“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”
Lao Tzu
It was winter 2022, and I failed CS162. Yes, you read that correctly—I failed out of CS162, an introductory course. I didn’t even make it to week 3 before I threw in the towel. I just didn’t get it; I couldn’t understand, and I was incredibly frustrated. Funnily enough, Professor Hedaoo was the instructor for the course. He probably doesn’t remember, but he was very nice about the whole situation. He spent more time than he probably should have in a 1:1 call with me, stepping through my code for the assignment and trying to give me pointers. I think one thing became fairly obvious to both of us—I had no real idea what I was doing!
You see, I wasn’t a computer person growing up—far from it, actually. I didn’t come into this course with any programming experience; I’d never even written a line of code. I was just someone who enjoyed the problem-solving process and building things, so I figured I might enjoy a career in Software Engineering. To add to this, I had a bad habit of telling myself stories that weren’t true; “you’re not a math guy,” “you’ve always struggled academically,” “other people get this and you don’t”—you get the idea.
Now, before you label this as a doom blog, it’s not. As I’m sure you’ve figured out by my enrollment in the class, my journey didn’t end there. I took a few semesters off and really learnt to code. I spent time each day going over and over the basics. I came back and got through CS162, then the subsequent classes, and now here I am in my final semester! In hindsight, I’m deeply grateful for this early setback because it allowed me to put to bed those negative beliefs I’d held about myself for some time, and perhaps that’s been the most rewarding aspect of my journey at OSU. Am I exactly where I want to be? Not at all. I don’t know if that will ever be the case. However, I’ve let go of what I was, or at least what I thought I was, and I’m moving towards what I might be—a Software Engineer. Hence, the quote for this blog post.
Anyway, before I get too Tony Robbins on you, I’ll try to answer the other prompts and not make it too long. For a future career, I would love to get into Software Engineering after graduation. I don’t have a strong preference for areas. As I mentioned, the problem-solving process is the best part for me, so I think I’ll be able to do that with whatever I’m working on. For projects I’m most interested in, I would say the Fire Department 911 Risk Analysis and the Fire/EMS Visualization Client seem cool. Being able to write code that helps save lives would be very rewarding, and I like the emphasis on looking for team players that are willing to learn. Finally, when I’m not coding, you’ll typically find me spending time with my kids, outside with my chickens, or doing jujitsu—that’s pretty much it.
I’m excited for this class and to bring this rewarding journey to an end.
Best of luck to everyone!
Cheers,
Oscar
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