Community Spotlight: Diana Liao
As 2022 has begun, we are spotlighting several members of the Realize Change community who have experienced professional and personal growth over the past year.
Diana Liao is a cat mom and singer who went through a career transformation over the past year. During 2021, she left her job, attended coding bootcamp, and started a new role as a software engineer at Cofense, a cybersecurity company.
Diana Liao with her cat Sqkrz (squeakerz), whom she is fostering through King Street Cats.
Tell us a little about you. What are you into? What kind of work do you do? And what are your special skills and strengths?
I like making music (including through my a cappella group SongRise), helping people, and pretending I could totally be a backup dancer. I am a brand new software developer, excited to be starting a journey of lifelong learning and problem solving. I came most recently from the nonprofit sector working in advocacy for research, with a special interest in science communication and increasing diversity in STEMM. I hope to mentor coding students soon, and try to carve out time to work on open source software.
As for special skills and strengths, I think I am a quick learner and can relate to people well. The variety of roles and organizations I have worked in have given me a perspective into large and small teams, as well as different types of problems and clients.
As you reflect on the past year, where were you at the start of 2021, in terms of your professional and personal journey?
At the start of 2021, I was still at my previous job, but my career change plan was already in motion. I had applied to and secured tuition funding for a coding bootcamp. I was experiencing a lot of anxiety around the big lifestyle changes I was going to make, and taking classes after a long time away from school. I was also having trouble feeling satisfied with how I’d leave the small nonprofit I worked for, and needed ample reminders that my responsibility should be to myself and not to an employer. Other than the obvious financial uncertainty, I was excited to begin coding bootcamp and see where it would lead me.
Kudos to you on your courage to leave your job and start coding bootcamp! Over the past year, what has changed for you on an inner and outer level?
On an inner level, I feel that I have done a lot of rebuilding and remodeling, needing to grow in unfamiliar environments. In the 4 months of coding bootcamp, I virtually joined a cohort (go Hamstarz!), where I sometimes put on a mentor hat that I had long forgotten, since I was on the older side of the age range of students and I had some more coding experience. Fast forward to now, where I am in my first job in a new career, feeling like a speck of plankton in the largest of oceans. I’m having to internalize that I need to ask questions and get help in order to get better at my job, and help out my team. They hired a junior engineer after all, knowing that training me is part of the deal! In between bootcamp and getting my new gig, I took some hits of personal loss, but which also led to some rapid reassessment of priorities and who I was as a person.
On an outer level, I’m a woman in my mid-thirties still figuring things out, but starting a new career as a software developer.
Congratulations on your new job!! How did that happen?
A lot of luck, naps, and support from others! My bootcamp, Flatiron School, provides students with career services post-graduation, which includes a coach. I also tried to stay in contact with my cohort-mates for camaraderie in the trenches of the job search. I enjoyed going to virtual job fairs that were centered around affinity groups, like women in tech and fighting climate change. Often there were guest speakers interspersed in or to start the event, and it was a great way to gain a little bit of inspiration before speaking with companies that have values aligned with your own.
A doodle that Diana made during coaching in 2019 that reads "I am committed to taking ownership of my responsibilities and being a BUILDER."
Sounds like you’ve really been putting yourself out there and connecting with a lot of different people and networks. Rewinding a bit, it was a pleasure working with you a couple of years ago on re-imagining your career. How did this experience affect the way you approach your work, hobbies, and/or sense of self?
My time with Realize Change helped me look past feeling stuck and to instead look for opportunities. I knew my job wasn’t the best fit, but I wasn’t quite ready to make a big change. I was able to reframe how I viewed my position, and focus efforts on the parts that gave me pride. This way, the job was serving me and ultimately preparing me for a role I did want.
Working with you and doing visioning exercises also helped me put into words that I wanted to be a “builder” of sorts, and that is what I do now!
What advice do you have for other women+ who are seeking to use their gifts for good?
As I’m still internalizing, asking for help and accepting it is not being selfish, especially if you plan to pay it forward! Also, no matter what you’re passionate about (in work or in life), there is a community of like-minded people out there.
If you had a 10-billion-dollar foundation, how would you change the world?
Unfortunately, I have no sense of the best way to spend the money to combat climate change, but if a clear and effective route appeared, it would be my first choice. Otherwise, I’d love for the foundation to work towards providing free and affordable housing to all those who need it, from providing a stable home for families with children so kids can focus on schooling, to senior centers for English language learners complete with translation services so they can continue to thrive with dignity. Everyone should have a safe and comfortable place to call home.
What are your new year’s intentions for 2022?
I want to learn to feel good in my own skin. This means both figuring out who I am, and then accepting it. I’m also trying my best to look forward and not be stuck on what I could have done better in the past.