Celebrating Women in Technology – Jennifer Patton
Posted on September 15, 2020 by Keith Lynn
A Degree in Computing
“I have always been a problem solver. I love a challenge. Believe it or not, I was a gamer back in the day. This was the day of Nintendo and Socrates. Donkey Kong was my favorite followed by Space Invaders, Centipede, Tetris and Pac-Man - I am thinking around early 80’s. I wanted to be game programmer but quickly realized I did not want to sit in a quiet cube head down on a keyboard.”
Finding Inspiration
“I looked up to my uncle who was a retired Coast Guard pilot before ever pursuing a CS degree from South Alabama. He started a whole new career a little later in life and loved it. He was fun and life around him was interesting.”
How Has Computing Changed?
“There is so much more than just programming when it comes to computer science. The cell phone is the neatest computer ever. Everyone has one – even those who think computers are geeky. These days, cell phones are glamorous, stylish, - just pick your brand.
A computer science degree offers so many job options – developer, administrator, analyst, web work, hardware, cybersecurity, tech writer – the list is endless.”
Favorite Class/Favorite Instructor
“My favorite class hands down was Senior Project with Dr. Roy Daigle. He was the best. In the beginning, he was intimidating, but after I broke down and went for help, he really was there to teach me. I learned so much from him. I can still hear him say “Normalization”.”
Favorite Student Memories
“When I went to USA it was more of a commuter type adult school. The student life was much different. Greek participation was small. Most students did not live on campus, and were married with a family and already had jobs. Most of my classes were male dominated. There were very few women in computer science. This made presentations and projects fun and very interesting. Women and men just problem solve, tackle assignments and present their work very differently.
I remember our classes were in this little building – probably the smallest building on campus. I spent a lot of time at the rec center – which is nothing like the rec center now but it was fantastic at the time. I did meet some of my closest friends.”
Encouraging Words
“Go For IT! The tech world needs more of us. Careers in this field pay well and are in need everywhere. Technology drives so many different sectors – Education, Health Services, Transportation, Utilities, Cyber, Government and Financial. You can live anywhere in the world and most of the time you can work from anywhere too – think remote desktop services, MS Teams for collaboration. Your education is yours. Find your passion and just follow your heart.”