September Student Spotlight - Ava-Nicole Masseria '20 - Computer Science

Throughout my experience in college, I have been fortunate enough to have had three amazing internships. In the summer of 2018, I worked at Cisco as a Security Solutions Engineer and this past summer, 2019, I worked as a Technology Analyst at Deutsche Bank. At Cisco, my focus was directed towards network security where I worked with the Cisco Identity Service Engine. At Deutsche Bank, I had both software development and business analyst roles, where I learned how to build an API. At the Vatican, I strictly dealt with software development in helping automate the testing of their mail servers. While all internships have taught me a lot about technology, they also opened my eyes to the gap between computer science and women.

The Vatican - During Fall 2018 Ava interned at the Vatican, Roma as a Software Developer

However, it was clear that both Deutsche Bank and Cisco have been taking proactive measures in advocating for women in technology. At Cisco, they supported an event called Girls in ICT day, which was an event to empower women in tech. At Deutsche Bank, my internship class had a surprisingly large amount of women. In addition, Deutsche Bank has an internship program called dBAchieve for diverse students going into their junior year of college. This program advocates for women along with minorities to pursue careers in technology. At the Vatican, I was the only woman in the small office of about fifteen people but my mentors mentioned that they were seeking to hire more women in the office.

Regardless, at all three internships, I was met with great encouragement and support in pursuing a career in technology as a woman. I would highly recommend anyone to pursue a degree in computer science because technology is the future. The use of technology is present in our everyday lives and is becoming more sophisticated and advanced everyday. A degree in computer science involves a curriculum that requires a lot of problem solving and critical thinking. This type of well rounded curriculum can help shape skills that can be useful in any career. Regardless, industries are desperate for talented computer scientists since they are lacking in numbers. They are also paying high salaries in order to encourage and recruit talented people. Examples of these industries are medicine, finance, the government, and more. With this, an individual with a computer science degree has a plethora of job opportunities. These industries are looking for newly graduated students who have a passion for computing. Plus, computing positions can range from a more technical roles such as software development to more business-oriented roles such a project management. After graduation I am returning to Deutsche Bank as a full-time Technology Analyst.

Why did Ava study computer science?

In the winter of 2012, Borders bookstore closed its doors in Ava’s hometown of Stroudsburg, PA. ….”I was a freshman in high school at the time and Borders was my go-to bookstore. Due to the impact of Border's closing on its readers and authors, I created a website for authors to showcase their books which would help increase their book sales. I called it ChapterSee.com, which is a book podium for writers and publishers to promote their books. With the monetary challenges endured because of the dependency on programmers, I realized that if I had programming skills, I would have been able to save myself time and money and custom code ChapterSee myself.