Disclaimer: The views expressed by our interviewees are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of GradSimple. We only edit these responses for clarity. All opinions remain those of the interviewee.
- Name: Bradley V.
- Year Of Graduation: 2023
- College/University: University of Alabama at Birmingham
- Major: Computer Science
What do you currently do for a living? Do you see a future in it?
I’m a software developer. I work for a medical charting company. We work with a lot of the software that nurses use on the daily, for medication administration, anything you’d see in a hospital. That’s the software that we work with. Typically, what I do is integrations. So I’m working with helping hospitals work with the local Walgreens or helping a client work with a local laboratory and just making sure the messages are arriving and sending between the two. So a lot of it is like client communication and working between multiple parties, and I like doing that.
I think a lot of people think that software development is clicking behind a keyboard, but I definitely like being on meetings and talking to people every day. It’s a different side of it. The role almost leans more into what other people would say is an implementation job or a product management job, where you’re talking with third party services, or you’re talking with multiple invested parties at the same time. Obviously you’re still coding and you’re still a software developer, but it’s more interesting. You’re not a product manager, but you’re offering insight in meetings from a software developer perspective, which I like.
Can you tell me about your job search experience leading up to and/or after graduation?
It was very non-traditional compared to what I imagine most software developer postgrads have where I was really worried about the grinding, the questions and the preparing for the interview process that a lot of software developers are scared about. I was really lucky that I had an internship from my junior year of college through my senior year and they hired me after graduating, and I still have that same position. So, I didn’t really have to search. It kind of got handed to me.
People say that networking is the most important thing you can do while you’re in college, and I feel like that’s definitely true for software development in such a competitive field. Especially with software development, that’s definitely something where if you’re not living in Austin or San Francisco, or you’re not in North Carolina, or you’re not in one of the tech cities, I know people want to move out there, but there’s opportunity everywhere. If you’re going to these job fairs at your local college and you’re talking with employers there, you’re likely to find something.
Why did you choose your major? What was your thought process?
I always kind of had a passion for medicine, and my family had health issues, my dad was in and out of the hospital. So, I told myself, “Okay, medicine is what I want to do. I’m personally invested in it. It just makes sense for me to want to go do that. I’m going to have the drive to do it because, I’ve got a personal story there.” And then I figured out real quick that no, actually, I don’t want to be in a hospital for the rest of my life. I don’t want to make that my career. I figured out that I want something that is more like a job. You go and you do it and you can enjoy it, but you don’t have to dedicate your whole life to doing it. And some people are like that and they can dedicate their whole life to their career and that is truly their main passion, but some people aren’t like that. Maybe their family is their passion, maybe their hobbies are their passion, and I feel like maybe that’s more the type of person I am. I think I discovered that when I was on the premed path.
The people around me, they were so invested in their studying and I wasn’t performing badly, but I just wasn’t as excited as they were. And I just knew that I was not going to do well on the MCAT and I don’t know if I would have got accepted to med school. So, I decided that I needed to change to something else that I was interested in. Software development was the hype at the time. Everybody was trying to do it. So, I was like, responsibly this makes sense, but also I was interested in it. So that’s the main reason why I swapped over it.
When did the realization hit that you needed to change majors?
I had the revelation when a lot of premed people do, and that was sophomore year when I started taking organic chemistry. That is the class that weeded me out. I took that class and I was done. I’m an atypical college student because I went to college for five and a half years. I changed majors and there wasn’t a lot of crossover between biology and computer science, so I had to take an additional year of college.
I’m a first-generation college student and I knew that the scholarship money wasn’t going to extend past the four years. So I would be just going off the FAFSA. I was pretty lucky to have been able to do that fifth year of college. It was a rough decision for me to make, but I knew that if I just continued on that [premed] path, even if I did succeed, I just knew that it wasn’t going to be the right fit for me. Getting accepted into med school is hard and I did not have the drive to do that rat race.
If I had asked you three years ago, what do you think you’d be doing right now in life and/or your career?
I would say that I would expect to probably be exactly where I am. Three years ago, I would have been starting in software development. I wasn’t planning to move out of Alabama. I expected to work exactly where I am. I wanted to stay close to family. I knew there was opportunity here. And again, I wasn’t gunning for a FAANG position. I wasn’t gunning for Netflix, or Amazon. I wanted something local. I wanted to stay here and that’s what I shot for, and that’s what I got. I’m not trying to sound not humble by saying I ended up exactly where I wanted to be because I feel like it wasn’t a super high bar to set, but I set my expectations on something realistic because fiscally college was risky for me. So I just set on something I knew I could do and something I knew would make me happy and that’s where I landed.
What’s your biggest struggle right now?
It is definitely just figuring out what the next step is for me. I love my job and I love what I’m doing, but it’s figuring out what I want to do postgraduation because I’m kind of in a lull right now. So, I’ve landed myself something secure and I’m alive and I’ve got an apartment and I’ve got two cats and I’m happy, but what’s the next step? Do I start trying to build a family? Do I try to push my career goals? And again, I’m not a career-oriented person, so that’s something that I’m not super motivated to do. It’s about trying to figure out what’s going to make me fulfilled post-college. I think a lot of people my age are more worried about just paying the bills, and I’m glad and I’m privileged to be in a position that I can [pay]. I’m using that position to figure out myself, and I’ve got a lot of figuring out to do.
By the time I graduated and I had a full-time job, I was sitting in my apartment realizing, “Wow, I’m an adult and I have a job and I have co-workers, but I don’t have any friends.” And I think that is definitely a position that a lot of people can relate to. It is really, really hard to make friends when you’re working a full-time job and you’re an adult. You don’t have a class where you can just go sit down and talk to the person next to you or you’re not put into group projects and friends are made for you by nature of being in that group project. it’s difficult and you’ll go online and Google how to make friends as a mid-20s adult and people say download this app and do meetups but it doesn’t work necessarily all the time. It’s rough and I would say that’s my biggest struggle for sure. I want to surround myself with more people.
