Carolyn Gonzalez has her eye on the prize. She is a senior pursuing her Computer Program and Information System degree at Farmingdale. While not knowing how to code prior to taking classes at Farmingdale, Carolyn has evolved her skillset to establish her own trajectory of success.
Carolyn was first exposed to coding techniques in her freshman year at Farmingdale. At first, she was not sure if this was the career path for her but being a part of the RAM program with the help of Dr. Cullington gave her the courage to apply to a few different internships. She accepted an internship position at 605, a TV data analysis firm as a Quality Assurance Tester. In this internship, she analyzes viewership data to select the optimal characteristics to place her client's ads. Interpreting what type of content the viewer watches and engages will render information to Carolyn to recommend specific placements for various ad content. After excelling
in her internship at 605, they offered her a 6-month contract to work with them part-time. She has been renewing her contract with them since it was originally offered.
This past summer Carolyn also seized an opportunity to expand her knowledge in data analysis. She was accepted into a "Cyberinfrastructure (CI) Research 4 Social Change" position at Texas Advanced Computing Center at The University of Texas at Austin. She developed her project entitled "Police Policy and Use of Force." Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, her internship had become a virtual experience but she forged on. Carolyn analyzed the data around police reforms to see if the reforms are beneficial. She reviewed data sets pre and post police reforms to quantify how it truly affects local communities.
Carolyn commented that she "wants to combine her passion for social justice with her technical degree." This summer internship at The University of Texas at Austin gave her the platform and resources to do so.
In her next steps, Carolyn is looking to further her education. She is looking to find a PDH program that would fit her passions for social justice. She expressed a "special thanks to Prof. Aurthur Hoskey and Prof. Lorraine Greenwald for their expert advice and guidance. Whether they know it or not, they really were the ones that made me feel like I belonged in the CPIS major and made me feel like I should go through with the degree." There are great things ahead for Carolyn and she is eager to take the range and create her own path.
