Cohort Stories: Meet Christopher O.
vol. 4, no. 66 — guest post by Christopher Ordonez Salguero
I started becoming interested in technology at a relatively young age. When I got my hands on a computer, the feeling of curiosity was addicting. I remember going on the role-playing game Webkinz as a way of escaping the real world. Creating and modeling my Webkinz home how I saw fit gave me a sense of control. The feeling that anything was possible gave me confidence. To this day, I still have that feeling of excitement when on a computer and I hope it never goes away.
Getting accepted into Hack.Diversity was not easy. It is very competitive and the Codility exam was extremely difficult. I applied to the Cohort two years and got denied because my programming and efficiency skills were not sufficient. I got a zero on the Codility exercise all three trials. This time around, I ended up getting better scores every time I retook the exercise. My persistence has helped me be part of Hack.Diversity.
There have been many obstacles in my life that I had to overcome to get to where I am today. The biggest one would have to be applying for college. As a first-generation student there was little to no guidance on the logistics of applying. It always felt overwhelming. The pressure and lack of guidance made it daunting. I began to fall deeper and deeper into a state of depression. Somehow, I managed to take time to reflect and kept working at it. Luckily, I never gave up on myself and continued forward to this day.
My biggest motivation is the idea of being financially independent and retiring early so I may help those close to me. Coming from a third-world country I have seen the affect money can have.
Emerging from nothing and then getting the privilege to have everything feels like a blessing. I just hope to give back to the people that have helped me along the way.
As a Latino minority, I rarely saw anybody in my classes who came from the same background as me. This observation made me feel like an outcast most of my time in college. I hope to have a career where my coworkers are open-minded to the fact that I am different. I envision my time at Hack.Diversity to be productive. I believe that this Cohort will give me the tools to succeed.
