Emma never expected to attend Principia College. She knew she wanted to be an engineer, so the idea of a liberal arts college didn’t seem necessary.
But after an engaging visit and learning about the number of female engineering graduates who were working at big tech companies like Apple, Google, and Amazon, she changed her mind.
When Emma’s professor announced an internship opportunity for iFixit to the Computer Science Department, Emma said, “Sign me up!” After an initial screening with her professor, she interviewed with iFixit developers and completed their project-based assessment.
Emma credits her musical theater background and her experience at Principia in giving her the confidence and diplomacy needed to land a position with iFixit. The problem-solving skills, work ethic, and perseverance she gained from her hardware architecture course were also beneficial to her work.
Emma’s role as a Student Software Developer gave her a lot of autonomy. If she saw an issue that she could tackle, she’d touch base with a Senior Software Developer before performing research and coding.
“I saw things that I’ve changed on a real site, which is unique to working with a smaller company. It’s really cool to see,” she said.
Emma also tutored computer science students and took on coding for side projects. She participated in Swing Club, as well as performed in the improv and Acapella groups on campus.
Must-Take Courses
Introduction to Programming, Piano Class, Object-Oriented Programming
Favorite Principia Moment
Swing Club and the Anderson House Christmas party where we sang karaoke.
Dream Job
“At some point, I want to work in robotics and work a year in Australia. Also, I would love to work at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory or for a company like Spotify or SoundCloud.”
