I’ve never done a blog so I’m going to try and make this its own thing. I’m not crazy about just talking about technology or coding like we’ve read so many times before. I would much rather do something more personal, and hopefully others will be able to resonate with this on a more human level. For the sake of meeting assignment requirements, let’s check off “journey with OSU” as the first post topic.
Probably the most important thing that I’ve learned in my time at OSU is that all new things seem impossible at first. This is something that most typical people experience a few times maybe every few years. For example, have you ever started a new job and in your first week thought “I’m not ready for this. This is too hard. I’ll never be able to get this right. Everyone else is so much better than me”? Hopefully, most people will start a new job and experience those terrifying first week thoughts only a few times in their careers. At OSU, I experienced this quite a bit.
162, 225, 271, 325, 374, to some these are just numbers, to others, these numbers are strike fear into their souls. These OSU courses, with some moments in between, have all felt like starting new jobs that I wasn’t ready for. At every step, I was always aware of the next big bad course that was nearing its way into my academic calendar. After 161, I already had heard about what a shift 225 was, and how relentless it could be. I couldn’t believe the workload, and how difficult it all was. I had a panic attack and straight up dropped 271 before the deadline. 325 was like all the hardest parts of 225 dialed up to 11. Finally there was 374, which I described to non CS folks as a course where you needed to write a very difficult term paper on a challenging topic, all in a language that was not familiar to you; but right now you can’t even open Microsoft word. My point is that there were many instances where courses, and subjects seemed impossible for me to grasp, but here I am working on my first assignment for 467.
In my head, there was absolutely no way I was going to be able to figure out. Everything seemed impossible. I wish this wasn’t my initial reaction, but I’m going to be honest, I would ask myself if this was for me, or if I should consider giving up. I’m not that kind of person, but this stuff just seemed so out of grasp. I’m saying this here now, most likely to seniors in the program about to go out into a workforce in 8 weeks, to remember how much 162, 225, 271, 325, and 374 sucked. How hard some or all of these courses were. Remember that assignment that you read through and thought to yourself “How am I supposed to do this? This wasn’t in the module”. You figured it out eventually. We all did. We all did the impossible. So hold onto that. Hold onto that victory. Carry that triumph with you as you go out for these technical interviews. Carry that triumph with you if you get denial letter after denial letter. Carry that triumph with you if find yourself saying “I’m not ready for this. This is too hard. I’ll never be able to get this right. Everyone else is so much better than me”. Remember that last time you said those words to yourself, you figured it out and made it to the other side.