Opening Doors with Software Engineering

28 Aug 2016

---

Software engineering opens doors, both literally in the sense of automatic motion-sensor slide doors and figuratively in the sense of the opportunities it creates. It is an intriguing field because it is ever-evolving and increasingly relevant in our everyday lives. The technologies we use to improve our lives are developed in part by software engineers. It is hard to imagine many things we have today that a software engineer hasn’t played a role in making. In terms of my personal development, studying software engineering has opened my eyes to the world around me and has made me a much more curious person. As a child and even throughout high school, I took for granted a lot of the technologies around me. However, studying software engineering in college gave me the fundamentals to understand bits and pieces of this technology that previously seemed like magic to me.

I see software engineering as an opportunity to make a positive impact in my community and in the world. I have the tools to educate others about technology and the background to build technology for good causes. It is because of these two reasons that I chose to study software engineering. I also believe that software engineering has the opportunity to change communities - not only by the products created but the culture of knowledge, innovation and collaboration it promotes amongst those working in the industry. I hope, someday, to use my position in industry to act as a mentor and resource for students looking into software or computer engineering.

My short-term goal is to expand my knowledge and get hands-on experience in the areas of embedded software and web applications. I feel like this growing area of software engineering has so many possibilities to positively impact our lives from home monitoring systems to smart grid energy consumption management applications. In the long run, I hope to build software for a charitable cause and help to develop a program, service or device that I use in my everyday life.