By Justin Reyes
Jasmine Tsai, who is a software engineer at change.org embarked on her technical career track not after college, but after years in investment banking and a stint at a non profit. She did research for a public policy think tank in Hong Kong and a consulting assignment with the World Bank in China.
The seed of pursuing her technical career track began to take shape, when she knew she was limited by her technical ability in building out the platform for a non-profit community she wanted to start with her friend.
Jasmine admits that she had a lack of confidence when she was debating about pursuing a software engineering track. But she decided to consciously address her lack of confidence head on, so that she could overcome it.
Jasmine blew away those thoughts of inadequacy by diving in. Through self-study, and eventually enrolling in HackBright academy, Jasmine started to gain confidence to a point where she believed that she could actually do it.
[quote author=”Jasmine Tsai”]I was not convinced that I could actually become a software engineer. I thought about being in product instead, because it seemed too late to start a career change. It took Christian, an instructor at Hackbright, who believed in me to convince me that it was more than doable. And it was during Hackbright that I really began to appreciate even more the power of computer science and programming.[/quote]
Along the way, Jasmine had several role models such as Jen Dulski, whom Jasmine regards for balancing the rigor of execution with true empathy and earnest passion. In addition to Natasha Murashev who’s successful transition to software engineering made her believe that she could do it as well. Lastly, Christian from Hackbright who gave her the chance.
After graduating from Hackbright, Jasmine joined Change.org, and works as a software engineer on the web application team. She works on revenue products as well as work closely with the client services team that is responsible for liaising with them on their sponsored campaigns.
Being at Change, Jasmine has found the perfect balance between her passion for social change and being a software 
As Jasmine progresses on her software engineering track at Change she is also placing goals of herself to become a solid full stack developer. Although her experience has been limited to mostly web she has been forcing herself to learn more of the lower level stuff such as systems programming.
[quote author=”Jasmine Tsai”]To that end I have been doing a lot of studying on my own outside of work, to catch up for the fact that I do not have a traditional CS degree. But its been great seeing how it all ties back together and can help me do my job better.”[/quote]
When evaluating and advancing in her technical track, Jasmine is comforted by the culture and pretty liberal attitude of her engineering team whenever it comes the time to speak up or propose changes.
Jasmine has seen people come up with great projects that they have led, or sessions where they share new technologies that they have learned to use. Jasmine has also taken initiative, by improving communication between the engineering team and their client services. She has been actively trying to improve aspects of Change’s communication and processes whenever she can chip in.
Jasmine loves the people she works with is grateful for Change’s flexibility and culture that allows her to pursue a range of opportunities that will help her along her technical career track.
For budding engineers who are trying to make the move into a technical career track, Jasmine has some parting advice to share:
[quote author=”Jasmine Tsai”]The biggest thing to remember is to not give up: whether that is in your initial career move, your subsequent career progression, or the day-to-day debugging sessions. Sometimes it will not feel easy, but for everything that you do, even the 100 different ways you tried to do it, it will teach you something. It is a build up of knowledge where you can improve even without realizing. Also, always remember the excitement of how much you love building something, it will carry you through the other moments.[/quote]
Watch as Jasmine Tsai shares her story on going from finance to engineering, and learn how you too can transition to a technical role mid-career!
