A pivot from healthcare to computer science led Mareline Ramirez on a path to Bank of America.
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, just months after graduating from FIU in 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies focused on a biomedical track, Mareline Ramirez realized medicine wasn’t for her. Although her goal had been to become a physician assistant, a growing interest in computer science was gnawing at her.
She re-enrolled at FIU in 2021, this time for a bachelor’s degree in computer science. It was a move that was both disconcerting and mysterious to her parents, who had come to Miami from Honduras where their formal education stopped after middle school.
“My parents moved here for better opportunities,” Ramirez says. “I am a first-generation college student, and they wanted me to get a good job, to be a doctor, a lawyer or go into healthcare. They didn’t really understand what computer science was. They were very nervous.”
Today, however, their anxieties have calmed. Ramirez is now a global technology analyst with the Enterprise Cloud Product Management team at Bank of America and preparing for a move to Charlotte, NC. “They are incredibly proud of me and tell people, ‘Our daughter has two bachelor’s degrees.’"
Read more at FIU News .