Everyone knows the story of how a passionate engineer leaves his or her stream and find his or her life goal in another field. Yet, rarely has one listened to a story that is exactly the opposite of the norm. But, that has actually happened, and that too, with one of the Northeastern University’s student, Ching-Chi-Chang, also known by her Western name of Amanda.
Chang was in Taiwan, starting her professional life as a TV reporter when she had her moment of epiphany. She was not at all ready to settle into her chosen life. Not only had she realised that her interests lied elsewhere, but she also knew about the reliance of the TV world on her appearance. Being a self-assured, independent girl that she is, Chang was not happy with it. Someone telling her what to wear, the pressure of the deadlines and the uncertainty – it was a nightmare.
With some things set in her mind, she applied at UTAC, which is a semiconductor company, based in Singapore. Chang’s personality and her application indicated quality engineering, as her employer realised. She could have never guessed how this job had helped her flourish until today, four years later.
“I was getting bored,” she said. “It was kind of a situation [where] I couldn’t learn any more. I wanted to just quit my job and to learn English”. She decided to shift to Seattle, where she took half a year to perfect her English. By then, she had decided that all she wanted to become was a software engineer, without any understanding or background for it. She enrolled at the Northeastern University, with surreal and discomforting feelings in the back of her mind. Now, if you ask her, she would recount how her first semester was difficult for her – a thing in the past.
“I realised I can just sit in front of my desk, coding, the whole day,” she said. “For me, it was so different from writing. I can just sit there for eight hours straight, and it’s like I feel this magic. I didn’t know anything like it before.”
Chang has now graduated, with a master’s degree in information systems. She uses her acquired knowledge for Nordstrom in Seattle. She works there as a software development engineer now. It took Chang – a passionate engineer now – a journey of 6000 miles to realise who she is and what is her place in this world.
Pranjali Wakde