If money wasn’t a factor, what do you think you’d be working on right now or at least spending more time on?
Definitely myself. This is something probably also atypical about my college experience, but I had a pretty rough college experience in terms of personal loss. I lost a parent during college. I developed a chronic illness during college. That kept me out of class for a year, so during that time I was very depressed. I was on and off medication and I was working with my doctors through it. If I wasn’t worried about anything else right now, my main goal would just be improving my mental health. It’s my first time ever going to therapy, which is something I never had time for before, and I’m doing it now.
Would you mind sharing a little more about these struggles you’ve faced and how they impacted you?
Specifically with the hardship, my dad passed away in my sophomore year. And the real difficulty there was is that you’re going into college and you’re trying to figure out who you are. I went in and I was like, I’m going to be a doctor, and I thought I knew that, and then I get there and I’m making all these new friends and I feel like I’m changing as a person. My personality is changing, and I’m discovering that I maybe don’t want to be a doctor, and I’m trying to figure out all these things about myself and then I’ve got all this trouble at home.
Part of me wants to just go home and be with my family because I’m four hours away. I’m close enough I could just drive there and be there on the weekends. Another part of me is saying I should be at home with my family because I know my family’s struggling. I’m not being a good son by not being at home with them. I think that the really difficult part of college for me was making the decision that if I didn’t stay there and I didn’t figure out myself in that time, I would have just been so far behind the curve in dealing with grief and I wouldn’t be in the position I am today.
I knew that my parents wanted me to be here and they would have felt worse if I went down every weekend. I feel like other people are in this position, too. Maybe they travel across the country to go to college and maybe they’re leaving behind a struggling family. Especially first-generation college students who go on a scholarship or something. Maybe they’re leaving behind a family that is financially disparaged or something like that, and it’s a tough situation to be in, but I think that you’re exactly in the place you need to be if you’re in college and even if your family is struggling, it’s an important time for you to figure out who you are. If I hadn’t spent those couple of years figuring out, that med school wasn’t for me and I didn’t change my mind about who I wanted to be as a person, then I think I would have not been as happy as I am now.
What does a fulfilling life mean to you?
I’ve never really been the type of person where at the end of my life, I want to say “Wow, I was really proficient in my career and I really pushed myself. My job title had a three next to it and I was a super senior software engineer.” I would feel proud to have that one day and I would want that one day, but that’s not going to be the thing I think about whenever I’m old. To me, it’s about being surrounded by people and being there for my family when it matters and being able to be there for people when it matters and being in a position where I’m mentally and financially capable for them because in the past I haven’t been able to be that way.
There were times in my life when I wanted to be there for people and I just couldn’t be. So that’s what I’m trying to set myself up for. I just want to keep making experiences and having memories and just making them with the people around me. That’s what fulfillment is for me, and there’s nothing wrong with thinking differently too. I think that you will get that same experience and you will make memories and you’ll have life experiences if you push yourself in a career.
If we traveled three years into the future, what would you hope we’d see for your life and/or career?
I hope that I find a way to get some motivation for my career. I do think that I’ve grown in my career. I’ve definitely taken on more responsibility, especially since becoming an intern. I’ve definitely taken on more responsibility there. But in the past year, I 100% have. I think I’ve grown to be respected in my role, and that feels good. And I never thought that I would really care about feeling respected in my role at my job, but I really do. So, I do hope to make some gains there, but I especially hope to have a better social net. I probably am considering being closer to family. Definitely working on more friends, working on putting myself out there, and focusing on my hobbies. I have a hard time motivating myself to come home from work and, put time into things I love doing and taking care of myself. After school and after just a lot of years of stress, I want to stop going home and turning off my brain and going to sleep, and instead spend a couple hours doing something fulfilling and practicing something I love doing.
Advice you’d like to share?
My number one thing is don’t be afraid to swap majors. It was scary for me. I went and talked to my financial adviser and they told me, “Don’t do it. you’re not gonna have the scholarship money in your fifth year. You’re gonna have to live off the FAFSA and it’s going to be rough and I don’t think your grades are going to be good.” I told them, “It’s important for me to change.” I personally believed that I couldn’t do it at first because it was in the middle of the pandemic and I was isolated. You can definitely do it. It’s just that you have to, dip your toe first. Maybe take an intro class. if you feel like you will love what you’re trying and what you’re currently doing isn’t what you feel like you’ll enjoy doing, then go for it. it’s better than investing yourself into something that you’re not going to enjoy doing for the rest of your life potentially.
Don’t blame yourself too much if you’re going through a hard time and you make mistakes, or you feel like you missed out on experiences or maybe you had a bad day, you treated someone poorly or you treated yourself poorly, or you had bad moments or you lost friends or you flaked on people because you felt bad or something. Maybe you’re in your freshman year and you have a fling and you get broken up with. You’re sad and you stay in your dorm room and cry instead of going out with your friends after you finish college. Don’t beat yourself up over it and say, “Wow, I really missed out on the college experience.” Because if you were hurt and you were going through something, you didn’t miss out. Part of grieving and having those emotions is kind of part of the college experience. You’re coming into your 20s and you’re becoming an adult and stuff like that just starts to happen and that’s kind of part of growing up.
Anytime you can get yourself out the door and kind of ignore those things when you can and go have and make memories with your friends, then do it. But also give yourself time to cope with those emotions and feel them. And, never hate yourself or regret making those choices to sit with them because it’s important to sit with them.
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