Biology to CS: How I Got into Software Development

A Fateful Meeting

        Summer 2013, I had just finished my sophomore year of college. I had a physical exam appointment with my Pediatrician. (I was 21, didn’t feel like finding a new doc). She asked me where I went to school and what I studied. I told her that I went to UMass Lowell and I was studying Biology. She mentions that her son is also did the same. In addition, she told me that her son does a lot of his biological work and research using computers, she suggested I take some computer science courses in order to prepare myself for working as a biologist in this new era of research.

What is Computer Science?

        At the time I had no idea what computer science was. After that appointment I went home and searched up what it was.
Wikipedia says,

“Computer science is the study of the theory, experimentation, and engineering that form the basis for the design and use of computers. It is the scientific and practical approach to computation and its applications and the systematic study of the feasibility, structure, expression, and mechanization of the methodical procedures (or algorithms) that underlie the acquisition, representation, processing, storage, communication of, and access to, information.”

Of course this definition didn’t help one bit. Growing up as a millennial I was introduced to computers early on in my life. I was about 7 years old when my parents purchased our very first home desktop. I think it was a Sony or something. I remember booting up video game demo discs on it. I remember playing Abe’s Odyssey, and Cool Boarders in particular. AOL would send us free trial discs; I remember the dial up tone as my computer connected to the internet. I vividly remember my dad yelling at me for tying up the phone line while playing Runescape.

        How computers worked was still magic to me. Nonetheless I decided to register for Computing 1 for next semester, luckily there were a couple of spots left. I think the reason why I jumped on to this was because I had grown disillusioned with my major and wasn’t sure what I wanted to do after I finished my bachelor’s. It seemed like I was learning the same thing over and over and none of the things I learned I could apply. Biology just seemed like rote memorization of concepts. I also did not enjoy working on the labs, I didn't have the patience or the meticulous attention to detail to be a bench scientist. Growing up my mom pushed me to become a Pharmacist since it was 6 figure job and my cousin was one. I figured I was gonna try to apply to Pharmacy school after I finished my bachelors.

First Step

        Fast forward to Fall 2013, first day of Computing 1. We are introduced to Professor David Adams who just joined the faculty. On the projector I saw a text editor with the following text:

        Later on I was able to understand the cryptic text. The moment I saw him use printf to print a message to the screen, I realized how powerful it is to be able to tell a machine what to do.

        I ended up doing well in the course. I finished the class with a B+. Of course there were moments where I was second guessing my decision. Completing some of the lab exercises, was difficult. Fixing compiler issues and figuring out how to debug was challenges. Nevertheless, I succeeded, no doubt due to the excellent instruction I received. Another factor that contributed to my success was that I saw programming as a puzzle and I quite enjoyed solving them. Coding was fun to me. Seeing your program spit out the expected result is a great feeling. The spike in dopamine released in my brain kept me going.

A Change of Heart

        After completing the course, I realized that I really enjoyed writing code. Fortunately, the Biology Department offered a concentration in Bioinformatics. The requirements to achieve this were pretty simple, the required courses were Computing I, II, III, Genomics, and a Computing elective. I changed my concentration from Biotechnology to Bioinformatics. I also declared a minor in Computer Science.

        As I continued my studies the following semester, I fell more in love with coding. I knew I wanted to get into software development. However, my undergrad career would be coming to a close very soon. I was a junior, there was no way I could complete an additional major in CS by Spring 2015. I looked at Master degrees in C.S. I found Northeastern University was offering a degree in Bioinformatics, I thought this would be a viable option post graduation.

A Fateful Meeting #2

        One day after class I ran into a table that was promoting UMass Lowell’s CO-OP program. I was reluctant to approach since I knew that the program really only had opportunities for students studying engineering, business, or computer science. The woman at the table coaxed us to approach. I picked up a brochure and read through it’s contents. I told her I was just a C.S. minor. She told me it was perfectly fine so I put my name on the sign up sheet.

