Thus far I have a bachelors of science from the University of California, Davis in Genetics. I also studied Technology Management from the UCD GSM as well as Bioinformatics. While completeing my coursework I held various internships which were quite rewarding. Although I enjoy life science very much, I found the best opportunities in computer science; a passionate hobby turned career. Currently I work as a software quality assurance engineer which is both demanding and fun.
For about two years I worked in an archaelogy lab under the supervision of various graduate students. My primary task was to complete DNA extractions and run gel electrophoresis assays to determine haplo groups of various species. I worked with human, primate and canine DNA depening on the graduate student who needed the data. Most of the work centered around sequence analysis of certain regions of mRNA since they are often static for quite a long period of time. The lab had quite a few intresting technologies it employed, namely capilary based PCR, sequencing, and an aresenal of statistical packages. One of the labs primary goals was to determine how native americans populated North and South America. This focus allowed me to study some intresting topics, gather data and contribute to the larger model the principal investigator was creating.
During my final year at Davis I worked in a plant biology lab. This lab was quite facinating in that I learned many alternative lab techniques that were special to plants. One of my main tasks was to work on PCR cloning projects which involved creating several primers which would yield a large number of vectors. The vectors could then be taken up by what ever species of bacteria we desired. In plants, agrobacterium was a good choice since it invades the plant tissues and offers the ability to create targeted knockouts in very low yield. The most unintresting part of the internship was raising and maintaining many stocks of arabadopsis thaliana plants.
I was one of the lucky ones to get finish a B.S. in four years. Although I studied life science, I still maintained my interest in computer science through a wonderful job I had during my entire stay in Davis. My job started roughly the second week I was in Davis and lasted until the day I drove down the freeway for silicon valley. I started in the Art Department as one of four tech. support part timers. When my boss left and everyone else graduated I remained on with my good friend as the deparments only tech support. We became systems administrators and during this period I learned the most about systems managment. This position was fantastic as it provided infinite creative possibilities working along side some of the best people I have ever met. I executed on many projects ranging from programming to racking new servers and setting up virtual networks.
Everyone should work for a large company when they are in college. My opportunity came when I got an internship with Bio-Rad, one of the largest suppliers or lab equipment in the world. As I write this short segment, their market cap stands at 2.85 Billion...not bad for a company that grew from a shed in Northern California. I was an intern for their corp. IT department where I worked on several projects and got a first hand taste of project managment. One of my tasks was to manage an LDAP re-organization effort which was not terribly challenging but was intresting in that I got to meet and work with many people and I had a small technical element to complete as well. For better or worse I had to work several weekends and some managers got a bit nervous when changes weren't sucessful; thats why rollback procedures are necessary. In all it was a very sucessful internship and I would rate Bio-Rad as an excellent company to work for.
3D Animation is one of the greatest things I've ever seen in my life. It offers the ability to create any sort of enviornment in photorealism while simultaniously knocking down the barrier of drawing. Personally, I don't draw or paint very well, but using a computer I can express the same art through geometry, physics and a computer.