Cohort Stories: Meet Daniela
Boston: vol. 7, no. 20 — guest post by Daniela Morin
I strongly believe achieving milestones necessitates charting new territories in unforeseen places.
Being a first generation American, hailing from South Texas, I’m proud of my humble roots and the ambition that my parents instilled in me to pursue challenging, but rewarding endeavors.
Furthermore, navigating higher education and finding my place within a highly stratified American society, taught me many hard earned lessons, but I’m very grateful for the invaluable transferable skills I’ve gained along the way that will serve me not only in my career and both my personal and professional development.
My path to software was far from linear and if I’m being honest, not even one I had ever imagined for myself, but I’ve come to find often the best things in life are unscripted.
As the first in my family to earn a college degree, I often felt a pressure to become rapidly successful in whatever field of work I pursued and in retrospect, that often held me back from taking risks. Even now I’m still unlearning imposter syndrome and becoming self assured of being capable, intelligent and committed enough to reach my goals, independent of institutional validation.
Becoming a Questbridge Scholar, earning a full ride scholarship to Wellesley College, and charting my own path in a new city through trial and error, are some of the milestones I would consider formative to my sense of self efficacy. Additionally, in one of my biggest milestones and most previous vocation, being a teacher of young minds taught me the importance of good communication, co-creating knowledge and establishing a shared understanding before being able to move forward to bring ideas to fruition.
As I embarked on my own higher education and career journeys, I became increasingly intrigued by Systems thinking, design patterns and Human Computer Interaction principles that I encountered in my fields of work. I was particularly fascinated by the ways in which digital solutions paralleled solving puzzles efficiently and how networked structures behaved like adaptive systems and the implications of that for our greater society. The capacity of using technology to the benefit of good causes was alluring and although tech has exacerbated inequities for many, I’m optimistic about its potential to help address systemic DEI issues for people from a wide range of socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds.
The prospect of finding my niche within the tech ecosystem and being part of a supportive and collaborative team while contributing to a mission driven organization, is a big driver for me to keep growing and honing my skills in this industry. I’m confident in finding my place in the tech ecosystem and Hack’s instrumental role in supporting my goals and helping me realize my full potential.
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