I am passionate about software engineering because I love that coding is a contract for continuous lifelong learning. In almost every other field, the more time you spend practicing, the closer you get to mastering the skills you once set out to learn. With programming, the target is always moving. Getting better means learning new things, as opposed to amassing and comfortably sitting with a knowledge base.

Creative problem solving. My code almost always has some hacky fix to a problem that someone with a deeper knowledge of the language could probably solve in one line; but despite not knowing every shortcut in the book I still manage to get the computer to do what I want it to do.

When creativity fails me or I want to refactor at some point in the future and learn a better way, that determination to succeed takes over and I use another great talent of mine, resourcefulness, to seek out answers. I'm an expert at researching the web, which is actually a skill I honed throughout my time at an elite high school, the University of Chicago, and NYU.

As an employee, I always put the success of the company first. For instance, some people when tasked with work they cannot complete will dodge emails and wait until the last minute to surprise their team with an unfinished product.

My priority is to make sure that things get done, not to avoid looking bad. If I don't know how to do something or think I can't get something done on time, I will communicate that immediately to my team. As long as everyone is on the same page, issues can get worked out and projects won't be sabotaged by ego. In other words, I'm a team player.

Working in the service industry taught me how to deliver exceptional quality under often unfortunate and stressful conditions, and how to get along with coworkers who might not have the same goal in mind. I believe this experience has prepared me for a career in software development, where bugs often come up right before deadlines, and the ability to collaborate despite clashes in personality is required.

Working as a research analyst in finance helped teach me how to ask the right questions. I spent most of my time going through decks and deciding if they were worth presenting to the higher-ups as viable investment opportunities. These exercises in due diligence helped develop my critical thinking and research skills. What this means for a hiring manager looking at my application is that I'm not just valuable as a cog in the deployment machine. I'm also capable of contributing to the analysis of the potential value of implementing a new feature before being tasked with making it come to life.

Whist working as a research analyst, I was once tasked with reviewing an opportunity to invest in a crypto fund. My due diligence led me to the conclusion that our money would be unsafe with Virgil Capital based on their returns seeming way too high for the space they were occupying, amongst a number of other factors. My boss trusted my gut instinct and decided not to advise clients to invest. It turns out I saved a bunch of people a bunch of money by passing on what turned out to be a $100 million crypto fraud...

Other than the achievement of earning my place at the group for which I conducted financial analysis, and learning to make some delicious drinks at the juice shop, my main professional accomplishments came from my time as a professional student. Getting into the University of Chicago and being accepted for transfer to NYU were difficult feats that required years of continuous dedication to achieving academic excellence.