After teaching high school chemistry for six years, April Gustafson (Align MSCS ’20) realized a teaching career wasn’t sustainable for her. She had a dream of being a software engineer, partially inspired by a friend of hers who underwent a similar career change. “The more I thought about it, the more I realized the thing that I love about chemistry is using math to solve real world problems, and that’s what software engineers get to do every day,” explained Gustafson.

A native of Wisconsin, Gustafson received her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Wheaton College in Wheaton, IL. Not interested in a PhD program or research career, she wasn’t sure what to do with her chemistry degree. “I like math and science and enjoy connecting with people; I wanted to do something that had an impact on other people but also had a relational component rather than sitting in the lab all day.” This desire to have an impact drew Gustafson to teaching, where she could have that relational aspect while opening the door for students.

“I was coming into it with this idea that everyone can learn science, and I wanted to make science accessible and interesting,” said Gustafson.

There were many things she enjoyed about teaching. “There were a lot of really good moments during teaching and I felt that I was able to connect students to science in a way they hadn’t been able to connect before,” said Gustafson. This experience was fulfilling, but also draining. She admired the flexibility of the tech industry, “It felt like there were a lot of varied opportunities in tech; you could start off working in one company and switch to the next, it seemed like the tech industry really valued agility.”

The possibility of changing careers was daunting, Gustafson admitted, “I asked myself how would I do this, I had never written a line of code in my life.” After a few Google searches, she stumbled across the Align program. “I liked the idea of getting a really solid foundation in computer science fundamentals as opposed to just a bootcamp,” she said. She was also attracted to the co-op opportunities within Align: “I felt that the industry experience would be instrumental in finding a job when I graduated, which was important to me.” She started the Align program with a dream job in mind: to work at Spotify.

Gustafson’s initial experiences in the program were phenomenal. She recalled attending the Align orientation and listening to the Khoury College dean describe her visions for the program. “Dean Brodley wanted to make it clear to us that our undergraduate degree was not a mistake, but that it was going to set us apart in the tech industry,” said Gustafson. “I remember feeling relieved after she said that, like my background would enhance my career in tech.”

Photo provided by April Gustafson

From the start, she enjoyed the academic challenges, saying, “The experience when you’re stuck on a coding problem and finally get the program to work is so exciting.” Gustafson also appreciated the new classmates and friends she was meeting. She explained, “We’re all taking this risk together of changing paths, but there’s an excitement of doing this together.”

As she learned different techniques and skills during her classes, Gustafson said she felt “a new breath of life” at having a chance to pursue a career she was excited about. She was also highly motivated to complete the program, “determined to make this work,” she said.

For her first year of the Align program, she continued teaching, which added to her stress level. She also experienced imposter syndrome, explaining, “There’s this feeling of competition within CS, and there’s this feeling that in order to be good I have to be better than everyone else. I personally felt like a failure.”

Her experience researching and strategizing her first co-op placement helped Gustafson overcome the idea that she didn’t have enough to offer. She kept thinking about Spotify, the digital music service, because of its culture that aligned with many of her personal values, like sincerity and playfulness. During her co-op seminar, the class was assigned to create their dream job description. Gustafson immediately searched open positions for her favorite team at Spotify.

“I said out loud to my co-op advisor Ethan Selinger, ‘Oh, I could never work there, I don’t have enough experience!’ To which he kind of laughed and said, ‘You never know, you should go for it,’” recalled Gustafson.

A week later, Spotify sponsored a tech fair in Boston, and Gustafson mustered up the courage to go. She recalled, “I went to their booth and overheard one of their employees who was working on that exact team–my dream team­–so I waited in line to talk to him and asked him a bunch of questions.” He told her that Spotify values people with diverse backgrounds, and the fact that Gustafson was a teacher indicated she was in a job to make a positive impact, not just make a lot of money – and Spotify valued those things as well.  “That really gave me hope that my soft skills could be a big asset,” said Gustafson.

After that, she said, “I wanted more than ever to work there.” She got a promotional pin from the booth and stuck it on the visor of her car, planting her flag—and telling herself she would apply.

To her surprise, Gustafson received a co-op offer for the position she was eyeing, data engineer for Spotify’s personalization department. In this role, Gustafson designed and delivered datasets that powered personalization features in the app. She said, “After a few months of learning the ropes, I began to function like a regular team member.”

She gives credit to Selinger for helping and mentoring her in the job search process. “Previously in my life I was very afraid of being inadequate for the job market,” she said. Encouragement from an advisor was powerful, Gustafson emphasized, “Ethan kept telling me to keep trying and going, which was hugely instrumental in me achieving my goal to work at Spotify.”

Gustafson tells incoming Aligners to learn not to discount their skills and abilities from previous experiences. From her position at Spotify, she learned that sometimes making connections with people can be as important as learning skills. “View obstacles that slow you down in the moment as opportunities to learn something new that will help you work faster in the future,” advised Gustafson.

Her goal of receiving her master’s in CS was to build a deep foundation for a career she could get excited about, explaining, “The goal of getting a job at Spotify was probably a more specific manifestation of that goal.”

She also was driven to prove to herself that she was capable of completing the rigorous program. “I never thought the door to tech would be open for me,” she admitted. “I’m glad I’m able to contribute to an industry that has such a large impact,” said Gustafson, who received a return offer from Spotify as she was completing her MSCS degree. She begins her full-time job as a data engineer in January.