About
About
About Me
Hello. My name is Courtney Nguyen. I was born in 1994. I live in San Francisco with my homie and her dog Billy. My other best friend lives one house away. You could say I have it pretty sweet.
I got my first computer when I was 6 years old. I used it a lot and overall I would say it made me pretty sharp, though I do question the types of people I often interacted with during some formative years of my life. Fortunately, I was always safe and in charge. The first game I ever played was Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town when I was in kindergarten. I'm not sure how I stumbled upon it, but I emulated it on my computer and I think it taught me a few lessons: that minmaxing is the most reasonable path to success, it is important to maintain social connections via daily interactions (and there is a wrong answer), and that life can be monotonous. Also cheat codes and easy wins can make a game absolutely unplayable.
I also played a lot of Ragnarok Online, Maplestory, Neopets, Gaia Online, TinierMe. Other favorite RPGs of mine are Suikoden I-V, Final Fantasy X and VIII, Chrono Cross, Baten Kaitos, some Tales of. Anime I don't really care to get into but I've been a lifelong One Piece fan. I drew a lot too. I have a deviantArt that I am ashamed of. These days I play RDR2 (and other exploration games, ie. Witcher 3, Ghost of Tsushima) or some iteration of Legend of Zelda when I have time. I recently ended my addiction to Genshin Impact.
For some reason I went on to study Environmental Biology at UC Berkeley. I graduated in 2015 with absolutely nothing impressive under my belt. I kept one friend (who is one of my very best friends) and developed an overall cynicism for life and my capabilities, and carried an absolute fear of biochemistry. I went on to work at Roche (formerly Ariosa Diagnostics) and did some humble manufacturing things. I started my Masters in Data Analytics at San Jose State University and simultaneously transferred to work on Nanopore Sequencing (formerly Genia Technologies) at the start of the pandemic. I'm still there. I run various experiments (optimization, reagent swaps, mutant screening, QCs, feasibility studies) and try to do computational biology. I swing between bioinformatics (methylation) and molecular dynamics (GROMACS) when either one gets too difficult for me.
I lowered my average screen time on Instagram from 17 hours/week to 0 hours/week. Very recently. Hence this shit in 2025. I am now trying to fill that void with documenting parts of my life, watching movies, crafts, and overall new things. I've found hosting parties to be a pain in the ass but I will keep at it as I get further into my 30s.
I got my first computer when I was 6 years old. I used it a lot and overall I would say it made me pretty sharp, though I do question the types of people I often interacted with during some formative years of my life. Fortunately, I was always safe and in charge. The first game I ever played was Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town when I was in kindergarten. I'm not sure how I stumbled upon it, but I emulated it on my computer and I think it taught me a few lessons: that minmaxing is the most reasonable path to success, it is important to maintain social connections via daily interactions (and there is a wrong answer), and that life can be monotonous. Also cheat codes and easy wins can make a game absolutely unplayable.
I also played a lot of Ragnarok Online, Maplestory, Neopets, Gaia Online, TinierMe. Other favorite RPGs of mine are Suikoden I-V, Final Fantasy X and VIII, Chrono Cross, Baten Kaitos, some Tales of. Anime I don't really care to get into but I've been a lifelong One Piece fan. I drew a lot too. I have a deviantArt that I am ashamed of. These days I play RDR2 (and other exploration games, ie. Witcher 3, Ghost of Tsushima) or some iteration of Legend of Zelda when I have time. I recently ended my addiction to Genshin Impact.
For some reason I went on to study Environmental Biology at UC Berkeley. I graduated in 2015 with absolutely nothing impressive under my belt. I kept one friend (who is one of my very best friends) and developed an overall cynicism for life and my capabilities, and carried an absolute fear of biochemistry. I went on to work at Roche (formerly Ariosa Diagnostics) and did some humble manufacturing things. I started my Masters in Data Analytics at San Jose State University and simultaneously transferred to work on Nanopore Sequencing (formerly Genia Technologies) at the start of the pandemic. I'm still there. I run various experiments (optimization, reagent swaps, mutant screening, QCs, feasibility studies) and try to do computational biology. I swing between bioinformatics (methylation) and molecular dynamics (GROMACS) when either one gets too difficult for me.
I lowered my average screen time on Instagram from 17 hours/week to 0 hours/week. Very recently. Hence this shit in 2025. I am now trying to fill that void with documenting parts of my life, watching movies, crafts, and overall new things. I've found hosting parties to be a pain in the ass but I will keep at it as I get further into my 30s.