Please give a brief background on yourself and your career.
I graduated from Wellesley in 2015 with a degree in Computer Science. While at Wellesley, I was a member of the rugby team and took voice lessons in the Music Department. I currently work at KAYAK, an online travel search engine, as a Release Engineer. On the Release Engineering (RelEng) team, I help bridge the gap between engineering and operations, the people who develop the site and those who make sure the site is up and running.
How has your career changed since you originally envisioned it at Wellesley? What other careers did you consider as a student?
I came to Wellesley planning to study International Relations on the Political Science track. However, after my first semester at Wellesley and my first Political Science course, I decided to try out something different. Computer Science really interested me because my mom taught my grade school computer class, and I spent a lot of time in the computer lab before and after school. I had never tried any programming before, but after the first introductory Computer Science class, I was hooked.
At Wellesley, I took several astronomy courses and I tried to combine Computer Science and Astronomy as I searched for a job, but most astronomy positions needed far more experience than I had. I interned at KAYAK the summer between my junior and senior year, my senior fall, and the following winter session. I received an offer from KAYAK shortly after winter session was over, and I started full-time in July.
How has Wellesley contributed to your career?
The Wellesley CS department gave me a solid foundation for me to kickstart my career in tech. I gained the ability to attack problems from different angles and to think on my feet. Often, my job involves a lot of troubleshooting, whether it’s my own work or something I’m helping to fix. I have found that Wellesley guided the development of my investigative thought process, which allows me to use the tools at my disposal to their full potential.
What is a typical work day or work week like for you?
Every day at 9am, my team has a “stand-up” meeting. We spend around 15 minutes talking about what we did the day before, what we’re planning on doing that day, and anything we’re stuck on. Each month is planned the month before, and we have a set of goals and objectives that we want to accomplish. These goals are split up into tickets, and anyone on the team is free to take any ticket they like.
In addition to the planned work, my team responds to many urgent situations, requiring me to handle incoming problems in a swift manner. I spend the majority of my time developing new software to work towards our team goal of bridging the gap between engineers and operations. When I’m not developing software, I work on our test environments and help administrate some of our company’s tools.
What piece of advice would you offer students looking to get into your area of interest and expertise?
My advice is don’t give up on a tough problem too quickly. The internet is a treasure trove of information, and if you’re having a problem with your code or computer, chances are, someone else had the same issue. I can’t say how many times I’ve Googled a specific error that I’ve been trying to figure out on my own, only to find an answer to my problem at the top of the results. Problem solving, especially in tech, is a lot of searching for the answer online, but once you get more experienced with the language or software you are using, you can return the favor and answer other people’s questions!
What do you wish you had known as a student?
Classes at 8:30am aren’t a bad thing! I actually wake up fairly early for work now, and I can’t believe how difficult it used to be for me to wake up in time for my 8:30 classes. If I was to go back now, I’d probably have a schedule with a lot more morning classes. I’ve found that I can actually be quite productive in the morning.
If you could come back and take one class at Wellesley what would it be?
I really wanted to take the Mythology class, but I wasn’t able to due to scheduling issues. I took a few other Classical Civilization classes, but I was really upset I missed out on that one.