Mel Irizarry
Yuma County Water Users' Association
Yuma, AZ USA
"You don’t have to live in a high tech town...the technology at home is just as good. Where you do it doesn’t matter, it’s just the doing it that matters."
Career Roadmap
Mel's work combines: Technology, Engineering, and Problem Solving
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Advice for getting started
Software is moving too quickly to sit on the sidelines and watch. Go out there and take classes, learn new ways to solve problems. There are wonderful online video courses you can use to expand your learning and never be ashamed to ask questions. Times and technology change fast, so be sure to follow the cheese! If you are not familiar with the cheese analogy then be sure to read "Who Moved My Cheese" by Dr. Spencer Johnson.
Here's the path I took:
High School
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life has been direct
1.
Grew up with a passion for astronomy.
2.
Bought his first computer in 1983 and began learning how to program so he could write his own software to calculate the positions of stars and planets.
3.
After graduating high school, he decided he wanted to pursue programming as a career but realized college was not the right step for him.
4.
He took his programming knowledge and got a job writing software for a financial institution where he learned to program in PL/1, COBOL—ended up working there for nine years.
5.
He then went to work for a software company in Hollywood where he served as the Vice President and Director of Software Engineering.
6.
Decided to step down from this role in order to get back to his true passion: programming.
7.
Moved to Yuma, AZ where he got a job working as a software engineer for the Yuma County Water Users’ Association (YCWUA).
8.
Has spent the last 15 years writing software programs to ensure the YCWUA operations run smoothly and that farmers are getting the water they need to help their crops thrive in the desert.
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Family:
You should just give up and settle for less.
How I responded:
I knew what I wanted to do with my life and I was not going to let anyone tell me to give up. The easy route is the route I avoid.
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
When I stepped down from my role as Vice President and Director, it hurt. I felt like I had finally made it, but the managerial tasks were taking me away from what I really loved to do. Leaving was a blessing in disguise.
Software programming is challenging. There are a lot of languages that you have to know and it's always changing and updating. Every time I have to learn a new language, it takes a lot of time and research.
My dad died when I was 7 and I was raised primarily by my mother. When I was young, she pushed me to just get a job, any job, so I didn't get a lot of support for my interests.