By Leila Uginčius

University Public Affairs

While you are more likely to see holiday cards than graduation cards lining gift shop shelves this time of year, December is graduation season for the more than 2,200 students who will receive degrees from Virginia Commonwealth University later this week. Here we highlight a few of the many stellar students who are saying goodbye to their time at VCU and moving forward to promising futures.

Austin Hobson, School of Engineering

If you want to make a change in life, don’t be afraid to go out and try, Hobson says. After working at Markel with a business degree under his belt, Hobson decided to return to VCU for a post-baccalaureate certificate in computer science from the School of Engineering.

“It was a pretty scary thing changing my career focus 180 degrees, and I definitely had to work hard to achieve it, but the rewards of doing so are more than worth the sacrifice it took to get here,” said Hobson, who joins CoStar as an associate software developer in January. “I am extremely excited to be working in a position that I am passionate about, under mentors who will allow me to grow even more as a software developer. It’s also pretty awesome that they brought these positions to Richmond and are helping to expand the tech scene of the city.”

While juggling a job, an internship and a full course load, Hobson was able to maintain a 4.0 GPA in his computer science classes, something of which he is immensely proud.

“I was not as fortunate in my business degree and it has been very cathartic for me to make amends for that now,” he said.

Hobson credits the guidance of other computer science students for helping him become a better software developer and engineer. In turn, he helped prepare younger students on what to expect in the industry as well as the more advanced classes in the course.

Read about students from other schools.