        Fall 2014 the I was enrolled in the CO-OP program. Grouped with other CS students, our instructor Rachel Ziminski showed us how to prepare for a job search. We practiced interviewing skills, we developed a personal pitch. Walking into her office with my resume in hand, Rachel reviewed what I had. She gave me valuable suggestions. I rewrote the entire thing to showcase the technical projects and courses I had taken.

Getting a CO-OP

        I attended the Fall Career Fair. Attendance was required for students in the CO-OP program. I was dressed in a suit and tie. I had my pad-folio with me, which carried dozens of copies of my resume printed on resume paper. As expected there were absolutely zero companies recruiting for Biology majors. Since I was still a Biology my printed name tag stated my major as such. Approaching the first booth I was extremely nervous. I was sweating and stumbling with my words. As I approached more tables I became more comfortable. I introduced myself, told the recruiter I was a co-op student looking for a coop opportunity and handed them a copy of my resume. They’d look it over ask me a few questions and deposit it onto a stack of other resumes. Quite often I would I get scoffed at when revealing that I was only a CS Minor.

        A week later I had my first interview. An employer was going to be on campus, and was willing to interview anyone who was interested. I signed up. The position was for an Analytical Services Developer, the development was in Python and involved the use of databases. I was very interested in learning Python, I also was taking Databases 1 at the time so I was very familiar with relational databases. I needed an upper level course in C.S. for my minor so I asked the professor to give me permission to join his class without the requisites. He agreed. This class proved pivotal in helping me secure my first CO-OP.

        The interview was in a tiny room. I was prepared. Amanda, the interviewer started off with behavioral questions. One question I still remember was, “Tell me about a time when something didn’t go according to plan and how you resolved it”. I paused for a moment since I was basically asked to incriminate myself but after thinking about the question I told her about the first meeting I held for the Urban Chorography Club. Each week we invited a choreographer to come and teach a dance class. I invited my friend who was a phenomenal dancer to come and teach. His choreography was amazing but his lack of teaching experience made it difficult for people to learn. I told her that after this experience myself and the leaders of the club would audit and verify that the choreographer could teach well in order to prevent it from happening again. The technical portion was pretty simple I was asked to write a function that reverses a string. I asked her if it was okay to just print the string backwards, she said it was okay. So on some loose leaf I think I wrote something like this:

I explained the code, and walked out of the interview very confident.

        Not long after I got an email from one of the companies I had talked to at the career fair. I was invited to come in for an interview. Before my interview with the second company I received an offer from the first company. I wanted to say yes, but I asked for a few more days to decide since I still had a second interview scheduled. The interview was at the company’s office. The office was beautiful, they had company branded water bottles. The interview was mostly behavioral, I met with about 3 people. The technical portion was basically explaining different types of table joins i.e. inner, outer, and full joins. The interviewers liked my energy. As I left I told the HR representative that I had an outstanding offer and would need a decision soon. The next day I got my second offer. I turned it down and took up the first one. Technology was an important factor, the second company seemed to emphasize mostly database skills. I wanted to write code and Python was on my list of things to learn.

Reflection

        I learned so much from my first CO-OP. Python was a blast, working with databases was fun too. I was introduced to HTTP and helped develop some neat apps. I worked with two other co-op students from UMass Lowell. I’m still friends with them to this day. By the end of it I knew I wanted to be a software engineer. When I returned to school for what would be my final semester I declared a second major in Computer Science. It would be another 3 semesters before I finally got my degrees.

        In total, I spent 5 and half years pursuing a double major in Biology and Computer Science. Along the way I completed 2 CO-Ops and won 2 hackathons. I also won an award for an idea I pitched at UMass Lowell’s DifferenceMaker competition. Reflecting on my journey, although it was long and tiresome, I’m satisfied with the path I chose. Life is a giant decision tree; we really can’t know which path will bring us the most happiness. However, with determination, bravery, and some luck I believe we will all find the optimal path for each of us.

Stay tuned for my next post where I’ll be reflecting on my first Software Engineering Postion!