Uncanny Journey from Soil PhD to Software Dev Apprenticeship
My interest for software & technology started in middle school when my friend and I learned how to mod the original xbox. We found it fascinating that we could either hard mod our xbox by soldering an actual chip onto the motherboard or fuse the xbox controller wires to a USB wire, load software under a ‘save’ on the memory card and then run a game that will open the exploitive software. My friend and I experimented for months flashing the hard drive, loading third party software and modding individual games like Halo. This was my first introduction to the expansiveness of the open source community. I couldn’t believe how many of these tools were developed by programmers that did not get paid for their time, but did it for their belief in free and open software.
I carried over this interest by enrolling in a Java course in 10th grade. I thoroughly enjoyed the material and ended up making a text-based game in the console; however, I didn’t know where to go with it after the course had finished and I ended up diverting learning paths.
Fast forward to undergrad, I took an introduction to Geology course and was captivated by the enthusiasm the professors had for Earth Science. I ended up becoming a Geology & Environmental Geosciences major and quickly became engrossed in learning all sub-disciplines. After graduating, I pursued Marine Geology by interning on research vessels where I would analyze the ocean bathymetry using multi-bean sonar data collected in real-time. My favorite part of this chapter was interning with NOAA aboard the Nancy Foster in the Long Island Sound. Sadly, I quickly found out my stomach wasn’t made for the rough seas and therefore, had to find a different career path.
I consider the time before graduate school to be a major period of crossroads. I did not know what I wanted to do so I became a barista for a year and taught physical education for a summer in Dalian, China. However, I quickly connected with a professor in Clemson that specialized in soil and became her graduate student. While at Clemson, I pursued my PhD in Soil Science and completed research articles specifically on the Ecosystem Services of Soil Inorganic Carbon. I received my PhD in December 2019 and started looking for local employment.
I found my first employment in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) since I taught the GIS lab in graduate school and have taken a few courses in the subject. While I enjoyed geospatial data management, I really loved programming automative tasks using a specific python module, ArcPy. I knew I wanted to pursue a role that more heavily resided in software development. This is when I found a local coding bootcamp to Greenville, SC called Carolina Code School.
I enrolled in Carolina Code School (CCS) in Fall 2021 where I acquired skills in JavaScript, React, Python and Django REST over the course of 12-weeks full-time. I could write a lot about my experience there, but I want to transition into how I believe this is the point my software developer apprenticeship really began.
Currently, my favorite concept of an apprenticeship is embedded in a Japanese martial art called Shu Ha Ri. It’s the idea that there are stages on the learning path to mastery. These stages are described as the following: 1) Shu — A student precisely matches the teacher’s teachings and does not think about theory or other alternative paths to solve the same problems. The student is tasked with concentrating on only the teacher’s methods for now. 2) Ha — At this stage, the student starts to use what they have learned by incorporating other teachers methods into their working knowledge and starts to learn the underlying theory & principles behind each method. 3) Ri — The final stage, the student is now perfecting their knowledge base by their own practice and methodology instead of learning from other people.
I’m drawn to the Shu Ha Ri framework because I believe I entered the stage of ‘Shu’ when I was enrolled at CCS. In the 12 weeks at CCS, I learned a lot about software development by drinking water from a firehose and at the time, I did not question my teacher’s methodology nor did I have time to understand the underlying theory. However, now that I am have graduated from CCS and have entered the Develop Carolina Fellowship program, I believe I am now in the ‘Ha’ stage of my software development journey because I am investigating the underlying theory that lies an abstraction or two below my current working knowledge, while also learning alternative methodologies to tackle similar problems.
During my apprenticeship, I will be learning subjects relating to software development in a curriculum called Engineering Kit, while getting real on-the-job experience working at a software consulting company. There is a lot of knowledge of software development that I have not touched yet; however, I enjoy being a lifelong learner and want to embody that as I work on being a software craftsman and apprentice. As an apprentice, I’m looking forward to learning from my mentors both at my job and in the Develop Carolina Fellowship program. I believe I will learn a lot from others in this program and I am extremely excited to continue working towards the ‘Ri’ stage of my learning journey.
