Featuring Hood Graduate Alumna | Aom Chavez, Computer Science M.S.'13

"I owe my professional success to the education I received at Hood College!"

Aom Chavez

Graduation Year

2013

Program

Computer Science (M.S.)

Department

Computer Science & Information Technology

Alumni
Graduate Student

Academics
Math & Computer Sciences

Can you provide a quick bio? Any general background that you would like to share, as well as your educational and career background.

I am originally from Thailand. Growing up it was impossible to ignore the oppressive cultural norms imposed on girls and young women. "Women don't need to go to college - they should be stay at home moms," was a dominant belief. Despite living in a country where the treatment of women as second class citizens was commonplace, my parents believed in me and always supported me. I was empowered and determined to become much more than what was expected of me.

I studied computer engineering at the undergraduate level at Assumption University. I started my professional career shortly afterwards at Seagate of Thailand where I was one of the first engineers to program and manage the assembly line robots responsible for manufacturing hard disk drives.

Why did you choose Hood College Graduate School?

I chose to attend Hood College because the faculty of the Department of Computer Science and Information Technology are talented and experienced in their fields. The amount and level of real world knowledge the professors command inspired me to achieve and excel.

I found most of the computer science graduate coursework very challenging. Every semester brought new and exciting learning opportunities. I remember looking forward to coming up with topics for my projects and presenting them before my peers. I enjoyed sharing what I learned and being able to demonstrate my proficiency.

How has your Hood College graduate degree helped further your career and/or your life?

I owe my professional success to the education I received at Hood. I was able to land my dream job at Boeing as a software engineer. Receiving the offer letter felt like the culmination of all the hard work I put in not only at Hood College but everything I ever strived for.

Friends and colleagues see my success and want to know what they have to do to become an engineer at Boeing. I'm not the best at giving career advice, however based on my experience I tell them to focus on their goal and to work hard to refresh their knowledge and improve their skills. I was able to do so through the computer science graduate program and I believe Hood College helped me stand out and above the crowd.

Inspired & ready to #GOFURTHER in your education? Learn about Hood College's Graduate School and the M.S. in Computer Science by clicking here.