Cohort Stories: Meet Heather
vol. 6, no. 55 — guest post by Heather Brillant
I would say that the thing I am most proud of when it comes to my background is the way I learned English all on my own in my home country. For a few years, coming to the US had been felt like wasn’t going to happen at all until we got the notice. Many things were challenging for me because I had always been a shy, reserved person, and coming to a new country at the time made me feel on-edge every day. But the fact that I felt comfortable enough speaking English was something that eased that challenge for me. And I am most proud of this because, being self-taught, it showed me that if I made good use of my time, I could learn something that would make my, and someone else’s life, a lot easier.
What excites me most about technology are all the possibilities. I think that we have become so accustomed to the current technology, we overlook just how advanced we are and what it all means. I believe that technology can make anything possible.
By making anything possible, we can get closer to solutions to some of the challenges society has faced for centuries.
The process of building technology is seeing it all come together. It is sitting down, working on one feature, seeing it fail, and working on it for hours until you get it right. At the beginning of my journey, this was very tedious to me, but as time has gone by, I enjoy it more and more because it makes me very proud once it has all come together.
I envision that my time at Hack.Diversity will be a process of learning and adapting. For the most part, everything I’ve done I’ve done on my own. Working in a team environment is different, it is fun, and it can have a very positive impact on somebody. I am particularly excited about Hack.Diversity because when I first heard about it 2–3 years ago, I didn’t feel ready because of my technical skills. Now that I’ve learned more and get the opportunity to participate in this amazing program, I’m looking forward to working in a team environment. I hope that by the end of the program, I’ve given Hack.Diversity my best and that I feel confident in my skills to launch my career.
