Hello everybody, welcome to my blog! I’m going to write about what it takes to get started on the journey of getting a CS degree, and what it is going to take to end it, from a post-baccalaureate student perspective.
First of all, I’ll add the FUN:
- The feeling of triumph when you finally solve an issue you’ve been stuck on for a long time.
- The feeling of smugness when you get to tell someone in slack that the question they asked is clearly printed on the syllabus, and is only a ctrl-f away
- The feeling of appreciation when you realize how far you’ve come in learning things, and not only that, but learning how to learn.
- The feeling of wonder when you actually pay attention to all class modules and watch all videos, and spend much less time googling how to do something for the attached assignment.
Doesn’t resonate? Maybe you’ll appreciate the RUN!
- The feeling of frustration when the thing you’ve been stuck on was something simple, that you could have noticed if not caught up in your own frustration. A vicious cycle.
- The feeling of embarrassment when you ask a question that is clearly defined on the syllabus.
- The feeling of fear when you realize that while you’ve come along way, there’s still quite a ways to go before you feel prepared for the all important job hunt.
- The feeling of resignation when you realize the thing you were looking up and stuck on, was clearly explained in the modules that you skipped over in haste.
The point of this post is, my journey (and probably yours too) has included both sides of the coin. As students and prospective CS professionals, we make mistakes, we learn, and we make more mistakes, etc… There are good days and bad days, but the important thing is, even if you make a mistake that you swore you already learned from, there will be times when you correctly navigate the meta work of getting a CS degree. And eventually, you will find yourself, having FUN!
