During college I used to program various applications as a requirement for the numerous computer science classes. When the normal program didn’t poise a significant challenge, I was one of those people who had to attempt the bonus features whether I needed the extra points or not. This in turn gained me recognition among my peers and It wasn’t long until a colleague approached me with an opportunity to write a couple programs for some extra cash.

This colleague was a biochemistry major who wanted to have two separate programs completed: an RNA NNM Calculator and a Phylogenic Calculator. These would help him automatically compute various genetic values for cumbersome portions of his senior project.

As luck would have it, he used these programs in the lab and his professor, who was also the Allegheny College Biochemistry Department Chairperson, took notice. The next thing I knew he wanted to have a copy of the program for the laboratories to replace their existing outdated DOS solution. At this time, I was asked if I wanted to develop a program to aid him with his own personal research. I accepted and got further compensation by creating a custom Hairpin / Bulge Calculator.

These experiences provided me with a lot of experience beyond the challenges of the standard programming language syntax. I was able to experience client interaction and marketing a product on both a personal level as well as enterprise level.