Marquis
Marshall
Software Engineer
To build and create things that benefit this world, while being able to play a small part in bettering the people and communities around me is my passion. The main reason I sought out to be a software engineer is mainly surrounded around that philosophy. Just imagine your creation, or contribution to a creation, being implemented by thousands of people around the world. The impact that you could have.
I was born and raised in the heart of LA. Grew up in a single-mother household with four kids and not a whole lot of finances to make it. Life was always a struggle, but my mom never allowed us to cower. She showed us that with grit, hard work, and faith that we could make it through the toughest of times. Using that logic, I always was on the search for how I could, innovate, create, or build something that dynamically change our family’s last name. I went from early jobs and side hustles that I got myself into at school, to becoming a sort of co-owner for a family pie business. But nothing truly sparked my true passion until we received our first computer. I still remember that box sitting on the desk. What mystery and wonders were held inside! This is where it began. With this new computer I downloaded my first ever game on that PC, Minecraft (Like any logical kid would). Very quickly started socializing with the communities of the servers and found there were ways to further expand my experience of the game through small scripts and hacks. Once I began down this rabbit hole of creating my own versions of how I envisioned the game, my curiosity seriously expanded thinking about what could be made with technology. I dove deeply into web design and whatever freelance work I could get my hands on. Learning an abundance of programming and development tools and languages along the way. All thanks to YouTube university (as I like to call it) and various free websites like Codecademy.com (and I’m sure plenty others). I learned things all for game programming and design. Things like C#, Ruby, Python, Blender 3D, Maya 3D, and practical skills within Photoshop. This was all very exciting, and I wanted to further develop my portfolio and turn this into a career. The next systematic approach would be to go to college… right? Well, you’d probably be correct in answering that, and that’s what I thought as well. But, as I quickly found out, school is very expensive and the college I wanted to attend was on the high end for costs. I looked to the Art Institute of Hollywood which at the time was a whopping $92K! And to make matters worse, for the courses I chose out, there was only a 12% on-time graduation rate. If you’re anything of a normal person your eyes probably widened, jaw dropped, or you’re shaking your head in disbelief. And trust me, if you’re not doing any of those, my mother surely was, let’s just say I didn’t make it into that school. As I thought things weren’t looking very well for me to develop these skills in a school environment, I still wanted to solution seek and find some way to live out this passion.
What did I believe was the next logical choice to make?
Military
To join the military! Not just any branch of the military though, THE BEST BRANCH OF THE MILITARY THAT THERE IS! But ego and pride to the side, I decided to join the United States Marine Corps. My brother had already gone through it, and he came out alright so why not right? I’d already had a huge calling to serve in my life. So, what better way to do that than serve in the military and still pursue technology. I was on the maintenance side of things, but this gave me a deep understanding of how the hardware works and how network systems across vast lands all communicated with each other and link together what we understand today as the World Wide Web. I enjoyed my time in the military, and in fact had a very illustrious career. From my very first months in the Marines, I was recognized for outstanding leadership, and my ability to develop those around me. This only got amplified throughout my service within the military, earning me several awards and a unique opportunity as an enlisted member, to serve with the alongside of the Commanding General! One thing that stood out to me about getting around the senior officers and enlisted members, was their ability to recognize everyone as people and look for ways to better enhance their experience within the military while looking for ways to better improve the institution. This exploded my passion in leadership and having the ability to empower others and be the catalyst for change and growth. Not only for me, but for the bettering of the world. Now to merge these two worlds, technology and leading to better other people, lead me to Microsoft Software and Systems Academy (MSSA). Learning the crucial skills needed to be successful in the Software engineering community, as well as how to network to get around leaders who are already creating technology that will impact this world! This leads me to where I am today!
