Almost ten years ago, Nathaly Henriette was sitting in Mr. Roberts’ Web Design class at PPCHS, going on about her daily life as a high school student. She took Web Design for three years, allowing her love for technology to grow. With her years of Web Design classes at Charter, her appreciation for technology has contributed to her chosen career path of being a software engineer. Nathaly currently works in the field she once dreamed of having a job in—and her journey would not have started if it was not for Charter.
From a young age, Nathaly always had an interest in fixing technology. Oftentimes, she would find herself in a situation where her computer was broken, and she didn’t know how to fix it. While a broken computer does result in angry parents, Nathaly decided she would learn how to fix her computer to decrease the interference of her parents. Nathaly explains how through her parents’ business, she learned the logistics of fixing technology from their IT person, Lewis. “I remember being seven, and I would sit next to Lewis every time he would come, and I wanted to see what he was doing,” says Nathaly. Lewis taught Nathaly how to replace a hard drive and other features of her computer. This ended up sparking her passion for software engineering.
As a teenager in high school, Nathaly sought classes involving technology, leading her to take Web Design 1, 2, and 3 during high school. She explains, “I probably wouldn’t have gotten into software engineering if it wasn’t for Mr. Roberts… I already had an [interest] from sitting with Lewis and wanting to fix my [computer],” Nathaly says while expressing what inspired her to become a software engineer. Since then, she has always found happiness in technology.
After graduating in 2014, Nathaly studied computer science at Florida International University instead of software engineering because the university didn’t offer the major. After some time, she later shifted to computer engineering—the major she graduated with. “FIU had computer science, IT, and computer engineering, and all of them did programming. You can become a software engineer through any of those fields.” She later says how “I did programming and studied a lot about hardware and ethical hacking which was a lot of fun.”
Currently, Nathaly works for Chevron as part of their IT team. When she first got the job, she was mainly subjected to coding, where she wrote codes to maintain the internal system at Chevron. Now, Nathaly works in cyber investigations, which she describes as the “internal police for Chevron.”
Before Nathaly got to where she is today, she often faced rejection when searching for job opportunities. She especially experienced this living in Florida because the demand for software engineers isn’t high. She overcomes these obstacles by “getting used to being rejected, and understanding that it’s not your fault, so you just have to keep pushing forward.” She continues, “There’s a reason I’m in Houston now because I wasn’t going to find anything in Florida, so when Chevron offered me a job in Houston I took it.”
In addition to her work, Nathaly works in a primarily male-dominated field, which creates a different experience. She explains how in her current position she feels much more comfortable, as more women join her field. “Being in that environment made me appreciate having more women in the workplace and having more people like me. Even though both environments were great in their respective ways, it’s just better having women be championed in leadership.”
Starting from when she was just a little girl, to now, Nathaly has always found joy in technology and has dedicated her passion towards becoming the best software engineer possible.
