Expanding Her Scholarly and Career Horizons
Dolapo Martins
Software Engineer, Microsoft
Dolapo Martins has always loved learning — so much so that she ended up collecting three bachelor’s degrees at the University of Maryland: one each in computer science, linguistics and classics. Unsure which field to pursue, she decided to take a software development job at Microsoft while she pondered her future options.
“I just love languages, and I’ve always known I wanted to be a computer programmer,” she says. “And I enjoy my job at Microsoft. At the same time, there was another itch that needed scratching — I wanted to contribute to original scholarship and grow my knowledge of linguistics.”
So Dolapo did some research, and she found what she dubbed “a top-tier master’s program” in computational linguistics at the University of Washington. Because the UW Master of Science in Computational Linguistics program is designed for working professionals, she was able to continue her tech career while going back to school and earn a degree that has rekindled her passion for research into language and linguistics.
“Completing the CLMS program really answered the question for me about my future direction,” she says. “I know now that I want to pursue a Ph.D. in linguistics, rather than computer science. I’m firmly determined to do that, and to make a contribution to scholarship in the field.”
Why a master’s degree in computational linguistics?
It was a perfect way to combine all my interests. At a certain point, you want to bring it all together, and that was the UW computational linguistics program for me. It allowed me to get back into a space I loved, linguistics, but also tie it into what I currently do in my tech job.
Why the University of Washington?
The faculty in this program is amazing, especially Professor Emily Bender, whom I’ve been a fan of for at least a decade. The opportunity to work with someone who’s a leader in the field, to get coaching and mentoring from her, has been fantastic. I’ve even been able to continue to contribute to her research group at the UW in my spare time, and the chance to continue my learning journey through that project has been invaluable.
There was also the fact that I could complete the program while still working my day job. It wasn’t easy, but the purposeful design of the CLMS program makes it doable for working professionals. I have friends who did other graduate programs that had to take time off from their job. So, the program’s flexibility made it much easier.
Does having this degree help you in your current role?
It’s been very helpful, especially with the current AI boom in technology. I mean, we're gathering all this data on the tech side, but what are the learnings and trade-offs on the linguistics side, and the impact on people?
Because I work in the security space, where we’re just starting to introduce large language models into our work, I can bring up the potential risks and concerns about this that others may not think about. Just having the grounding in both sides, I feel better equipped to do that.
What would you say to someone thinking about applying to this program?
I would say just do it. Go back and get the degree. If you do, one of two things is going to happen. Either you’ll get a master’s degree and decide you don’t need more education; you’ve gotten additional knowledge, and that's always a good thing. Or you realize, “Wow, I really have this passion, and I want to continue to learn and pursue this further.” There’s just no downside to getting additional education.
— Interview by David Hirning (January 2025)