Letters of Recommendation
I truly cannot say enough about Edwin Skidmore to fully emphasize how much positive influence and significance he has had on my growth as a Student, Engineer, and individual. We first met when I was a transfer student at the University of Arizona looking for my first real developer job having little to no previous experience. He was gracious enough to allow me to join his team of developers at CyVerse working on Cloud Computing software, which at the time I did not realize would become my passion and specialty within Computer Science. I was fortunate enough to continue working for CyVerse throughout the entire duration of my undergrad where I observed and absorbed as much as I could from my first developer role.
Edwin and his incredible team at CyVerse gave me the tools and support I needed to grow as a studious intern looking to learn the lay of the land of Software Engineering and was always supportive of me exploring every opportunity I could to continue growing. This included allowing me to participate in summer internships at other companies to expand my experiences and graciously providing me a spot back on the team once the summer was over. This action alone encompasses the incredible character of Edwin. He understands how critical it is for students to gain as much experience as they can while in school and was especially supportive in this aspect.
The list of things I have learned while developing on his team is endless and all of the projects I was fortunate enough to collaborate on at CyVerse will prove to be an essential reference for the future. In addition to this, Edwin kindly wrote this letter of recommendation for my nomination of the Fall 2020 UofA Computer Science Outstanding Senior Award, highlighting our journey during my two years at CyVerse as a Student Developer. Edwin is an astounding individual and I owe him and his team a great deal for every professional opportunity I was able to experience.
When I first transferred to the University of Arizona, my academic advisor at the time was Arthur Jordan whom was the first member of the CS faculty that I met with to initiate my journey in Computer Science. From our first meeting onward, Arthur has consistently been an incredible mentor providing me with motivating support and encouragement at every step of the way. He provided suggestions on academic & career pathways along with invaluable advice for which I am incredibly grateful for, as they helped me land to where I am today.
Arthur eventually received a promotion to his current role as Coordinate of Career Development at the Computer Science department where he was able to dedicate more one-on-one time with students specifically assisting in Career-related advising. In this role, Arthur continued to showcase his guidance and support, proving to be a critical resource within the department. We often had meetings, casual discussions, and email exchanges that sparked a mentor-mentee connection and always made it clear to me that if I ever needed anything in the future, I could count on him.
He kindly wrote this letter of recommendation as part of my nomination for the Fall 2020 UofA Computer Science Outstanding Senior Award. As the recipient of this award, I am eternally grateful to Arthur because without his considerable support, I would not have ventured beyond my comfort zone to reach for higher goals and explore a variety of courses & internships.
Ryan Daily was my professor for a Transfer Strategies course I took in preparation to transfer to the University of Arizona. He provided countless resources and personalized advice in order to navigate the complexities of transferring to the University.
I owe a lot of credit to Ryan for helping me establish my professional network and giving me suggestions and feedback to continuously expand my professional presence. Many of the opportunities I have been lucky enough to receive are largely due to his encouragements and guidance while taking his course. Even now, with each progressive software development position I achieve, he is always there to congratulate me and encourage me to keep pushing forward. I truly value his mentorship and I appreciate his assistance in getting me started in this journey.
Salvador Sanchez has always been a great mentor for me. We share years of working together on projects, programs, and multimedia events for our church, Tucson Spanish Seventh-day Adventist Church, where he was the Director of the multimedia department.
When I first started working as a volunteer for the Multimedia group, I was inexperienced and had never worked in a professional environment before. He consistently encouraged me to explore the technology at my disposal and sparked my interest in working with computers. Being able to collaborate alongside him allowed me to gain the insight and experience I needed to become the professional I am today.
David Freitag is an amazing professor whom I had the pleasure to work with while taking an introductory programming course. He reinforced my interest in Computer Science with everything he taught in the course and helped me refine my skills to ensure I improved with every passing assignment. You can tell that he truly enjoys teaching programming in a way to make sure that the next generation of developers have the knowledge and support to be successful in the workforce.
Mr. Freitag always provided tailored feedback on all my assignments to ensure that, by the end of that semester, I had the foundation set to become a successful developer. I owe a lot to him for much of my introductory understanding of Software Development and truly appreciate his guidance throughout the duration of the course.