Meet Nikki

Let’s start off by learning a bit more about your life prior to Pega. Where are you from originally and what is your educational background?
Technology has always fascinated me. I have always found myself interested in smart devices for my home, my phones/watches, and also building a gaming PC as well as buying gaming consoles. I LOVE to play video games!

I’m the second grandchild on my mother's side of the family to have graduated college. Having a more traditional Filipino side, my grandparents (and parents) wanted a doctor (or a nurse). When I started at the University of South Florida, it was originally with the intent to become a Cardiologist. I discovered pretty quickly that the medical world just wasn't my passion.

After I signed up for a few programming and IT courses in college, I knew immediately that this was the career I wanted. I graduated from USF with a B.S. in Information Technology. That’s when I came across LEGERITY and learned about Pega for the first time.

Q: What motivated you to learn how to use Pega?
I had no idea what PEGA was before the opportunity to go through LEGERITY’s training program to become a Certified Systems Architect was presented to me. After that initial interview, I recognized that this would be a great opportunity to step out of college and start a "real" job in a field that I was very passionate about entering.

I really do enjoy working on Pega because I find the platform to be both fun and challenging.  I’m always researching new features on the platform and I love asking questions to more experienced Pega developers. I feel like a sponge soaking in EVERYTHING about Pega and what it can do.

"The Pega platform ensures that we (the developers) are helping the end-users (nurses to doctors) provide their patients with the care that they need."

How has Pega shaped or impacted your career?
Up until this opportunity with LEGERITY, I was working part-time in retail/F&B after graduation.  LEGERITY gave me a chance to learn PEGA and launch my career path by allowing me to gain experience in the IT field and use the Pega platform everyday at a client site to help develop, sustain, maintain, and improve their business applications.

My career ambition is to achieve as many Pega certifications as possible. I want to be that ace in the hole who can take the lead on projects, from architecture to robotics. More than anything, I want to serve as a mentor to people my age who are just starting on Pega. I want to support them on their journey the way I was supported in my own journey by LEGERITY.

How is Pega changing the organization where you work?
Right now I’m working at a healthcare company that focuses on providing care services sponsored by the government to families, children, seniors, and/or individuals through Medicare and Medicaid.

I am still fairly new here but I could see from the start that Pega improves the organization by allowing developers to work in a user-friendly environment with fast-processing pieces of code that help build the foundation for a great user experience. The Pega platform ensures that we (the developers) are helping the end-users (nurses to doctors) provide their patients with the care that they need.

What message or advice would you give to anyone who is considering a career as a Pega Developer?
Don’t ever hesitate to say yes to the opportunity to become a Pega developer, try it out and give it your all. Sacrifice your time to learn the platform because the payoff in your career will be enormous. I don’t regret it for a minute! Pega does a great job of making the platform straightforward for newcomers to learn it. I always tell my friends that if they want to do programming, they should learn Pega.