This past year was full of amazing experiences and opportunities that enhanced my personal, academic, and professional skills and goals.

          This past summer was my first coop, where I was a software quality assurance associate for the IT Solutions Center. In this coop, it was my responsibility to create automated testing for the software projects that the company was working on and create a plan on how to implement them into the company’s development cycle. This coop really allowed me to stretch my professional skills, especially in the realm of communication and taking initiative, as I led the project, researched how to manage the testing efforts and communicated and collaborated that with the development teams on each project.

          After my coop, I was asked to continue working at the company part-time to be the quality assurance team lead, with other QA team members that I managed. This really brought me out of my comfort zone because I do not have much experience in leadership, and I was uncertain if I would be able to effectively manage the quality assurance team. However, I was able to get sound advice and the strategies needed to manage the team from my own supervisor. It was amazing to see all that the QA team accomplished that semester and made me appreciate going out of my comfort zone in that way so that I could grow to be a better IT professional. I now have more confidence in myself and my leadership and management abilities that I will take into other coops and my career.

          Learning how to go out of my comfort zone more through my coop position and as the QA team lead helped me in my classes during the fall semester as well. During fall semester, it was my first time since coming to UC that I was able to take in-person classes. One of my favorite classes that I took was Computer and Network Forensics. In this class, I volunteered to do a project that required me to present in front of the entire class at the end of the semester, which is very much outside of my comfort zone.  Without the previous experience from my coops, I may not have had the courage to do that.

In the Computer and Network Forensics class, I had one of the best professors I have ever had. He pushed us to work hard and gave us a heavy workload, but it was obvious that he really cared about our learning and wanted us to acquire as much knowledge and skills as we could that semester, which was really inspiring. I am pursuing a Master’s in Information Technology through UC’s accelerated program, meaning I will graduate with both my bachelor’s and master’s at my graduation. After seeing so many great educators, especially the professor in that class, in my time at UC, I am seriously considering becoming an adjunct professor after I graduate.

           It was an amazing year of growth for me, and I hope that I can take all the skills I have acquired from these many experiences with me through the next years at UC and into my future career.