• Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Linkedin
  • Share on Mail

The Power of Open-Mindedness: How I Went From Med School to Software Engineering

By Sonia Chevli and Jeanne Hopkins
The Power of Open-Mindedness: How I Went From Med School to Software Engineering

Table Fries is a podcast hosted by Jeanne Hopkins, Chief Marketing Officer at Lola.com, and features women who work at the business travel startup. Jeanne is on a mission to interview every single woman working at Lola! 

This excerpt is taken from a recent episode where Jeanne’s guest was Sonia Chevli, a software engineer at Lola. You can listen to the full episode here

Sonia, is there a single word that might describe you?

I would say I'm a very open-minded person. There is an infinite amount of things to learn in this world, and I know such a small fraction. So I try to approach every conversation, every circumstance being open-minded, and understanding that there is always a new perspective and there's always something else to learn. And I try to hear those perspectives and not box myself in.

What’s the story of your career path?

I graduated from University of Pittsburgh in 2017 with a degree in biology. I was on the track to go to med school. But at a certain point, I decided I wasn’t super passionate about medicine. I liked biology; I still find it super interesting. But I realized I wasn't 100% dedicated to what I was studying.

I discovered software engineering through my brother who is a software engineer, and I have a lot of friends that are into it. It was like solving puzzles. My brother introduced me to a couple websites to learn to code for free and I got hooked!

So I said, I'm going to give this a shot. I'm going to switch career paths altogether. And within a month, I dropped out of grad school, moved to San Francisco and enrolled in a coding bootcamp called Holberton. I was working nonstop, and just always building, always learning something new. 

It was a big move, but one of the best decisions I've ever made.

How did you end up at Lola?

After I finished my bootcamp, I knew I wanted to go into a front-end engineering position. I like the design aspect -- I like building something, and then seeing what you build. 

I also knew I wanted to go back to the East Coast, where I’m from. I really like Boston, because it's a big city, but it also has a community kind of feel to it. You can easily get around. So I started to apply to jobs in Boston.

Finally, I knew I wanted to go to more of a startup company. I like the idea of building up a product from the ground up -- watching something grow, rather than adding to a product that's already successful and has all these awesome features.

I saw a list of startups in Boston, and Lola was on it. My first thought was, everyone at this company looks so happy, cheerful and just excited to be there. So I sent in my application and got an interview. And one thing led to another!

What has your experience been like at Lola?

People here are so welcoming. I can ask anyone in the company to get coffee or lunch, and they're like let me tell you about what I'm working on, let me tell you about my career and my life, and let me learn how I can help you. 

What is the one piece of advice you'd give to your 18-year-old self?

I would say to slow down and find what you're passionate about. And once you find that, put as much energy as you can into it. Like I said, I liked biology, and I still find it really interesting, but I wasn't 100% passionate about it. I didn't enjoy talking about it with my peers.

But once I found coding, it was like oh, I love coding. I love everything around it. I do it in my spare time. I do it for fun. And since I found the thing I'm passionate about, I already feel like myself, as a whole person, is growing a ton -- and a lot faster.

When you go home at the end of the day, how do you know you've had a good day? 

Well, first of all, if I'm happy -- I start my days happy, and if I end my day happy, that’s a good sign. I feel accomplished if I worked on something really hard during the day, almost felt like I was going to fail, and then eventually was able to do it. I had a good day if I pushed myself so hard that I was able to actually make an improvement and accomplish something.

sonia-lola

Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for clarity and length. 


posted by

Sonia Chevli and Jeanne Hopkins