I’m driven to solve challenging, novel problems. I want to do fulfilling, meaningful work that emphasizes the values that matter to me. Responsibility, service, conviction, empathy — to name a few (an entire blog post can be dedicated to explaining why I value, those values). Since I was young, I thought medicine provided the best opportunity to reach that ultimate goal. I started on a track that would get me there.
I graduated from the University of Washington with a BS in biochemistry in 2018. I studied the basic sciences and gained working experience in medicine throughout college and in my post-graduate years. I started working nightshift in a level 2 trauma center in the emergency department(ED). During college, I worked nightshift on weekends. My routine was to wrap up classes Friday afternoon, complete my weekly online biochem quiz, hit the gym, nap, and roll into the ED for a couple 12 hour shifts Friday and Saturday night. During my limited downtime I’d try to read my molecular biology text or work through physical chemistry/thermodynamics problems — of course, some nights were more productive than others. I’d use Sunday to reset my sleep schedule and prep for the upcoming week. After graduation, I transitioned to work in surgery, where I switched to day shift. During those post grad-years I geared up for application to medical school. That involved shadowing doctors, studying for the MCAT(medical college admissions test), writing, securing recommendations, exploring schools, and potential career paths. You need to be squared away on many fronts to even apply to medical school.
During that time exploring the field of healthcare, I realized that there were other things that I valued, which I wasn’t accomplishing. I wasn’t far along into a career in medicine, however, I had the sense that I was missing an opportunity to explore other areas of interest. I had been narrowly focused on a very demanding path. This being the case, I reflected on where I was and what I wanted to do.
I’ve always known that I have a desire to work with motivated people on intellectually stimulating problems. What I realized during my post-grad years was that I wanted to innovate in order to create solutions and tools to improve peoples lives. In healthcare especially, I believe technology can help make those improvements. Software applications are becoming ubiquitous, but for some reason, lacking in healthcare. I believe there is an opportunity to improve many processes in healthcare with the use of robust software applications. The uses will go beyond EMR (electronic medical records), imaging, testing, and rudimentary data collection for census, staffing, or business operations. In contrast to hospitals I worked, I recently learned FedEx utilizes thousands of software applications in order to maintain, and optimize operations. Among those several thousand software applications, a couple hundred are responsible for tracking, shipping, and delivery. The amount that can be done with software programs to optimize, improve, and solve complex issues is what makes technology important, and interesting.
There is a need to use software in all sorts of applications across many different industries. I began to see how software could be improved in my time in healthcare, while also noticing how much new technology was driving innovation and success in other industries. It seems like a complete 180-degree pivot to work with computers instead of working with people in healthcare. The way I see it, the reach of technology has far greater potential for affecting change in the world. Working nights in the ER, the people would continuously funnel into the waiting room and we would treat them one by one. It seemed like an endless battle to fight for the health of patients while treating them and taking care of them. So much good was accomplished in the ER I worked, but I always believe that there were better, more efficacious ways of reaching people and making evidence-based decisions. I see healthcare as one industry that will benefit tremendously from the new technology that will be made available. It won’t just be AI detecting finding on radiographic imaging, or hospital management. I believe that impact will be made from preventative healthcare providers to the ER once the technologies are created and implemented.
To that end, I am pursuing a career learning to develop software programs. As technology advances, so does the scope of what can be achieved, and what needs to be achieved. I believe working as a software engineer allows the greatest opportunity to solve problems, optimize, and innovate. My goal is to work on projects that meet those ideals. Currently, my focus is in leveraging the skills I’ve learned during my flatiron
