The Long Version

I grew up in South Florida, where I developed a taste for adventure and the outdoors through scuba diving, wake boarding, and exploring the everglades. I spent my more relaxed time on arts and crafts or getting lost in the magical world of books. I always loved creating things, whether is was mixing up new types of slime, making jewelry out of old spoons and coins, or building my own toy characters out of clay. At the time I didn't realize that this was the engineer in me, learning and growing through small passion projects.

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In school I gravitated towards science classes, and maintained an interest in a wide variety of topics. I took a summer course on marine mammals, volunteered in the hospital, and joined a forensic science club. When it came time to decide on a track for college, the choice of Biomedical Engineering seemed perfect. It called to my inner generalist, offering knowledge in electronics, software, biochemistry, mechanics, and more. I could learn about all the various components of complex tech to create new devices that could help people, so that became my goal. 

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While at university I worked in different research labs for neuroprosthetics and diabetes. I delved into study areas of electronic circuitry, coding, 3D modeling, and more, building a well-rounded knowledge and skill base. I got my Bachelors and Masters Degree in 5 years, spending the last year working full time at and orthopedic medical device company and doing my maters thesis with them on  designing an implant for fracture fixation in fingers.

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From there I wanted to move into more complex systems (robots) and I jumped at the chance to join a Surgical Robotics company. I found so much pride and curiosity in this work. I love the process of designing complex assemblies, integrating motors and sensors, and seeing it come to life. Robotics also involves so many interesting challenges that require a team of smart and passionate people to work together (and my team was especially great). It's the sort of environment I thrive in.

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During the pandemic I moved to New Zealand with my partner, where I became deeply obsessed with rock climbing and the outdoors (Florida does not compete). I worked remotely for a wile, but once I realized that the move to NZ wouldn't be as temporary as I had thought, I realized working remote from the other side of the world might not be sustainable long-term. 

I joined a kiwi company and moved to Christchurch, which conveniently allowed me to be closer to some world-class bouldering. My role there was a combination of Technical Lead and Product Owner, which helped me develop into leadership in new ways. I was able to see the whole system with a birds-eye view, decide what the product would be, and lead the team to make it happen. I had so much freedom to make decisions and such a talented team doing great work and putting their own mark on it as well. I'm so proud of what we built together.

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But I missed the day-to-day technical work. I loved the creativity of building a product vision, but i also wanted to get my hands dirty in creating the solution. I also developed a new love of software. Before I had dabbled in it, writing MatLab scripts for testing or adapting GitHub code for home projects. But now I was involved in designing an app, making wire-frames, and deciding user interactions and workflows. I loved seeing it come to life and wanted to be part of it. I also got massively involved in discussions over how we would implement machine learning, how it would determine good data from bad, how we could effectively calculate accuracy. It made me want to write embedded python code so that I could participate beyond these strategic discussions.

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So I signed up for Dev Academy and learned to code! it was a 17 week intensive bootcamp to bring me from hobbyist and jealous Project Lead, to Software Developer. It confirmed what I already knew, that writing code and seeing web apps materialize was supremely satisfying and akin to magic. I'm excited to continue learning in this field (there seem to be endless possibilities), and applying my eclectic combination of skills to interesting work and personal projects.

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