Cohort Stories: Meet Phylis
Boston: vol. 8, no. 67 — guest post by Phylis Temea
Just like most immigrants, I wanted to be a nurse, not because that was my passion, but because of what I was fed and what I was seeing in my community. I began to force and envision myself working in the hospitals. There were still voices telling me, girl this is not it, but the other voices were louder, “Look at you, you are black, you immigrants, it won’t work for you, you can only be a nurse, look at us, we tried, but didn’t work.” Years passed by, and I am still majoring in nursing. In spring 2019, I took college experience, everything that the teacher said on our first day in class, it felt like she was speaking directly to me. But that didn’t change anything.
When the Fall semester started. I was so overwhelmed; therefore, I scheduled an appointment with the adviser. I explained to her how I felt, what I loved to do, and where my passion was. She held my hand a guided me, “don’t be scared to follow your dream” she said.
That’s how changed my major to web Technology. I didn’t have a clue what that meant then. But my first computer class, IST 120 was a turning point. I fell in love, and my heart was full.
As a child, I was born and raised in a small village Kakeani, in Kenya. I had only seen a picture of a computer. The first time I came across a real computer, I was 22 years old, and it was a PC. I found it fascinating, I didn’t have anybody to teach me. So, I spent almost the whole day inspecting, editing, deleting, and Googling because I wanted to learn how it works. I downloaded and did other things that ended up shutting down the computer and never turned it back on again. My interest was piqued, and I began to wonder what had caused the computer to break. But because I didn’t have anything else to explore with, I forgot about it and moved on. It took me years to here, but I am grateful for the journey.
When I look back to see how far I have come with my journey in tech, I lack words to express it. It wasn’t easy, it cost a lot — especially during the pandemic, the assignments, exams, and projects. I attained the power to work under pressure and not go crazy or give up, be it submitting assignments on the due date or completing the syllabus a night before exams. I found my way to getting along with the stress. I’m forever grateful to Hack.Diversity for the opportunity. I’m so excited to be in Hack.Diversity 2024, I am looking forward to learning, growing in skills, networking, and community, and making a place for myself in the technology field. My career goal is to become a software engineer and to teach.
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