Viridiana Becerra Rodriguez | Insight Analyst Apprentice

Greetings! I am Viridiana Becerra a first-generation immigrant, who is extremely family-oriented. Anything I set my mind to comes with a purpose and intention. I have always faced alternative paths than the typical American, and I am now firm that there is no single path to reach a career even though statistics may make you believe so. I have a broad mindset that is eager to conquer and pursue continuous growth. My world-view has always been you get what works for and not what you wish for, which has led me to the work ethic I now have. 

Background

At the age of 13, I initiated my first official income job as a nanny while also taking on a second role as a tutor with elementary students. Not being aware these jobs will, later on, serve me with life and people skills. It taught me a huge sense of what responsibility, dedication and commitment were. However, it also opened doors to many I didn’t think I would receive. Having a diverse clientele allowed me to grow up with an open mind. 

I come from a Hispanic family that had little to no schooling, very minimum opportunities surrounded them. Having such a successful clientele allowed me to visualize myself higher than I gave myself credit for. I began to idolize the lifestyle my clientele could offer to their immediate family, one of them being their travels. Growing up my father made me believe that traveling was nearly impossible and not an option for us. When I aged and began immersing myself among travelers, I set a firm goal that one day I, along with my sibling and mother, would become a tourist around the world.  After traveling to 10 different breathtaking places in 2017, we were left with so many great memories. I must admit that I became the biggest Wanderlust after achieving this goal. I knew that if I wanted to maintain this lifestyle, I had to integrate myself into higher education, which led me to pursue a career as a Medical Assistant. Uneasy about this title, I knew that the drive I have within me could reach a higher position in life. 

Joining Year Up 

I assured myself that I wanted more to my name. Sadly turning down my job offer at Virginia Mason after concluding an internship role. I then later searched for schooling opportunities that were going to allow me to walk away with little to no debt, leading me to the Year Up program. This program not only offered an opportunity for me to walk away debt-free, but multiple entries to such as a tech career, a stipend, and endless support.  Coming from a whole different career path to a Software engineer was a change I was unsure I could take on and came with a lot of self-doubts. I had to remind myself of my potential and being the ambitious gal that I am, I signed up. I must emphasize that it has been one of the best investments I have made and more so through a pandemic. 

It has not been an easy journey. Battling severe anxiety came with more self-doubts. This is where my self-discipline came into place. I knew that joining this new career path meant that I would have to get uncomfortable to get comfortable. In the first 6 months of the program, I was introduced to what I previously referred to as puzzle-coding! Learning multiple programming languages,  improving professionalism and communication skills led me to where I am now so enthusiastic to be. 

My Role as a Data Analyst

I landed a role as an Insight Analyst with the biggest travel company, Expedia Group. Already being passionate about traveling I couldn’t express what an immense opportunity this was for me. As a traveler and now someone that works on the backend of it, I knew what kind of deliverables a customer would expect. I thrived to learn the various tools my team uses and the whys behind them. My team’s focus is to provide performance and service availability analysis through active monitoring and data analytics. We support and improve the production environment through detecting friction points and quantifying the impact to drive prioritization with our engineers and developers. 

With such a welcoming team, I have been able to ask endless questions for further growth, gain transferable skills and develop more motivation to keep striving among the company. A huge shout out to the IOTA team and my Manager, Geneva, for setting early talent for success! 

After Apprenticeship 

As I soon approach the conclusion of my 6-month apprentice role within Expedia, I have grown to love the work culture, the diversity, the wellness, and the inclusion it has to offer its employees. From this point forward I plan to complete my current role as strongly as possible while networking among other potential roles being offered by Expedia.  

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