Dr. Diego Vela has a Computer Science B.S. from the University of Michigan Dearborn and a Mathematics Ph.D. from Rice University. He started working as a software engineer in 2016, developing Android apps professionally. In 2020, Diego started working at Google on the Android Framework Team.

One part of Diego's job is developing APIs—the main way developers interact with software. It is necessary to have the right abstractions in place so that other developers can accomplish their goals. Similar to Mathematics, the right abstraction can make proving some theorems very clear.

Diego has learned that, when it comes to working in industry, failure is inevitable. The most important thing is that you learn and keep trying. It took Diego six months before finding his first industry job.

“Hispanic Heritage Month is a good time for us to think about how we can help each other out.”