I would like to dedicate this post to Prof. Gleen Crellin, who 4-years-ago put trust in me, who does not have any technical background except a 10 credit summer database certificate, and gave me my very first database development job. Prof. Crellin lost his battle to cancer in May 2017. My thoughts go to his family.

Prof. Glenn Crellin

It all begins with someone who puts trust in you. After the 11-week Summer certificate program and right before I started graduate school program, I was itching to find a real life project and use all that knowledge I leaned. I love real estate (and you already know that), so I naturally looked up real estate research centers at my home school University of Washington.  That’s how I found Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies.   There was no job posted – whatever the worst they could say is no – but I contacted the program manager anyway.  She forwarded my inquiry to Glenn, and that’s how my life started to change.

First email I sent to Runstad center’s program manager.

I have to say, I did not do a great job on this first project.  I learned a ton about the importance of requirements gathering and how to collaborate with existing technical team. It was hard – I didn’t really know what I was doing.  I realized the project was in a downward spiral and I reached out to Glenn.  He put his hand together, looked at me, and said: “I know. I wanted to give you this chance and I know you tried hard. It’s alright.”

I want to remember this for the rest of my career. Thank you Glenn.