Tech Like Us: The Techie
I should start this story by introducing myself. Sup?! My name is Keheira, and I’m a student studying Computer Science and Computer Engineering at North Carolina A&T State University. One day, I hope to obtain a masters in hardware security because I’ve come to fall in love with the security field these past few years.
Once upon a time, I was a young black girl that didn’t speak to anyone and pretty much just stayed in my own lane. I spent most of my time reading, playing video games, playing an instrument, or playing sports. At that time, I thought my dream job would be video game tester from 9 til 5 and WNBA star for the LA Sparks after 5 and on weekends.
Contrary to the perception given by the media, I have these great parents who are engineers, but they never really wanted me to be an engineer. They were ok with having a video game-testing, basketball-star daughter, but then that crazy day happened…the day I started public school for the first time. It was scary because I didn’t speak much, I wasn’t used to being around so many people that looked like me, and I figured out I’d never be like the Fresh Prince in school. I did have a few things going for me though such as being able to play three instruments, enjoying technology, and being pretty good at math (although I still don’t like the subject).
Sometime during that first year, I found myself in the Science Olympiad, and I met this guy who was really good at computers. As I talked to him, I found out he was the creator of the school district web blocker (proxies are your friends, kids), and the geek in me thought that was super cool. So of course, I started trying to be like him.
Throughout high school, I joined the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), started taking engineering classes, and even claimed I was was going to be “The Best Engineer in the World.” Deep down, I knew I had no real clue what I wanted to do with my life, but computer engineering, new technology (“toys”), and the jeans and t-shirt work attire seemed like the life for me.
Skip forward to the summer of 2015, and I’ve worked at NASA, HCA, the Air Force, Sikorsky, and as a recent alumna of Code2040. I’ve also traveled abroad to aid in my learning of Spanish and the native culture of its speakers. As a freshman, I was fortunate to have an advisor that was very supportive of my decision to transfer schools in order to pursue a computer engineering degree. He challenged me to join his cybersecurity research team and to learn Android. Since then, I’ve been published in a paper about teaching Android security, learning multiple programming languages, and doing side hardware projects.
Nowadays, when I’m not trying to get into graduate school, get a job, or coding, I still read, I play video games(PSN:mochila_ninja), I’m the Communications Chairperson for Region II of NSBE, and I watch anime. As you can see, I don’t have a conventional engineering path; I just like trying new things and “breaking” stuff. If you’re a female and you think my life is cool, yours can be too! Just don’t take no as an answer. Plus, the tech world was made for/by women, I mean Grace Hopper made the compiler after all. :)
P.S. Don is my mentor, and he showed this whole “Tech Like Us” movement to me.
