Let’s get started: How I became a CS engineer?

A lot of CS engineers that I know tell me that they were hooked on computers and the internet  and wanted to know how they work since their childhoods.

Not me, I was hooked by things that didn’t exist: magic and dragons. *Record Scratch* *Freeze Frame*. So you’re probably wondering how I got here?

Allow me to walk you through my career aspirations throughout  the years:

Childhood

When I was 5 I wanted to be a pilot when I grow up. Yeah because between playgrounds, teletubbies and bullies in kindergarten or school. 5 year olds can still be so preoccupied with their future careers. So “out of nowhere” I wanted to be a pilot when I grow up.

Fast forward a few years… I thought being a ninja is a real job. So I wanted to become that, but I had no idea where to start or how to train. Due to lack of resources, I changed my mind.

Then Indiana Jones came along, and now I wanna become an archaeologist. Travel around the world, discovering secrets from the past. And why not find a treasure in a temple, because I was told archeologists don’t make a lot of money/don’t find jobs. I don’t know if it was true. But I eventually let go of that idea. 

Middle school

In middle school I started getting realistic. I wanted to be a doctor, not because my parents wanted me to but because I watched a korean series where a cook becomes a doctor in ancient Korea. And she had noble values and genuinely wanted to help people. So I thought that it was a good purpose.

Options and dreams! How awesome they were… 

High school

During high school I started making decisions, or rather my grades made them for me. I knew one thing: I had to get good grades. Then good grades meant that I had to choose maths as an orientation. Then if all goes well… I’ll have enough options after high school.

Bad news: None of the options I wanted during my childhood were included, (except for maybe pilot)

Even worse news for me back then: I had to make a choice and take full responsibility for it even if I was influenced by parents and family. 

I chose Maths and physics pre engineering school (preparatory classes): where it all started! 

Pre-engineering school

Between extensive maths and physics classes and adapting to the new environment: living in a dorm in a new city, having a roommate, seeing your classmates wherever you go and other things… (I’ll milk them in another article). There was one class I enjoyed most: computer science. Where I first started learning the language of computers. OMG I can make my computer do stuff. Other than solving abstract mathematical problems, I can now solve real problems by translating my logic to the computer’s language. It was very exciting, at first. I did my CS homework right after class. I improvised. But with the spirit of preparatory classes  aggressive competition, CS became just another thing that others were better at than me. I didn’t know that they had a secret just like in other classes: practice.

Engineering school

Hooray! I passed the exam and I can finally choose a school and a major, then rest! (Ha Ha)

Things should go smoothly from this point. Or so I thought.

I don’t know how I got this idea, but I thought that school would be more like a coding bootcamp. Except it wasn’t. School was still a place where you should study for things, take an exam and then forget about them. Which was frustrating. “We don’t teach you things, we teach you how to learn things” they told us. Thank you, but can we learn relevant things in practice of how “you teach us how to learn things”? that would be a beneficial use of time, I believe.

At this point, seeing some classmates doing computer stuff that we didn’t learn in school. I believed coding and computer sciencing was a gift that I didn’t have, or something that I don’t enjoy. And maybe I’m supposed to just get through school then see what happens. Again I wasn’t aware of their secret weapons: Google and practice.

Luckily I worked in some group projects where I had to do the whole work. Which made me realize later that I can get computer things done too. Even if no one taught me about them before, actually *mind blown* I can learn by doing. 

Now

I graduated school, and then I decided that I can and will do. I learned that the key to everything is practice and organization. And this blog will serve me to document my experience with these two key factors. And sharing my “happy accidents” and lessons. This blog will be about NOW, and what comes after.