Carlos Ruiz

Current position: Senior Software Engineer

Education (degrees and school): AS in Computer Network Engineering from CCRI, BS in Information Systems from Northeastern University

Hobbies: mountain biking, snowboarding, playing soccer...and of course playing with new software ideas.

Where were you born and where did you grow up? Where did you go to high school?

I was born in Medellin, Colombia and grew up in Pawtucket and Central Falls. I graduated from Central Falls Jr Sr. High.

What did you want to be when you were growing up? A FBI/CIA agent or operative

How did you get into computer science? I was always very curious about how things functioned. I loved working on puzzles and solving problems. My favorite part of Math was to solve the word problems. Around 14-15yrs old I finally came across a computer I can dissect and try to understand what made it work. At the time, my passion was just fueled by curiosity and I wasn’t really made aware that I actually study the science behind the computer. Nonetheless, I was quite focused on pursuing a Criminal Law degree and probably going to Law school if that increased my chances in becoming a FBI/CIA agent. While going to school for Criminal Law, I started taking computer classes. I started to really enjoy them and decided to change my major to Computer Network Engineering. I probably would have chosen CS program but at the time CCRI did not offer one. I really excelled in all my component level classes, ie Circuit Analysis etc. I grew a passion for building electronic components on a circuit board and learning about logic gates. I started learning assembly language, mainly lower level programming. This is what really catapulted me into the world of CS and I never looked back.

What other jobs have you had?

I had several odd jobs during school. I worked at UPS as a sorter, Whole Foods market, and QA specialist at a medical device company. Once I graduated, that opened the door to jobs in software. My first software job, I was an analyst. I quickly moved into a programmer role, then developer etc..

What is an average day at work like for you?

I’ll leave the commuting out for now. I typically work on new development of features or fix software bugs for a web application. I work all over the software stack. I might have design meetings on new features, planning, daily standups, and/or mapping out architecture that might be new and could benefit our infrastructure.

What is your favorite part of your job?

Building something completely new -- or fixing a difficult bug. So satisfying to know your effort is being rewarded by someone using the software for the betterment of their life.

What is the best opportunity you have had because of computer science?

I was able to buy a home. I’ve always wanted to own a single family home.

Any great stories about working in computer science?

I used work for a company where we would have quarterly company outings. It was small, startup to be exact. Our outings consisted of going out somewhere in Boston or renting a cabin in NH or Vermont. It was great for building relationships at work and allowed for a more fluid workflow once in the office. Many times we’d take our laptops with us and everyone would collaborate and work on a single task. These were fun exercises because it extrapolated and explored our creativity.