ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆµ

Alumni and Careers

ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆµ’s curricular offerings in computer science prepare graduates well for further study or professional careers in teaching, industry, and financial services.

Recent computer science majors have entered graduate programs at the following institutions:

  • Brown
  • Carnegie Mellon
  • Dartmouth
  • Georgia Tech
  • Indiana
  • Michigan
  • Northwestern
  • Penn
  • Princeton
  • Stanford
  • Tufts
  • UCLA
  • Utah
  • Washington

Computer science graduates have taken positions at firms such as:

  • Google
  • Amazon
  • Twitter
  • American Management Systems
  • Chase Manhattan
  • Goldman Sachs
  • ITA Software
  • Meditech
  • Coopers and Lybrand
  • Liberty Mutual
  • Sun Microsystems

Alumni/ae have also followed career paths in Peace Corps, medicine, law, neuroscience, physics, and music composition.

The Department maintains an active alumni network, providing guidance and advice to current students as they navigate their time at ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆµ and beyond.

Grace Handler headshot

Grace Handler

Class of: 2017

Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Major(s): Computer Science

“The computer science department at ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆµ is the best of the best, partially because of what it is at its core and the community it fosters in Searles Hall and partially because it exists in conversation with the rest of campus.”

What have you been up to since graduating from ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆµ?

My college internships and first full-time job after graduating from ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆµ were in software engineering, including a data architecture internship at Goldman Sachs that I later transitioned into full-time. I quickly moved into a product management role on a start-up within Goldman Sachs called Marquee, and since then, I’ve continued in product management in the advertising technology industry, currently at The Trade Desk, where I’ve been for the last six years. These positions have taken me from New York City, to Denver, and back to Pittsburgh, where I grew up and now work remotely.

I always describe product management as the ultimate liberal arts graduate career, because the role is rooted in one’s ability to ask questions, to seek out problems, and to facilitate solutions across groups of people with different incentives. Having a technical background can certainly help you be a good product manager, but great product managers are much more difficult to quantify against a hard skill. I jokingly say I have a bachelor of the arts in computer science, and that combination of technical knowledge and liberal arts thinking has proven to be the most valuable foundation in my career.

Why computer science?

In high school, I participated in a FIRST robotics team at Carnegie Mellon University. Since my middle and high schools offered no technology-related classes, this was my first real introduction to coding and engineering. During my first year at ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆµ, I enrolled in Intro to Computer Science and got hands-on experience with programming for the first time. The ability to turn an idea into something tangible so quickly and freely was both exciting and fun, so I decided to continue pursuing it.

Are there any classes, professors, or experiences that had a lasting impact on you?

Somewhat misaligned with my departure from coding after college, my favorite class at ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆµ was Intro to Systems. So much of software is hard to grasp—how does this actually work? This class brought what we were doing all the way back to the machine, which made me think about programming and building in a much larger way.

What advice would you give to current students or recent graduates interested in your field?

Liberal arts thinking is only becoming more valuable. Hard skills have always been, and will continue to be, increasingly automated. They are useful within a certain timeframe. However, the ability to think across disciplines and to learn new things will remain a timeless skill.

Pauline Unietis

Pauline Unietis

Class of: 2020

Major(s): Computer Science

Minor(s): English

Since graduation, I've been working as an internal documentation writer at Salesforce. My job involves clearly communicating complex technical concepts, so I rely heavily on my computer science knowledge and my writing skills!

Why computer science?

I chose computer science because of how useful and interdisciplinary it is. I can use my CS skills to pursue my interests in genetics and biology, literature, gender and sexuality studies, and more! I may be a technical writer now, but my coding skills could take me anywhere in the future.

Best piece of advice for current students?

Your professors and TAs are here to help you––go to their office hours!

Nick Sadler

Nick Sadler

Class of: 2018

Location: Portsmouth, NH

I joined Liberty after graduating in 2018 and joined a small engineering team that builds two major, internally developed Data Science infrastructure platforms called Runway (used for model deployments) and Cortex (used for model building, data exploration, feature engineering, etc) that are used by the majority of Data Scientists across the entire enterprise, internationally and domestically. We also function as the subject matter experts within the company for Data Science technologies and help develop an overall vision for the company from a Data Science technology perspective. I'm well over halfway through a Master's in Data Science at Northwestern University as well, which I'm really enjoying.

Why computer science?

I majored in CS at ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆµ because of the infectious enthusiasm and passion of the professors that I was so lucky to have early on in my exploration of the major that spurred a passion out of an initial interest in technology. I undoubtedly owe my love for CS to Prof. Irfan and Prof. Chown. Their willingness to allow me to explore my interests and share their passion with me made me absolutely hooked on Computer Science, and they have impacted me immensely professionally and academically. 

Best piece of advice for current students?

Explore your interests with independent studies and extracurriculars with your professors as much as possible, my professional passion for Data Science developed from an independent study with Professor Chown!

Caroline Pierce

Class of: 2016

Location: Cambridge, MA

Major(s): Computer Science

Minor(s): Mathematics

After graduation, I moved out to San Francisco and worked for Okta for four years.  I learned a lot, and had the opportunity to experience the tech-centered culture out there.  Now I'm back on the East Coast, working for CodaMetrix, which is in the healthcare-tech industry.  I love that being a software engineer has given me the ability to explore different industries and build meaningful technology.

Why computer science?

In my first few semesters at ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆµ, my computer science coursework was always the most interesting to me, so becoming a CS major was an easy choice.

Best piece of advice for current students?

Get comfortable asking for help; when I was starting out as a software engineer, I was so worried that people would think I didn't deserve my job if I admitted that I didn't know how to do something.  The reality though is that no one can know everything, everyone needs help sometimes, and your work will be much more fun without putting that added pressure on yourself.

Inho Hwang

Inho Hwang

Class of: 2016

Location: New York, NY

I have been working as an iOS Engineer since ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆµ, and once I got a job at Yahoo as an iOS Engineer, things started to kick off from then. I founded my own company and now work at Google as a Software Engineer in Google Sheets team.

Why computer science?

I was a Physics major, but decided to add Computer Science as a double major to get jobs in software engineering. My CS faculties were willing and able to accommodate for me get a double major title which was my late decision at the end of my junior year at ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆµ (yeah this was a very late decision that made me take 8 CS courses in my senior year), but having that title helped me a great deal in my career. Thank you for those who made that possible for me.

Best piece of advice for current students?

One advice I have for ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆµ students is ask professors out to lunch as much as you like. Professors want to eat the superb ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆµ foods and want their students to ask them out so that they can eat there (also for FREE). I had weekly lunch with Professor Danahy for about a year, and he has been one of my most influential friends in my life.
I have another advice for ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆµ students. If you are preparing for tech interviews, use AlgoExpert platform.