CSpotlight: Making her mark on the world

Over the last four years, B.S. student Yamini Talasila has made her mark on campus (and the world). She aided students as a TA for a popular introductory computing course and encouraged young students to pursue tech careers as a member of Code the Gap. Now, she's interning at Microsoft, where her code for a new feature on their cloud platform will soon roll out to millions of users.

Why did you choose to study computer science at the University of Minnesota?

The U has a really solid and flexible program for computer science. Everyone in the computer science department is very passionate about their research and most of their work is around the cutting-edge parts of the industry. There is research being conducted in almost every area of computing here, and the department is actively looking for students who want to get involved.

Plus, all of my professors have been very approachable. In fact, one of my professors, who studies human-centered computing, opened up her lab to all her students who passed a small assignment. I appreciate that it is actually not difficult to get involved if you want to—which you might not expect since there are so many students in the major.

How did you become interested in computer science?

I actually came in as a biomedical engineering major and I only took my first computer class ever in freshman year (without any prior programming experience)! Going into that class, I didn't have too many expectations and I did not know if it was something that would pique my interest or not. However, things changed once I realized what programming really was and turns out, I loved it!

It’s just writing instructions to create whatever products you want and it’s a lot of fun. I am fascinated with my major because computer scientists can solve so many world problems by playing around with data structures and creating models. It is a powerful tool to create beautiful products. My interests lie in the field of education and creating tools for students to help aid their studies.

I switched my major to computer science towards the end of my sophomore year, so I've really only been in this major for only a year now and I'm graduating next semester—which says a lot about how friendly this major is and how quickly you can pick it up.

Tell us more about your software engineering internship with Microsoft.

I started interning at Microsoft this summer, and it has been a really good experience so far. I work for the Meta-OS cloud platform, which is a new foundational layer on top of the existing Microsoft machine learning infrastructure. I am working on developing a new feature for the platform’s shell. The launch cycle is coming up and my code will be in production soon. The impact is tremendous as millions of people will be interacting with a feature that I built during the course of my internship and it is unlike anything else I have done before—it's been very surreal!

How did you become involved with student group Tesla Works?

I remember hearing about Tesla Works at the career fair during my freshman year. I walked into one of their Friday meetings a couple of weeks later. It was the same day that all of their then-current members talked about their projects. Everyone was very friendly and it was very easy to get involved, so I signed up to be a part of the app-based electric skateboard project.

What made you decide to become a teaching assistant? What was your favorite part about being a TA?

I was looking for a part-time job, so I decided to apply. Introduction to Programming Concepts was one of my favorite classes at the U (and it was also my first computer science class), so I was excited to TA for it. I enjoyed the experience so much that I decided to TA for the class the following semester as well.

My favorite part about being a TA is the satisfaction that I get when my students tell me that my work assisting them is actually helpful. It was rewarding to know that I was helping my students understand the course material. It was also a very fun way to meet new people!

What advice do you have for incoming computer science students?

My advice is to get involved in clubs that are aligned with your interests. This can really help you figure out what parts of the organization or what roles you enjoy the most. Working on projects outside of class is very beneficial, as it gives you a very good sense of what working with people towards a specific goal is really like.

If you are looking for a CSE organization to be a part of, consider joining Code the Gap. This organization fosters an encouraging learning environment for young students that belong to underrepresented minorities and hopes to inspire them to pursue careers in tech.

Also, incoming students should know that although it may seem like the computer science major is really crowded, there’s room for everyone!

What are your plans after graduation?

I hope to gain more hands-on experience by working in industry, hopefully on products that I care about and that impact people’s lives every day. Specifically, I'd love to work on projects that involve the use of open-source containers and Kubernetes, as that is a cool space to be in right now and something that I want to explore. After a few years, I may want to pursue a master’s degree.

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