Seven years ago, SFU computing science graduand Julie Jen wanted a change in her career. While working as a chartered professional accountant in her early 30s, she was intrigued by the work that her husband and friends were doing in computing science. Since then, she decided to start taking computing science courses at SFU while still working full-time.

Her success in her first few years in the computing science program helped her secure an internship at Microsoft, where she continued to develop her passion and skills in software development at Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, Washington. When the pandemic began, she was appreciative for the ability to continue in this role remotely.

During this time, she also found out that she was pregnant. Calculating how much time was left in her degree, she realized that she still had to complete 10 courses in order to graduate. Thinking that she would be even more busy after giving birth, she decided to finish her degree as soon as she could.

Now done her second degree, Jen is excited to be able to spend well-deserved time with her family. She has also recently returned to Microsoft as a full-time employee and is joining the same Cloud + AI (Business Applications & Platform) team that she worked with during her internships.

Read her full story here >>