Interview with Pioneering Programmers

Kaylee, Dante, and Kimberlee were some of the first students to work in Salesforce development for Westmont. Their work over the past months—and especially last summer—laid the groundwork for the CATLab today.

How did you first get involved in Westmont’s Salesforce team?

Kaylee: I worked with Neil Di Maggio who is the Director of Research and Prospect Management at Westmont. I used Salesforce to help identify donors that Westmont should reach out to. Neil then introduced me to Zak and I began working on a larger development project in Salesforce.

Dante: A year and a half ago, Zak emailed me and asked if I would like to be a part of the Salesforce team. He said one of the students that he was working with, Kaylee Yoon, who kind of started the program, had had a class with me—CS-030. Apparently I did well on one of the projects, and she noticed me. When Zak asked her if she knew of anyone that could help, she recommended me. Unfortunately, I was pretty busy with baseball that semester, so I said no for the semester; but I told Zak I would reach out again later. Later that semester, I reached out to Zak… and so it worked out and that spring break I was actually able to take one of the classes that we had held on campus. I started the beginning of that summer, and it just took off from there.

Kimberlee: Well, let’s see. December of my freshmen year, Zak Landrum contacted me. I was one of two Data Analytics majors and also was an Augustinian. He decided to reach out to me and see if I was interested in the project. And from there he told me about the project, and I was definitely interested in working for Westmont—just for a job and also doing something that would actually impact the college and make a difference.

What was it like working with Westmont staff?

Kaylee: It has been such a privilege to work with people who trust you and give you the opportunity to work on real projects that matter for the school.  It is so evident that they care deeply for Westmont students and want to see us succeed.

Dante: I really enjoyed working with the staff at Westmont—it’s cool to see how professional staff people work. Also, being a student at Westmont, it’s cool to kind of see behind the scenes and see how all the staff and faculty work and how they think and what actually is happening every day while we’re just taking classes. We think that students are the center of Westmont, but in reality there’s a lot going on behind the scenes of people working hard to put us in a position to succeed and put the college in a position to be its absolute best. It’s been really enjoyable working with staff—with Nancy and Zak primarily, and Kim—trying to see how they work, how they function, and just what they’re doing to help our school every day.

Kimberlee: It’s been super awesome to get to know the people on the other side. I spend a lot of time with other students and even with professors, but in terms of the faculty who aren’t professors, it’s been great to get to know them and kind of see how the back end of Westmont works.

What challenges have you faced in pioneering this program?

Kaylee: When I started, there was no established program, so I had to blaze my own trail. When I got stuck on a project, there was nobody I could troubleshoot with or bounce ideas off of because I was the only Salesforce Developer at Westmont.

Dante: Probably the biggest challenge with the CATLab has been gaining reputation and respect from the community as a group a group of students. Traditionally, this isn’t a job that a handful of college students would be doing. And so earning that respect and having people actually recognize us as being able to produce legitimate work that can benefit the school, benefit other non-profits or organizations—that’s probably been the biggest part. Just showing people that students really do know what they’re doing: if you give the tools and the knowledge, they can produce results that are gonna improve very beneficial for the organization that employs them.

Kimberlee: I think I personally like to have a lot of answers, and as a pioneer of this program there weren’t always a lot of answers. It was very open—sometimes when asking questions, I wouldn’t really get a straight answer and it was more “figure it out yourself” or “let me know what you think after you do some research.” I think the whole lack of answers was the most challenging aspect.

What are your hopes for the CATLab this summer? Further in the future?

Kaylee: This summer, I am working on converting our current Aura Components to Lightning Web Components, which Salesforce recently introduced. I am not working in office with the rest of the team, but I am hoping that CATLab helps new developers gain confidence in their coding ability in a fun, collaborative environment. I also hope that the work we do has a positive impact on Westmont and the Higher Ed Salesforce community. We are one of the first schools to have student Salesforce developers, and I am hoping that this program inspires other schools to implement similar programs.

Dante: This summer, as the team lead, I’m really hoping to see the team thrive and to see all the new developers learn new language, learn how to interact in a professional environment, and just see how everyone can kind of come together to produce a product that is gonna prove extremely beneficial and helpful for the Westmont admissions team and Westmont as a whole. So I’m just really looking forward to working with everyone, working with the team, and seeing a product come to light that didn’t exist before or that wasn’t quite as good as it could be.

Kimberlee: My hope is obviously that this project will be successful and that our team will grow closer in doing that—and that everyone can walk away at the end of the summer with a sense of accomplishment, knowing that they’ve made a difference and that they’re capable of doing something amazing.

Bonus question: What is something that you are curious about right now? (Could be related to Salesforce or tech, or just something completely random you'd like to learn more about).

Kaylee: In regards to tech, I am really interested in machine learning. I built an artificial neural network for my senior project that predicts how much someone will donate to Westmont. I will be doing more machine learning research this fall in Taiwan. Another thing I am curious about right now that isn't tech related is sourdough. I am trying to bake sourdough from scratch. This requires making a sourdough starter from flour and water, but I have been having a hard time cultivating it. I just started a new starter this morning and am hoping this is the one that works!