Hello World! As this is my first blog post, I wanted to start off by introducing myself. My name is Na, but you can call me Stella. I started my first computer science class at OSU back in March of 2020 and what a wild journey it has been! There were many ups and downs, but here I am and I made it! It’s crazy to think that now I’m here taking my last class before graduating. So I wanted to take this time to document my journey from start to finish as a career changer from a Pre-med student to an incoming software engineer.
Chapter 1:The Start
Before I started pursuing a degree in Computer Science here at OSU, I majored in Biochemistry and was on track to go to Medical School. While my dream was always to be a psychiatrist, I realized that despite it being a dream career for me, there were many aspects that did not align with my life style and health. Upon realizing this, I hit a bit of a slump because at this point I had no idea what I wanted to do with my career. During my undergraduate years, I had taken a few introduction to computer science classes, so the idea of combining my interest in CS and biology would be good. So I decided to pursue a Master’s degree in Biomedical engineering, which I basically had zero knowledge of. Two months before I started my master’s degree, I decided to brush up on CS fundamentals in which I was first introduced to the world of web development. I enjoyed learning about Front End Development so much that even in my free time I started watching tutorials and building websites from scratch. When it came time to start my masters degree, I started getting cold feet as I realized Biomedical Engineering was not for me, so I dropped out and enrolled in OSU.
Chapter 2: The Middle
When I first started this program, I was excited to learn more about Front-End Development as that was where my passion was, but I realized that there was a lot more to the world of computer science than Web Development. As I took more classes learning various languages and algorithms, I started feeling a bit of imposter syndrome as I struggled a lot with grasping the concepts of algorithms. Taking advice from a mentor, I decided to take a break for a quarter to take the time to work on concepts I was struggling with. During this time, I worked on fun projects to build my skills in web development as well as tackling Leetcode problems. Taking the time off to work on websites really built my confidence and further fueled my passion in Front-End Development as I had a lot of fun applying my skills to build websites from scratch. I struggled a lot initially with Leetcode and there were a lot of times I felt like giving up, but I took baby steps. My study plan was to review one data structure & algorithm concept every week through Youtube videos and tackle at least one problem a day. Setting this goal for myself, I went from struggling on one problem for 2 hours to finishing 2-3 problems a day! Looking back, I went from being overwhelmed by algorithm problems and being unconfident to confident and actually somewhat enjoying solving LeetCode problems. Feeling prepared, I decided to take a leap forward and apply for internships. It was a bit of a grind as it’s hard to get your foot in and get your first internship, but I did it!
During my first internship, I learned a lot about the industry, got to further hone my skills as a developer, learned how to communicate in a team, and gained a good network. Feeling more confident in my skills, I returned back to take classes with a clearer mindset. With a clearer mindset, I started putting more effort into my classes, learning about new topics such as UX/UI design, and working on more side projects. All my efforts paid off when it came to hunting for New Grad Jobs. Due to the recession, I was a bit worried about scoring a job, but I kept pushing and applying/interviewing. And Voilà, with a lot of perseverance and effort, I was able to land a full time Software Engineer role!
Chapter 3: The Finish Line
Two years ago I was lost in what I should do with my career and came in with little knowledge of CS, but now here we are in my last quarter with a job lined up. There were a lot of ups and downs, but I’m glad that I stuck through it. Not only did I hone my skills as a future developer, but I also learned a lot about myself. I learned about what I needed to work and improve on, communication skills, team collaboration skills, and most of all that I could accomplish anything if I put the effort in. With this being my last class, I hope to wrap my time here at OSU well by working on a project where I can apply the skills that I have developed as well as challenging myself to learn new tech stacks.
