30 seconds with an alum: Building connections with code 

UW Bothell computer science alum Hannah Kim shares how stepping out of her comfort zone and fully embracing the college experience helped her grow both personally and professionally.

When she first arrived at UW Bothell, alumna Hannah Kim, Computer Science and Software Engineering ‘25, felt nervous about what lay ahead. But the tight-knit community at UW Bothell quickly introduced her to engaging classes, like-minded peers and interactive clubs. She gained technical skills as a student and strengthened her interpersonal abilities while serving as the president of the Association for Computing Machinery Club. In the future, she hopes to be a software engineer or product manager with dreams of traveling the world along the way.

How did your academic and extracurricular path unfold during your time here?

I was originally an intended chemistry major. I just decided to take a CS course, and I fell in love with it. In my sophomore year, I focused on getting into the major as well as on my studies. Junior year I joined one of my first clubs, ACM. And then senior year I became the president of ACM as well as another club, IXDA. I’ve been able to see so much of the campus that I couldn’t before.

Why did coding resonate with you more than your original field of study?

Even though it was hard, it never felt boring. Once I finished learning about a topic or finished really hard projects, I felt a bigger accomplishment than I did when I was just finishing chemistry problems. I could actually see something I built myself, like my code running and working.

What’s one project that really stuck with you during your time at UW Bothell?

In my Principles of Human Computer Interaction class, we made an application that simulates Zoom, but you’re able to do some of the actions with just your hand input. You could swipe to open the chat and then use different hand motions to mute and unmute. That was cool, learning about accessibility and being able to apply it into a widely used application.

How do you think you’ve grown personally or professionally during your time at UW Bothell?

I’ve definitely gotten more comfortable being uncomfortable. Like being able to speak in front of larger crowds or different stakeholders, especially through my experience in leading ACM.

Why was it important for you to foster connection and collaboration through ACM?

If you support others, they’ll be there for you as well. Building that community is important and making sure you have even a couple of key people who you can really trust and grow with is super important for your own growth. ACM helped me ease into that because even in high school I didn’t have a community, or my friends were all doing different things.

Who has had a big impact on you?

Professor Annushka Zolyomi. Even just starting with being in her class, she made sure that the environment was welcoming, and that students could ask any type of questions. Once I joined her research, I was a little bit intimidated, but again, she reassured me and was able to get me set up for success.