Path So Far

• 

  Macys.com

  August 2015 - February 2020

  Working for Macys.com (MCOM, we’d call ourselves) was what first brought me to the Bay Area.

  I found my way to the company through the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing back in 2014, where I got my first taste of the world of software engineering outside of academia. I was enchanted, and determined to make software development my career.

  I moved across the country and set myself up in San Francisco to take MCOM up on their offer the following year.

  My time at MCOM allowed me to grow in many ways. I learned quickly how to navigate corporate culture, the ins and outs of software development on a large, multi-tiered application, and how to communicate well among engineers with a myriad of different backgrounds and perspectives. Communication proved to be one of my strongest suits.

  It wasn’t long before I found myself signing up for lean labs to build experimental features across different domains of the site. I was often working directly with small, agile teams and discussing changes with larger ones to develop features across the tech stack, endeavoring to keep these technical teams on the same page.

  As I was assigned to different projects, I was able to try my hand at many different layers of that stack. My main focus was always the server layer of our checkout flow, but grew to include some front-end development over time. Eventually my efforts and experience with the codebase developed into the role of a senior software engineer within the company.

  In early 2020, it was announced that the San Francisco MCOM office would be closed, and business operations were being moved elsewhere. Most of the staff there was laid off, myself included. It was sad to lose the connections and memories I had built there, but I decided to look at the closure as a chance to find a new direction for myself within my capabilities as a developer.

• 

  William and Mary

  January - May 2014, Setptember 2014 - May 2015

  The College of William and Mary is my Alma Mater.

  I began studies there in 2011, and stumbled across the computer science department in my sophomore year. Several courses later, one of my professors offered me an opportunity to work as a consultant in the department computer lab.

  The lab was small, holding about thirty computers running Linux. This was where students would come to do their assignments, especially for the earlier courses of study in the computer science major.

  My job was to help students wrap their mind around how programming worked -- guiding them through the implementations of different data structures and algorithms and helping to explain broader concepts. In a nutshell, I spent a set amount of hours as a department-sponsored tutor and troubleshooter for each of the three semesters I was hired.

  The time I spent at William and Mary was precious to me. I did a lot of growing up over the four years I spent there and found a vocation in programming. The work I did there fostered my love of learning about technology, and I remember it fondly.

• 

  Loudoun County Public Schools

  August 2013 - August 2015

  In late 2013, I was accepted into the Substitute teacher pool for Loudoun County Public Schools, in Virginia.

  I had grown up in that county, surrounded by close friends of family that were educators there. In many cases, my teachers were closely entangled with my support network, and I saw them as family of my own. When a few of them suggested I would do well in the county’s substitute teaching program, I signed on without hesitation.

  I took on assignments for a wide range of subjects and student ages. On any given morning I could be called in based on need, and I would teach for the day. Sometimes I would be called to fill in for Special Education classes, which taught me much about teaching topics to people with very different learning needs.

  Working in Education, even in as small a role as substitute, left a lasting impression on me as a person. I'd always found learning something that came easily to me, and while I understood that was not the case for everyone, it was not clear just how different that journey was for others until I was the one trying to teach.

  I try to carry that realization with me as I interact with people and coworkers in my current day to day life.

Artwork

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