CS degree opens new doors for campus police officer Angela Dutram
CS degree opens new doors for campus police officer Angela Dutram
Angela Dutram earned her computer science degree in May, and like many new grads, is hoping to work in technology, specifically software engineering.
But unlike traditional students, she is reimagining her career path after a decade spent protecting the public.
This marks Dutram’s second bachelor’s degree; she earned her first degree, a BA in criminology, law, and justice, with a minor in psychology, in 2016 from UIC. She began her career in law enforcement, spending two years as a transportation security officer with the TSA before returning to UIC in 2018 as a campus police officer. She remains on the force today, patrolling campus.
Dutram knew she wanted to return to school and craved the mental stimulation it provided. She planned to pursue a degree in physical therapy and took Chemistry II over one summer, so she was prepared for an organic chemistry class that fall. When she tried to enroll, the class was full, so she searched for other courses that interested her.
“I knew that if I stopped going to school – if I took that break – I was not going to want to go back,” Dutram said. “On a whim, I took an economics course and a computer science course.”
Her computer science professor, Ellen Kidane, and her teaching assistants noted Dutram’s aptitude for the material and how quickly she was picking it up.
“I was just having fun, but they convinced me I could make a career out of this,” Dutram said.
Dutram’s husband also noted her newfound enthusiasm: despite taking two classes, the one that she talked about nonstop was computer science, from the moment she woke up. Not only did she think about coding, but she also dreamed about it. He urged her to pursue a degree in the field.
It’s just another language
Dutram recalls a friend from her first stint at UIC who was majoring in computer science. At the time, he showed her binary code and mentioned that it is simply a language. Dutram, a first-generation student, is fluent in Polish and often translated for her parents, which honed her communication skills and trained her how to think in different languages. During her first degree, Dutram also studied Arabic and Russian. Framing coding as a language helped her realize that programming languages are just that: a language to be learned.
A different perspective
While working towards her computer science degree, Dutram noted a big difference between the College of Liberal Arts and Science and the College of Engineering. She built soft skills while earning her first degree and learned concrete skills from engineering. She’s grateful for both experiences – how the soft skills compliment technical knowhow.
“You could be the smartest person in the room, but if you don’t have the skills to get through a conversation, you won’t get very far in industry,” Dutram said.
Dutram has faced some skepticism about her desire to change career paths, noting that some people can’t get past her experience as a police officer.
“I think people automatically just assume that it’s a weird pivot,” Dutram said. “But is it that much of a weird pivot? We use technology all the time in law enforcement.”
Dutram’s police work includes computer-aided design, and she is a certified drone pilot.
She hopes to incorporate all she has learned, and where she came from, into her next role, blending her communication and problem-solving skills with her skills in software design.
“It was hard work to get to where I am today, so how do I account for that? I don’t want to forget about everything that led me to this point,” Dutram said.
A new graduate
Dutram considered walking in the graduation ceremony, but instead celebrated her accomplishment by focusing on the people who helped her achieve this milestone.
“I am at a point in my life where I think that’s a better way for me to celebrate,” Dutram said, “with a small gathering surrounded by family and friends who helped me along the way.”