Cohort Stories: Meet Juan H.
vol. 6, no. 77— guest post by Juan Hincapie
Ever since I was a child, I was always passionate about learning new things. Whenever I found a topic that would interest me, I would spend hours and hours reading about it until I fell asleep at the computer or with a book in my hand. This became helpful by the time I got to college, as I already had some experience with software like AutoCAD and programming languages like Python. After my first year of college, my mother and I moved to the United States, leaving my friends behind and starting over was a challenge. I put my best foot forward and started to look for internships and joined clubs at my community college, eventually becoming the president of the science club.
As the youngest of five children, it was difficult to find a way to stand out. Being closest to the youngest of my siblings we stuck together and found an interest in engineering. From a very young age, we would often disassemble things around the house and put them back together to find out how they worked.
When my mother noticed that we had started tinkering with objects (and sometimes breaking them) she signed us up for a college-level robotics class, this was the first big step in my journey. it was difficult at first since I was the only middle schooler in the course, and often would be dismissed among college students, but I took it upon myself to learn as much as I could.
By the time final projects were due, I was near the top of the class helping other groups finish their projects.
When I first heard about Hack through an email from my university, I got excited and signed up for the information session. Haven paused my studies due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I had been looking for an opportunity to continue my professional journey and Hack was offering what I was looking for. Having a space to put my skills to work, joining a community of people from all over the world with diverse backgrounds, and the opportunity to gain a mentor to help guide me along the way. This is the perfect opportunity to build connections and get experience in the tech field. I’m excited about my time at Hack and look forward to working with a team of amazing people.
