Young alumna Rebecca Kedowide describes personal and professional gains from her time in Align

Photo credit: Liz Linder

Passionate about community service, Rebecca Kedowide (Align MSCS ’20) forged a path to computer science that was unconventional, yet purposeful. During her years as an undergraduate student at Harvard, Kedowide studied women, gender, and sexuality to look at the world through the lens of other marginalized people. In 2013, she volunteered for City Year, an AmeriCorps program, where she mentored at a school in Dorchester and then a school in Jamaica Plain.

“When I was a college student, I felt like I was in a college bubble, separated from communities around me. Volunteering made me feel so connected to Boston.” said Kedowide about the experience. She continues to volunteer as much as she can, “I really enjoy connecting with people and seeing how I can come alongside to understand their needs and support them.”

After reflecting on her interests, Kedowide sought out the Align program. “I am very interested in understanding gender; however, I didn’t see myself going into law or journalism.” She explained, “I was trying to figure out how I could build a skill set where I could have a different perspective informing my work, but in a field which I felt really motivated to be part of.” Admiring the introductory aspects of the Align program, she was inspired to be in a collaborative cohort and environment.

Transformative teaching and learning experiences

The people she met through the program motivated her. In Intensive Foundations of Computer Science (CS 5001) with Dr. Laney Strange, Kedowide was motivated by Strange’s experiences as a software engineer, commenting, “What really made me feel like there was a place for me in software engineering was that she spoke about different failures she had experienced in her career.” These real-world experiences made the subject matter more approachable to Kedowide, who felt like she didn’t need to be “correct” in her exploration of computer science. “I didn’t need to know all the concepts because even the people that I look up to have also had failure storylines, and they just kept on pushing through.”

Her second year in the program was similarly marked by an inspirational figure, Dr. Keith Bagley, the program director of Align who is also a clinical associate professor. “Although he has over twenty years of experience, he truly valued the perspectives of myself and the other TAs, which made us feel that sharing our thoughts was an important part of strengthening the program.”

She continued, “As a Black woman, having instructors who share aspects of my identity, like Dr. Strange and Dr. Bagley, changed my perception of the field,” she said.

Kedowide’s passion for teaching developed during her time at City Year, and translated into her time at Khoury. As a teaching assistant for CS 5001 and Human-Computer Interaction (CS 5340), Kedowide loved having a “team mindset.” She explained, “It was great having a larger group of people who are trying to think of how to make the course impactful and fun at the same time.”

Another thing she loved about her TA role was the mentoring aspect. “I learned that I enjoy mentoring people, and because I was the only Black woman as a TA for that class, I think that there were some students of color who felt very comfortable approaching me or asking me about my experiences in Align.”

Work and life following her Align graduation

Four months after she graduated in August 2020, Kedowide received an offer from IBM. Kedowide currently works as an entry-level backend engineer and enjoys the company culture at IBM. “It’s been nice, because they have a whole software developer initiative called Jumpstart, where new hires enter a two-year program that goes over different methodologies and their connection with the company’s work,” she explained.

As an alumna, Kedowide still finds ways to maintain her close relationships with her Align cohort, saying, “Even after graduation, we still try to find ways to connect.” She reflected on learning about Linux and C from Professor Mike Shaw, skills that she uses in her current role at IBM: “He gave us an insight of what it’s like to work professionally as a software engineer and how important it is to be able to switch between different languages and environments.”

Kedowide extolled the commitment that her professors in the Align program demonstrate towards their students. “They are so committed to their students, that I feel like I could touch base with them at any point, even just to grab coffee.” She continued, “When I received an invitation to interview for IBM, I was worried about impressing them. I reached out to Dr. Bagley, who encouraged me to simply be myself, be confident in what I know, and demonstrate my soft skills, which was exactly what I needed to hear in that moment.

She added, “Dr. Bagley and I have talked about my potentially visiting a class when the pandemic is over and speaking to them about my experiences.” Because she especially found it important to see a diversity of people in the field of computer sciences, Kedowide clearly has imagined herself in the role of encouraging and inspiring others.

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