Hello!

My name is Alex, and I’m in my first year in the Bachelor of Computer Science program at the University of British Columbia.

This is my second degree. I completed my first in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Alberta in 2017, where I completed two eight-month co-op terms. The first was at a small oil and gas company called Red River Oil Inc, and the second was at a mid-sized company called Pengrowth Energy.

After completing my first degree I switched industries and worked for a software company called Copperleaf Technologies.  Our primary product was an Asset Investment Planning and Management (AIPM) tool, which was sought after by large utility companies. I began as a Consultant and worked my way into a Senior Consultant position by the time I left. These positions were on the client-facing side of the organization. I would work with clients in workshop settings to understand their unique configuration requirements for our software, and would write up the requirements in specification documents. In some cases, my team would handle the configuration, and in cases that required the development of new features, the documents were passed on to the custom development groups within the company. When new features were ready, I would organize User Acceptance Testing sessions with the client. After successful completion of the testing, I would then coordinate the delivery activities with our internal teams.

My favourite activities while working for Copperleaf were the occasions where I was able to sit down and write code for some of the features we were looking to deliver when the development teams were constrained on capacity. Ultimately, this led to my decision to return to school for Computer Science.

I have found being back in school to be a rewarding experience. With several years of work experience under my belt, I am more easily able to relate the material I am learning in class to real-world situations. Throughout this technical writing class especially, I have been honing my ability to communicate ideas effectively and concisely. This is a skill applicable to every workplace environment.

Coming up this summer and fall, I will be working in an internship at a large software company called Workday. Workday develops software for Human Capital Management (HCM) that is used by the largest organizations in the world. I am eager to begin, and very excited to see where this path will lead!

Cheers,

Alex