Jeffrey McDaniel

Jeffrey McDaniel

Lecturer


University of California, Riverside

Riverside, CA USA


Everyone you ever meet will be better than you at something. You can learn from anyone and you should never stop learning. Always take the opportunity to learn from others about what they’re good at.

Videos

By Roadtrip Nation

Jeffrey McDaniel

Milestones

My road in life has been direct.
As a child, my computer and TV time was restricted, so I didn’t really have much experience with computers or technology until college.
I went to University of California, Riverside, and started out as a math major, thinking that I would go into actuarial sciences and run insurance numbers.
While working on my undergrad degree, I was required to take a computer science course and ended up loving the problem-solving aspect of the field, so I added computer science as a double major.
After receiving my bachelor’s degree, I decided to continue my education and pursue both a master’s degree and doctorate from UC Riverside.
By the end of my first year in grad school, I was a teaching assistant for an embedded systems course—which was actually the class that made me want to go to grad school in the first place!
After receiving my master’s degree, I got promoted to teach computer science courses—I even taught courses abroad in Switzerland and performed research in Taiwan.
As a computer science doctoral candidate, my research was focused in computer-aided design algorithms for disposable cartridges for the biomedical field.
I now work as a lecturer at UC Riverside—I teach courses on embedded systems, software construction, algorithms, and more!
Keep following my journey

Career

Lecturer

I teach computer science courses on embedded systems, software construction, algorithms, and more.

Career Roadmap

Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Education
Technology
Teaching / Mentoring

Day to Day

When I'm developing (outside of lecturing), I use the mornings each day to check my emails and figure out what my focus should be that day. Then I spend a few hours programming and familiarizing myself with where I am in the code. I use lunch to talk to my peers about what we're all working on. Then I spend the afternoon and early evening buckling down on programming, testing codes, and coming up with solutions.

Advice for Getting Started

Here's the first step for college students

Say yes to all of the opportunities that are presented to you throughout your educational journey and use them to better your own experience. Taking on these opportunities will open more doors, widen your perspective, and give you the ability to help others. You can learn something from everyone you ever meet, so don't hesitate to ask others to share their passions with you so that you can learn from them.

Hurdles

The Noise I Shed

From Society in General:

"Everyone should pursue a proper higher education degree."

Challenges I Overcame

Changed Major
Work Stress