Devonte Cunningham
Aeries Software
Orange, CA USA
"In computer science, learning how to learn is very important. Don’t get stuck on one programming language or skill set...It’s better to be a jack of all trades than a master of none."
Career Roadmap
Devonte's work combines: Technology, Design, and Learning / Being Challenged
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Computer Game Science
University of California, Irvine
Certification
Computer and Information Systems Security/Auditing/Information Assurance
Certification
Computer Programming, Specific Applications
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life has been direct
1.
My first introduction to software engineering was when I was 13 years old—I designed a video game called Poke-Battle, based off of Pokémon, using a software program called GameMaker Studios.
2.
Attended the University of California in Irvine where I received my bachelor’s degree in computer game science.
3.
After graduating, I landed three part-time coding jobs in teaching, app development, and web development.
4.
I taught myself all of my advanced development skills and began developing many prototype apps for clients.
5.
Worked for a startup company as a programming intern and was promoted to junior developer after only two months.
6.
Got my first full-time job working as a mobile application developer at Aeries Software.
7.
Now after over two years out of school, I’m finally able to begin paying back student loan debt.
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Society in general:
There are tons of programming jobs out there, why can't you find a job?
How I responded:
There are tons of jobs in this industry, but there are also tons of people trying to get them. This field can be really competitive at times. After graduating, it took me about 7 months of applying before I finally found this job and that was only because I had a friend here that told me they were hiring. It then took another couple of months to actually get hired. I also experienced a bias against me because of my game science major. It's all about perseverance.
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
When I was in college, I failed all of the programming classes I had to take for my game science major. Later, when I decided to pursue programming full-time, I had to teach myself the coding languages and other tech skills I needed.
When I was first out of college, I struggled to find work. There are a lot of opportunities, but it's super competitive. It took me almost a year to find full-time work, but in the meantime, I was juggling three part-time jobs.
I had a lot of student loans and because it took me so long to find a job, I struggled with repaying them initially and had to defer and get personal loans to pay my bills which added to my debt. I'm just now starting to pay them back.