Hey everyone! My name is Marissa and I am currently a 4th year Computer Science student here at the University of British Columbia. I will be finishing up my degree this December and afterwards I will be working as a software developer at an enterprise software company in Vancouver that I previously interned at.
Here’s a little back story as to why I choose computer science. Even when I was in high school, I knew that I wanted to enter UBC and I knew that I wanted to enter the Faculty of Science. At the time, my goal was to pursue some health science related profession so when I was in first year I set my sights on choosing Microbiology and Immunology as my major. However, as first year continued on, I slowly began to realize that my passion for biology and chemistry was dwindling and I wasn’t as motivated as before. When it came time to actually choose my major, I decided to challenge myself and I entered the Combined Major of Microbiology and Immunology and Computer Science. At that time I had never touched programming, but I felt like by entering this major I had two doors open for me. I could continue to pursue health sciences if I enjoyed Microbiology but I could also dabble in computer science and see if it would be a good fit for me. As I continued on to second and third year, I began to enjoy my computer science courses more than microbiology courses and eventually I knew that microbiology was just not for me.
My passion for computer science was further cemented when I went to my first internship last year. There I was able to experience what it is like to work at a software company and I really enjoyed my time there. Once I returned to school 8 months later, I was fully committed and I switched majors to just computer science. Since then, I have been focused on learning as much as I can in my remaining time at school.
When not in school or typing away at my computer, some of my hobbies include travelling, hiking and photography. I also enjoy learning more about programming as there is endless amount of information to learn and master.