I used to work in mental health with children. Specifically, I worked with children with autism employing Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA). Working in this field taught me a lot about cultivating patience, empathy for others, general people skills, and thinking outside the box. While I was working in mental health, I also worked in customer service as a bartender at a restaurant. Having five years of customer service under my belt taught me that I really do enjoy creating a valuable and memorable experience for a customer.
The field of mental health, however, is experiencing a lot of difficulties right now, as it is a relatively new field and receives very little funding. This produces a very complicated and exhausting environment for employees in the field. Not only does working in mental health take an emotional toll on a person, but we are also very limited in the resources available to us due to the lack of funding. Reaching this point in my career brought me to a fork in the road, where I felt as if I needed a change. For years, my father always told me that I would do well in the field of technology - he would remind me of my problem solving skills, and my ability to think outside the box. After a few years of hearing this from him, I realized this was a perfect opportunity for me to do some research into what my options are. After a few months of research, I eventually decided on Turing.
Since then, I have realized that the skills I am acquiring at Turing is a new found set of skills that I thoroughly enjoy building upon. Not only am I acquiring new skills, but I am using skills from my prior occupations, like maintaining patience during times of frustration, solving complex problems, and thinking outside the box on how to approach a problem. A particular aspect of the field of technology that excites me is that every single company needs someone to write their software - this means that I can spend some time really focusing on finding a company that aligns with my values of supporting mental health and refined customer service. Specifically, I would love to bridge my passion for mental health into my future career by having a strong focus on accessibility for all different types of users. Due to the fact that technology is reaching most people throughout the world, there is a large pull to make sure that software accurately applies to any possible user. I would like to focus on accessibility for people with cognitive, visual, auditory, and other impairments, and being able to bridge this connection from my prior occupations into my future career would provide a great amount of fulfillment for not only myself, but for those who are using the software I help create.