Student Spotlight: The Product of Pushing Yourself in Uncomfortable Ways
David Ramirez (MSSM ‘24) set his sights on the future, worked hard, and ended up with a career that he never thought could be possible.
By Kaitlyn Stossel
Growing up, David Ramirez (Master of Science in Software Management ‘24) didn’t have the luxury of putting academics first. Coming from a big family who lived in New York City, Ramirez put his focus towards providing for his family and just getting by.
After finishing his high school education, Ramirez went to a vocational school that helped him get a job in IT for a couple of years, but it didn’t leave room for much growth without a college degree.
“After that, I tried my hand at a startup, but realized you need a lot of time and money to really dive into that type of thing. But, it gave me my first taste of product management,” said Ramirez.
He then went on to work as the manager of a lounge for about four years and soon realized that he wanted to gain transferable skills that showed up on paper.
That’s when Ramirez made the life-changing decision to get a college degree.
“At that point in time, I was 27 years old and I felt behind compared to where I wanted to be. I immersed myself in school while also working full-time,” Ramirez recalled.
While working on his undergraduate degree in applied computational physics, Ramirez also worked for LifeNome Inc., as a Product Operations Manager. He is now in his third year of working for the startup and holds the title of Product Manager.
“We use DNA to personalize products and services,” Ramirez said of his daily responsibilities at work. “We can take data from an individual’s DNA test and use sophisticated ML techniques to generate a DNA-based assessment for that person. Everyone’s results are completely different. We combine that data with a bunch of other data about that individual to create a product around their unique needs.”
At the moment, Ramirez is working on a maternal health product called Nine Moons that will use an individual’s DNA test results to personalize their pregnancy and make the overall experience better.
A screenshot from the Nine Moons website.
Advice for MSSM Students
"Start on your assignments early. The weeks when I’m the most stressed are those when I procrastinate. It’s hard work, but if you get started the very next day after class, it’s so much easier. Half the battle is scheduling with your teammates and getting everyone on the same page. Engage in everything that the program has to offer. It's amazing how the program provides such a perspective. The further along I go in the program, the more I realize how much I’m learning from being in the classroom, talking to everyone, and applying that learning at work. You really start to think and look at things differently.
I advise everyone to work at a startup at some point in their life. I don’t think I could have learned what I've learned at a startup from anywhere else. Big companies are very structured and they often have millions of processes to deal with issues before you ever become aware of them, so you never get the experience of solving those challenges.
What’s great and scary about working with a startup is you really realize that, to a certain extent, everyone is throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks. What the education and experience give you is the ability to determine where to throw the spaghetti and how to improve on your next throw. "
When deciding where he wanted to take his education after undergrad, Ramirez had a lot of tough choices to make. He knew that he wanted to attend grad school, but wasn’t sure of what direction to go in.
“I really thought I wanted to be a physicist,” Ramirez said. “I quickly learned that a PhD program was not going to be the right fit for me. I was much more interested in building things and bringing them to market than understanding how particles behave under specific conditions.”
Ramirez may not have been sure of what he wanted to do back then, but he definitely is now. He joined the MSSM program in 2022 in hopes of advancing his product management skills and getting a more formal education than work experience can provide.
“I remember always being obsessed with design, the visual aesthetic of things, and how to create products and bring them to the market. I love design and business, and I wanted to leverage technology, so I started looking for programs in product management and that’s when I came across the MSSM program. The amount of value I get from the program is just immense.”
After navigating through the challenges of life, Ramirez continues to excel in the MSSM program while also working a full time job, and plans to continue his career as a product manager in the future. He hopes to expand his career in biotech, but is also very interested in pursuing a career in the govtech/defense or fintech industries.