Maya Sheriff works at CIBC.
Name: Maya Sheriff
Current job title: Application developer apprentice, CIBC
I’m a full-stack developer, so my work involves designing, coding, and deploying applications. When I’m not actively building features, I’m often in meetings with my team to ensure everything is aligned and on track. I also spend a good amount of time testing to make sure everything functions as expected. Right now, I’m working on two different applications, each with a small, focused team.
Previous career: College student, administrative assistant, cashier and cook at Beggar’s Pizza.
When did you finish your DPI training? July 2024
Why tech? I used to do electrical work with my dad. When I was really young, I would just tag along with him and learn different things. Didn’t understand a lot of what was happening, but it made me like STEM and more technical stuff.
In high school, I got the opportunity to be a part of Girls Who Code, and we worked with Scratch. It was really fun, a simple form of programming: just block coding. But I liked being able to see how writing this code could make things happen right on my computer screen.
I started off as an electrical engineering major at Kalamazoo College but ended up switching to computer science because of an elective I took and really enjoyed.
Why DPI? Being a computer science student, especially at that time, you would hear, “Go get your degree! You’ll come out with a job!” I liked STEM already, so I was going to do that anyway.
But when I was finishing up my degree at Governors State in December 2022, just past the peak of the pandemic, there were a lot of other people who had heard the same advice about going into tech. They were also graduating around that same time, plus lots of people switching into tech. So there I was: fighting for a role against so many people. It was hard.
It still is hard to find a position in tech, or at least your first one. And then a friend of mine who was in the DPI program previously reached out.
She was telling me about the environment, about the people, how everyone was super nice, and how she was learning and getting hands-on experience, which was another thing I knew I wanted.
As a computer science student, you learn a lot of computer logic and theory, but once you’re in the classes you realize there’s not a ton of programming. As a result, I didn’t have a lot of the hands-on experience that I needed. DPI was a big help in that area for me. I’m still glad I decided to join the program.
What skill from your previous career helped you the most in your current one? Just my drive, my hunger for learning and seeing what I’m capable of, if you can call that a skill.
I started off at Beggar’s Pizza as a cashier. I can get bored doing the same thing for too long, so I wanted to learn more, wanted to get my hands on more things. I moved from being a cashier to working at the pizza table to working at the sandwich table, and got to the point where they wanted me to be a manager. But because I was still in school at the time, I turned it down, so I could stay focused.
What was the most important thing you learned along the way? Just talking, getting to know people. Whether or not it’s related to my career or field, it’s always nice learning from other people, because you never know what you’ll pick up and how it can be implemented into whatever situation you’re in.
What do you like most about your job? Being able to be a part of multiple projects that I know are going to be used by actual people, whether that’s internal or external. I like working on something that is being created to solve a problem: whether that’s making someone else’s job faster and more efficient or just taking complete components out of other peoples’ days so that they don’t even have to think about it.
Take your banking app. Just being able to have your bank information at the tip of your fingers: make transfers, get money, move it to wherever you need, in a second. Working on applications like that is amazing and fun. Obviously, I haven’t gotten to write any from scratch yet. But being a part of that, it’s pretty cool.
Also, I love working on the teams: being able to brainstorm, being able to throw ideas around, and seeing if they actually can be implemented if they’re good ideas.
Where do you see yourself in five years? For sure, I want to still be in the tech industry. My goal is to be a programmer for maybe two to three more years, then move up the ranks. Being able to work on more projects, having a little more seniority and a little more say-so in what projects I get to work on, while also controlling more specifics of each project. Probably some project management would be nice too.
Honestly, I’m still learning what I like. Still trying to figure out where my niche is. I know there are a lot of other disciplines I can move to. I might find I like testing a lot more, security, or a customer-facing role — talking to stakeholders, for example. I’m trying to dip my feet in what I can now so I can figure that out.
What advice do you have for people considering a shift to a tech career? Be ready to learn. You’re going to constantly be learning new things, and not all of it’s going to be spoon-fed to you. You have to go out and find the knowledge you’re looking for.
Find people who are in the specific discipline you want to be in and learn what their roles are, and what it requires of them. See if that aligns with your personality and what you want. Tech is really fun, but it can be stressful at times, so be ready.
*Catching up with former DPI Workforce trainees
Author: Jeanie Chung