Choose Your Own Adventure

Since I was young, I’ve had a wide variety of interests. It was vet medicine, crochet, web design, music, brain teasers and much more. Over the years, I’ve considered different career paths from marine biology to cultural anthropology to sociology to forensics. What do all of these interests have in common? - Creativity, problem solving and constant curiosity. All traits needed for programming.

I was introduced to programming in high school. My computer science class was taught by a very enthusiastic, eccentric man. And, oh man, was that enthusiasm contagious! He showed me how cool programming can be. He taught me how to pay attention to detail and how to think out and solve problems/bugs for myself. He showed me how I could type some things on the computer and make something great!

Junior year came and it was time to choose my major. I closely considered marine biology. But, me being the millennial that I am, thought, “This is too focused. I need something with more options in case I change my mind.” Then I thought of computer science. How perfect? Computers are everywhere. We need programmers everywhere. With computer science I could be a part of any field I’d like, including marine biology. And thus, Vanessa the computer scientist was born.

Throughout my time in computer science, an organization called the National Society of Black Engineers has been very important to me. This organization not only helps me excel but allows me to help others excel. One evening, I was at a NSBE Professionals Christmas party. I had recently transitioned from my collegiate chapter so I didn’t really know anyone yet. It was heading towards the end of the night and I was waiting for my ride so we could leave. They were taking a while so I said, “Let me stop being awkward and actually go socialize.” So I walked around and asked some people if I could sit with them. We chatted a bit and I realized that I was sitting at a table full of Infosys recruiters. (Who, by the way, were invited for this particular event and I would not have run into otherwise.) I chatted with them some more and one saw potential in me.

I was hired on at Infosys and was sent to Connecticut for training. Training was really fun for me. I called it college 2.0 because it felt like school but way more fun and no homework! I loved it because I love learning! The people in my training group were pretty great. There were many laughs shared between us. The training was challenging at times but nothing I wasn’t prepare to try and tackle.

After training, I was assigned to the Infosys Center for Emerging Technology Solutions or iCETS for short, where we look into emerging technologies and see how we can use those to solve problems and enhance experiences. And wow, I don’t think I could have been assigned to a cooler department. I get to be on the cutting edge of technology. I get to be a direct influencer in the new technologies that Infosys invests in. I get fun toys to play around with like virtual reality and augmented reality headsets, Alexa and much more. I get to be in front of top clients showing them the possibilities. I get to be at the forefront of the action seeing people gaze in awe and wonder at the experiences we have developed. Like my colleague said, being in iCETS is like a choose your own adventure game. I can choose exactly what I want to learn/ look into. And I feel that is true for most of Infosys. If you don’t like what you are doing currently, there are people that will work with you and help you find something more suited to your interests. All in all, I don’t I could have found a more interesting job fresh out of college. I get to apply creativity, problem solving and constant curiosity. I feel that I can grow exponentially in this position and I feel that is true of lots of positions at Infosys. So it’s no surprise to me that Infosys was named the 3rd Best Regarded Company in the World by Forbes. I am really grateful for all of the experiences in my life and to be working at such a highly regarded company. Much love and keep on adventuring folks!

Infosys Ranked Third In Forbes 'Best Regarded' Companies List