Computer Science Alumna Shares Experience as Software Engineer
October 31, 2022Samantha Heck with CS Department Chair Terry Soule
University of Idaho alumna Samantha Heck (’19) returned to Moscow to share her experience as a high-level software engineer to Computer Science seniors. At Commerce Architects, a small but cutting-edge software consulting firm, “we’re constantly trying to learn the new and exciting thing so that when a client is interested in doing that, we have the knowledge to help them do it,” she said.
Technology growth is steep, broad, and fast because it’s driven by industry and client needs. In her three years on the job, she has learned countless new technologies, built customer service websites, and rebuilt an entire legacy system with modern features from the ground up.
Her expertise and ability to learn quickly came from her heavy involvement with different projects at the U of I as an undergraduate. She worked as Lead Software Engineer at Polymorphic Games, U of I’s studio for developing games that explain biological events like evolution, built an interactive map for the Institute for Bioinformatics and Evolutionary Studies (IBEST), and presented her work on using AI to teach robots to identify colors at a professional conference.
Article by Kelsey Swenson
IIDS Scientific Writing Intern