Joining the Bandwagon
30 Aug 2023-A long long time ago- B.C.(Before CS)
I had always imagined myself becoming an engineer when I was still young up until high school. I have dreamed of becoming a Civil Engineer (but then I realized that I suck at drawing), Mechanical Engineer (inspired by the movie called 3 Idiots), and Computer Engineer (unfortunately, Computer Engineers in the Philippines do not really have many opportunities after graduating). Ultimately, I decided to become an Electronics Engineer (ECE). However, when we moved here to Hawaii a little over three years ago, I was looking at UH Manoa’s course catalog and could not find the Electronics Engineering program anywhere. I therefore rerouted my path to becoming a Computer Engineer in my first semester at Kauai Community College (KCC) despite not being entirely sure of it.
One day, while working at the restaurant, my closest work buddy and I began discussing which major we wanted to take when we moved to UH Manoa. Of course, I mentioned Computer engineering as my desired major. Then he told me he wanted to take Computer Science. Now, I have heard about terms like “polscie” (Political Science) and compscie before. Still, I never really knew what the latter meant. So when I got home, I immediately looked up what Computer Science graduates do. Then, I realized it has something to do with Software Engineering, which I am familiar with. I then asked for more details from my friend, who was majoring in Computer Science then, and she told me so much more about her major. That time, I knew B.S. Computer Engineering program requires me to take calculus classes up to 400 level (Calculus 4), which I am not a fan of since I have had enough of doing so many math problems. Therefore, I contacted my academic advisor and told him I wanted to pursue a B.S. in Computer Science instead.
During CS
Fast forward to today, little did I know that computer Science is actually heavily based on math concepts. However, there is no point in going back now. It is not that I am not good at Math or hate it. I actually was terrible in Math, not until I took it seriously and watched many YouTube videos explaining simple math concepts I should have already learned in high school just to keep up with my Calculus class. I poured in a lot of hard work and frequently stayed up late at night. From that, I gained confidence in my mathematical skills and logical thinking, which are both helpful to have in my repertoire as I get deeper into Computer Science. I firmly believe that hard work allows people to excel in anything (just like Kobe with his Mamba Mentality). So, no, I am not going back. My perseverance got me through both of my calculus classes (I actually got A’s on both of them), and I am sure it will also bring me through Computer Science (of course, I will need a lot more of it for sure).
Right now, I look forward to studying a lot of things during my Fall 2023 semester to hopefully be able to land an internship for next summer. I want to take advantage of the fact that we will build a project in my ICS 314 class, so I am very excited to learn new stuff.
To quote one of my favorite volleyball players, Oikawa Touru (at least in anime), “Talent is something you make bloom.” So I will.