My Journey so Far
29 Jan 2023
I Wanted to Become an Engineer
Software engineering has not always been my first interest. Initially, I wanted to become some sort of engineer, either mechanical or electrical because of my strong interest in robotics. It wasn’t until I took an AP physics class in high school that I discovered that I did not want to major in engineering. I struggled to understand the intuition behind many physics concepts and I realized that engineering should not be the major I should spend four or more years on. Luckily, I was still interested in tech and I learned how to code before, prior to entering college. Looking back, the high school teachers I had greatly influenced the college major I chose. I had an amazing computer science teacher and a not-so-great physics teacher. I was so fascinated when I built my first website in plain HTML and CSS and when my first game came to life. I get an adrenaline-like feeling, goosebumps, when I see the code I have written come to fruition. At this point in my life, writing code is much more fun than playing a video game (although, video game quality has declined over the past few years).
My Current Journey
Software engineering has become my cup of tea and web development is my main interest. My first and favorite programming language is Javascript and all of the projects I have worked on are within the field of web development. When I was first searching for an internship in web development, I was met with a lot of rejections, even without getting a chance for an interview. I was a person eager to learn, but the resume I had was not great. Once I was able to get my first job in computer science, my skill in web development increased threefold. Rejections happen, but it is important to never stop trying. This statement is also true for those struggling with their computer science classes. I have put in a lot of time and effort in web development, but sometimes being a one-trick pony will not always cut it.
Machine Learning is the Future
Looking toward the future, I am working to expand my skills in machine learning. At UH Manoa, they offer 3 tracks for computer science majors: general, data science, and cybersecurity. Recently, I have switched from the general track to data science in order to expand my computer science palette. What made me switch was when I heard how difficult and competitive it was to get a job as a frontend, backend, or full-stack developer. At the University of Hawaii, I hope to gain a decent enough understanding of machine learning and data science so I can combine my web development skills and sprinkle on top machine learning. Right now, I am planning on integrating one of my web app projects I have created with a machine learning API as the backend. I would love to learn how to create a REST API that uses machine learning. With the recent hype of ChatGPT, this seems like a promising path to take.