“Always aim to dominate.” This is the motto of iSchool alumna Ariana M. Davis and dominate is exactly what she did.

Ariana started her career in design before realizing she wanted to implement more coding into her work. She began pursuing a job that would let her do both and ended up as a Full-Stack Engineer for the Golden State Warriors. “My day can fluctuate between working on the newest features for the Chase Center website or maintaining updates to the Warriors website,” she explains.

Her position gives her the creative freedom to create and build whatever comes to mind. “Having the creative reign to build something that can leave a lasting impression on my department is the best feeling to attain,” Ariana says. Luckily, she is surrounded by people just as passionate as her to get the job done.

When discussing what helped her gain the skills needed to flourish in her career, Ariana mentioned FSU’s hackathon events. “During my freshman year of college at Florida State University was the beginning of the whole hackathon era. Having the opportunity to attend so many coding competitions across the U.S fully introduced me to what exactly the coding culture was and the amazing community behind it,” she explains. “Traveling the U.S with my peers during my undergraduate years helped me realize that software engineering was something that I fully wanted to pursue after graduating college and grateful for the experiences & memories it brought me.”

Ariana offers her advice to students, saying, “Don’t hesitate to start. We all started somewhere, and the first step is only just the beginning… There’s absolutely nothing stopping you from pursuing something that you’re interested in. Take that leap of faith to invest in your future self.”

Following her own advice, Ariana is developing her startup, Female Waves, in her free time. You can check it out here.