A Career Built on Code, Confidence, and Support

That work reflects the kind of hands-on, applied education she received at Lander College for Arts and Sciences, where she earned her undergraduate degree .

“I was looking for a school where I could get a strong education and also be supported as an individual,” said Chaya, who graduated in 2024. “The smaller class sizes really stood out to me, because I knew I’d have more opportunities to ask questions and get help when I needed it.”

She also appreciated the program’s practical focus. Rather than learning theory in isolation, students were building projects and gaining experience they could apply directly in the workforce. That hands-on approach and the support made it the right choice for her.

Computer science was not Chaya’s original plan. She initially thought she would follow hesister into the medical field, hut her interests, and her family’s influence, pulled her in a different direction. She had always enjoyed math, and her older brother, who enrolled in Touro’s computer science program two years before her, encouraged her to take a closer look.

“When I started researching computer science, I realized how much it involves math and logical thinking,” she said. “I love math and critical thinking, so it felt like a good fit.”

Once enrolled, she found the coursework challenging but rewarding. Two classes in particular stood out to her: database systems and an advanced C# course focused on object-oriented programming. Coming into computer science, she said, meant learning multiple programming languages at once, including C#, Java, Python, and SQL. While demanding, the process helped build confidence and fluency over time.

An important step in her professional development came through Touro’s Lander College for Women’s Hack It Together 2024 hackathon. One of the event’s co-sponsors, 400 Capital Management, gave participants the opportunity to learn about the firm and apply for internships. Chaya was selected for an internship there, where she gained hands-on exposure to real-world systems and data. That experience became a major stepping stone and helped prepare her for her current role at Bank of America.

Her transition to Bank of America was also supported by a Touro connection. A classmate she contacted through LinkedIn was interviewing at the firm and offered to refer her. After that classmate was hired, the referral followed.

Today, alongside her full-time role, Chaya is completing a master’s degree in data analytics at Touro’s Graduate School of Technology. She also serves as a teaching assistant for Professor Yitzchak Novick, grading multiple computer science courses in her spare time. Faculty support has continued to be a constant, particularly from Dr. Shmuel Fink, who has advised her both as an undergraduate and during her graduate studies and has helped reinforce core concepts throughout her education.

Unlike many other programmers, Chaya isn’t sweating the AI revolution. Bank of America has enabled the use of AI within its development environment, allowing engineers to streamline coding and work more efficiently. “It basically assists you,” Chaya said. “It saves time, and you’re able to do a lot more work when you have AI helping you code.”

For students interested in software engineering, she emphasizes that technical ability alone is not enough. “Communication skills are a big thing,” she said. “When you’re working on a team, you really have to be able to communicate well.” Time management and productivity are also essential, particularly when balancing multiple responsibilities. “Sometimes you’re given a lot of tasks at once, and you have to learn how to manage that,” she said. Strong problem-solving skills and attention to detail, she added, are critical. “You’re constantly running into problems with your code, and you have to be able to work through them.”