Ronin Ganoot

Why did you decide to study Computer Science at SOU?

As a kid I always loved going onto the computer and playing video games. As I grew older, I started to think about choosing a career, and I liked the idea of a job that involves technology. I grew up in Hawai‘i on the island of O‘ahu, and I knew that after I graduated high school I wanted to go to college on the mainland. I found Southern Oregon University from their “Island Raider” program, where an admissions counselor visited the islands and told us about SOU. One of my reasons for picking Southern Oregon University was the WUE (Western Undergraduate Exchange) scholarship, which I received as a resident of Hawai‘i. Although I wanted to study on the mainland, I still wanted to be around a community of others like me. When I found out that Southern Oregon University had a lot of students from Hawai‘i and other Pacific Islands, I knew that I had found my place.

What did you like most about your time at SOU?

During my time at Southern Oregon University, everything was “new”. I enjoyed meeting new people, living in a new environment, and creating new experiences. I loved seeing snow for the first time; even though I was freezing, it was still a new and fun experience. I joined Ho‘opa‘a Hawai‘i club, which was a way for students from Hawai‘i to form a community, and share Hawaiian culture with the rest of the university.

I enjoyed every single Computer Science class I took, even the really hard ones. I liked the challenge that came with learning a new concept and then being able to apply what I’d learned in a project. Even when classes were on Zoom during the pandemic, the professors made learning feel interactive; sometimes I even felt like I was still in the classroom.

How has your time at SOU prepared you for a career in Computer Science?

SOU’s Computer Science department has a great collection of professors that understand the professional industry and truly care about their students’ growth. The professors always encouraged students to do extracurricular activities, whether it was for fun or to get more experience in the field. As one of their students, I learned a lot of lessons that led me to develop my soft skills, problem solving, computational thinking, and working with others.

In my junior year at SOU, I was part of a HackOR Hackathon team. We developed a game from scratch in Java. We were really only targeting the “funny” category, but we ended up winning 1st place overall. I think this is a testament to how hard we worked, our teamwork, and the technical skills we had learned from the professors’ classes.

Tell us a little about your career path.

My first jobs started in my sophomore year at SOU, where I worked in IT as a Classroom Support Student Worker. I wanted to gain experience in a field I know was going to benefit me for future professional roles. It was fun to help professors with their technology issues, and learn more about command line scripts to update computers.

After my junior year I interned at Hawai‘i Pacific Health in their Design and Construction Department. I gained exposure to the healthcare industry, which I thought was a great opportunity to learn more about. I assisted project managers of the department in their stand-ups and other processes. I even got to travel to the other islands of Hawai‘i and learn about the projects at the other hospitals. Although I didn’t learn any programming, I was able to practice my soft skills and learn about project management, which really came in handy during my capstone project.

My capstone project was a Template Manager application for the Jackson County IT department. I learned C# and Microsoft SQL Server, which were both brand new to me.

After graduating, I applied for a job at Jackson County IT. I’d really liked working with them during capstone, and I thought it would be a great opportunity to work somewhere that helps out our Rogue Valley community. I still work for Jackson County IT as a Programmer Analyst II.