Keep pushing, and know you are worthy and skilled enough to be here. The right people will see that in you.
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What’s your official title and how long have you been with CSC?
I’m an associate sales and marketing technology (SMARTech) engineer, and I’ve been with CSC since January 2023.
What are your responsibilities?
I’m involved with cybersecurity, certificate management, remediation efforts, and projects around the automation of certain tasks and procedures. We use Azure heavily to increase security around our infrastructure and operations, and we explore Azure’s offered applications to find use cases that could make our jobs more efficient. What I love about this position and our team is that we’re encouraged to explore projects and find creative solutions for the things we’d like to get done.
What inspired you to get into tech?
My dad has been in tech my whole life, and I’ve always kind of been a techie myself. I love sports and played baseball in college, where I wasn’t able to pursue engineering because of schedule conflicts. I studied kinesiology and was planning for a career in physical therapy. After working part-time and interning in PT, I realized it wasn’t for me. I love the human body, but I just didn’t enjoy the day-to-day of it.
I got into sales for a little bit, but my passion was always in technology, whether it was sports technology, gadgets, or helping my dad. I moved to Delaware from Minnesota because my partner got a job here. I didn’t have anything lined up and enrolled in a software engineering boot camp. We learned Java, PostgreSQL, and Vue.JS. It was a full stack boot camp. After going through that program, I confirmed that tech was where I was meant to be, and I’ve enjoyed it ever since.
What was your career path like?
I finished the tech boot camp in August 2022. From there, it was about applying to a ton of positions and going to networking events, trying to meet as many people as I could, and figuring out what I wanted to do in the tech space. In the software engineering boot camp, we learned backend and frontend development, but it was really a way to teach us how to learn very quickly in the tech space. I was trying to find out what made sense for me and worked my way from there.
I found out about CSC because one of the boot camp directors posted a job from here. It wasn’t actually the job I have now—it was a tech-adjacent role with CSC’s Digital Brand Services division—and it wasn’t exactly what I was looking for. But my information was forwarded to some CSC tech recruiters, who told me I’d be great for a role with them. They said there wasn’t anything available at that time, and then something came up they thought I’d be interested in. I interviewed with people from the SMARTech Team. It happened to be the right place at the right time. I was super open to an opportunity, and it turned out to be a really good one.
What has contributed to your success so far?
My curiosity and tenacity. When I find something I’m interested in or have a goal or project I want to get done, I kind of obsess over it. In the boot camp, we’d have projects that we weren’t supposed to spend more than a couple of hours on at a time. But I’d work late into the night, messaging my instructor, asking what I was doing wrong if I was stuck. As much as he appreciated my desire to learn, he also had to set some boundaries because I can get a little carried away.
I don’t know if he’s had many students that hit him up after hours as much as I did. But I know he appreciated it. I get super interested in things that interest me. And I’m a perfectionist, so I don’t rest well until I know I’m on the right track or the job is done.
Have you faced any obstacles as a Black professional?
I feel like Black professionals in the tech space always face obstacles just because there haven’t historically been as many Black people there. I know we don’t like to think that prejudice is out there, but it definitely is, especially when hiring Black professionals, because typically, the people that you see in this space don’t look like us. I definitely had to overcome some hurdles. There were some interview opportunities that I might not have gotten. In many of the interview panels I had, there were no Black people on those calls.
It can get discouraging at times. My dad has done it, so I know it’s possible. But I also know that he was one of few in his space. I know the percentages aren’t where they need to be. I’m glad CSC is very open to encouraging diversity. That’s one of the biggest things that I loved about the interview. They were super open about that, and it made me feel like this was someplace I wanted to be. I felt like this was the right place for me. And so I’m glad I was able to wait it out and find CSC.
Are you involved in any CSC programs that support diversity?
Not yet, but I want to get involved in that soon. I do want to get into the Black Employee Network and see what resources they have. I really like that CSC has those spaces for different minorities; it’s important to have a place to talk about experiences and things like that.
What advice would you give to other Black professionals who are thinking about entering the tech space?
Keep pushing, and know you are worthy and skilled enough to be here. The right people will see that in you. Don’t get discouraged if you feel like you aren’t getting the opportunities you should. Keep pressing, and the right one will come to you.
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