Dev Catalyst Alumni Spotlight: Steven Prescott and the Value of Problem Solving

Written by Maddie Steele

Imagine the awe of arriving on site at a large tech company like LinkedIn in San Francisco as a high school senior. Your eyes get wider as you see the fancy building and the coders doing the jobs you’ve always dreamed of. The efforts of these engineers is what produces these facilities that widen students’ eyes and give them the dreams of a career in technology.

Steven Prescott is one of those students whose eyes widened and he said “I want to do that.”

And he did. 

Prescott is a Software Development Engineer at Yelp in New York City, living the dream he saw as a high schooler in the Dev Catalyst program. Most of his day consists of meetings with his supervisors and coworkers, testing and evaluating codes, and a small amount of coding each day. The best part about working at Yelp is the flexibility he has, as their company is now completely remote, and he receives excellent benefits to live a comfortable life. 

“You're in an environment that’s not too stressful,” said Prescott. “And here at Yelp, the work-life balance is superb.”

Before arriving at this position in New York, he worked at many small tech companies from high school until this current moment. He was used to getting in the code base and actively solving problems, but he simply hadn’t done it at a billion dollar company until now. At the end of the day, Prescott is simply trying to advance the product forward and solve the same issues he’s been solving for years in a smaller capacity. 

The key is problem solving in every facet of life, and doing so in the most efficient and logical way. 

“No matter what happens in the market, the need for people who are solving problems is always going to be there and that’s what software engineering is, it’s problem solving,” said Prescott as he told me the advice he would give to a high school student. “Before focusing too much on a programming language or technical documentation, think about how you can solve problems logically. These courses and opportunities that exist [at Dev Catalyst] are thought and problem solving exercises that prepare you for making money doing this down the road.”

You have to be skilled at solving the small issues that you face in daily life before solving large issues at a billion dollar company. Take slicing a pizza, for instance. A student could practice problem solving by simply asking, “how can I divide up this pizza in the most efficient way and distribute it without people overtaking me?”

It all starts in humble means, here in Jackson, TN as a high schooler. Or maybe for you it starts in your community. If you want to advance to a company in a big city like New York City, you have to become skilled in the everyday activities right where you are. Leverage the opportunities you have at your fingertips.

No matter your job field or skill set, the premise remains the same. Problem solvers are needed in every environment, so why not start today, right where you are placed in this current season. 

“Even simple examples are rooted in the type of problem solving techniques we use every day,” concluded Prescott.