The Life of an Undocumented Coder
A student’s path into software engineering has not been easy with DACA protections hanging in the political balance.
D has done everything right. He’s worked hard in school, built a valuable skill set, and tried to join the technology industry. But the DACA political confusion keeps throwing up new obstacles.
D’s parents are from Guadalajara, Jalisco, in Mexico. They came north as farmworkers and brought their son with them when he was 9, settling in Salinas, California, an agricultural town ten miles inland from the great curve of the Monterey Bay.
Farms dominate the Salinas Valley. The area grows 70 percent of the nation’s lettuce, is home to two of the four largest orchid growers in America, and produces the most chardonnay grapes in California.
But D was fascinated by computers. He wanted to become a game developer or graphic designer. He took a class
