The Pursuit of Software Engineering

My name is Kelsey Shiba, and I am currently the leader of a circus. I balance, play, manage, and juggle several different facets of my life.

I was just laid off from my job at the University of Northern Colorado, where I served as the Associate Director of Jazz Studes for about 8 years. UNC was all I have ever known. I was a student there from 2003–2010, where I earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance, followed by a Master of Music degree in Jazz Studies. Following my degrees, I was hired as the Managing Producer of the UNC/Greeley Jazz Festival, and then hired as the Associate Director one year later.

It was an amazing experience to be part of the UNC music community for nearly 13 years. I learned so much as a student, musician and an administrator and I’m grateful for all the skills and people that I interacted with during my tenure.

I am also a gigging musician and work as a vocalist and pianist in the Denver and North Range areas. I work with live bands such as The Burroughs that do original music, and I also work for a band called Diamond Empire that provides pop and jazz music for live events and weddings.

In 2017, I had a son named Oliver. He keeps my husband and I very busy and it has been a huge adjustment to my late night life as a musician, but it has yielded the most rewards. He is a mischievous, energetic beam of light. While parenting presents many challenges, it has already taught me how to run quite an enterprise as I’m able to work, cook, clean, entertain, balance, and organize in order to get needs met for the family.

I have been a lifetime learner for as long as I can remember. Being in a university setting was extremely advantageous for me, as I was able to take classes for free while working. I earned certifications in the Adobe Suite, and was able to execute elements of design in my job, as well as elementary website designs. It was very beneficial and exciting to learn those skills sets. I also earned my Brakes and Electrical certifications at Aims Community college in Autoshop. I like being able to understand a set of problems and attempt to fix them.

I was drawn to Software Engineering after a musician friend of mine completed a similar program a few years ago. I love the idea of understanding how things are working, the challenging and complicated world in which they exist, and the possibility of creating a fully functioning application or website that can serve the needs of others in a unique way. I love problem solving, and I am most drawn to the idea of something that never stops evolving where I can always be learning something new. I also want to try to earn a job that is flexible, versatile, and exciting where I could also be present with my family during my son’s young development.

I am looking forward to completing this track so I can springboard myself into a new, exciting future. I know it will be extremely challenging as I will need to retrain my musical brain to think differently, but I could not be more enthusiastic about the potential to serve my musical community with my new set of skills if the opportunity presents itself.