From Computer Science at Boston College to Data Science at Tech Talent & Strategy, Kalel Lopez strives to work with Artificial Intelligence to potentially create a ‘sentient’ AI model that can casually interact with people. Although he knows many people fear this sort of technology, to Kalel, it is exactly where humanity is headed and he wants to be a part of the people that bring it into this world. Let’s get to know a little bit about Kalel:

What were you doing before TTS?

I had recently graduated from Boston College in May 2022 and began searching for work opportunities soon after. I found TTS on Handshake and decided a boot camp would be good to hone my skills.

What have you learned about yourself over the past year?

I’ve learned that I work well in peaceful environments and when I can focus on one aspect of whatever job I am doing. I’ve also learned that I am better at coding than I originally thought after graduating from my university.

What does the world need more of?

In truth, the world needs more people that are capable of making decisions for themselves rather than following whatever is most popular now. These people should be able to think about their position in the world, how they could make the world better, and how their actions affect even the smallest things in life. I strive to be this kind of person.

How has what you learned at TTS impacted your life?

The things I learned at TTS really allowed me to test my knowledge on data science and gave me confidence in my ability to code. Learning new languages like R and SQL was incredibly helpful. Even with the subjects I already had experience with like Python and Excel, I found myself learning much more and becoming much more comfortable with coding.

What is something that makes you unique?

While I focus the majority of my time and study into computer science, I am actually more of an artist at heart. I’ve done much traditional and digital painting throughout my life and occasionally make commissions for people. I also play the piano, guitar, and ocarina for fun. Apart from those hobbies, I also studied Japanese for 8 years and am proficient in it.

Any advice for others looking to explore this path?

It will be incredibly daunting. This is a world where there is an insane amount of information constantly being created and released in the internet. The important thing is to focus on your objective and not get distracted by how complicated the code may seem. In the end, we work with these languages like Python and R in order to understand them and then manipulate them for our own purposes.