Even before writing my first Hello World program, I think I’ve always been a bit of a computer geek. From a young age, I was tinkering with computer software and creating my own video games and websites. To this day, I still obsess over the latest tech gadgets, smartphones, and PC hardware. I took an AP Computer Science class in high school which made me realize how fun and mentally rewarding programming could be. I also began dreaming about working at a top tech company in Silicon Valley. So it should come as no surprise that I also had a strong interest in pursuing Computer Science in college.
However, my parents envisioned a different future for me in health care, so I obliged. But after years of pharmacy school and practicing as a pharmacist for a bit, I realized that it was an unfulfilling career and that I owed it to myself to get the degree that I had always wanted. Thankfully, Oregon State University had an online Computer Science post-bachelor’s program for likeminded career changers.
Prior to enrolling in OSU, I took Harvard’s CS50 course to brush up on the fundamentals. David Malan’s fantastic lectures reignited my love for Computer Science, and the challenging problem sets prepared me for just about every assignment in OSU’s curriculum (the notoriously difficult Tideman problem has you detecting graph cycles in Week 3 before you even learn formal graph theory, crazy!) The course completely reshaped the way I approach problems, and I still carry many of those key learnings with me.
While CS50 did trivialize many OSU assignments, what it did not prepare me for was the DS&A interview meta ubiquitous among tech companies. In addition to completing my OSU coursework, in the months leading up to the internship recruitment cycle, I also took a technical interview prep class through CodePath, solved over 200 LeetCode problems, and conducted daily mock interviews on Pramp.
Though I was initially frustrated by the low application response rate, eventually my hard work paid off and I was able to land internships at two very respectable tech companies. I completed these internships this past year and received return offers from both.
As I complete my final quarter at OSU, I still only know a fraction of what I need to know as a software engineer. My imposter syndrome over soon joining the industry is at an all-time high. After all, how can I possibly perform up to standard when working alongside some of the world’s brightest people? But I also reflect on how far I’ve come in such a short timeframe. Two years ago I was a miserable pharmacist whose dreams of working for a top tech firm had all but slipped away. In several months, I will be living that dream.
Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to someone else today.
Jordan Peterson, 12 Rules for Life
