Why did you decide to learn Software Development?
Intro
#include
using namespace std; int main() { cout « “Hello, World!”; return 0; }
Nothing quite makes me smile like a short snippet of classic code. Mechanical couplets such as these form the tip of the fascinating iceberg of software development. From what I can see here at that tip, code at its best is a textile of cold, hard logic woven in careful tedium, and yet it is driven by incredible creativity and results in the wonderful programs that surround and define our modern world.
I find myself preparing to deeply explore this field with little surprise. My childhood was filled with an interest in tinkering with computers. While I am only now ready to take on the project of developing true expertise (if you’ll pardon the expression), I could always fill time back then learning how better to use computers to solve the little problems I had. This time instilled in me a sense that computers could do anything, and for every thing to be done someone out there had the expertise to teach a computer to do it.
Now years later I hope to be one of those who can wield this power to solve problems in at least some small area of this field.
My Journey
If this interest has been so strong for so long, you may ask, why start only now? In truth, I began a Computer Engineering degree at Texas A&M back in 2008, and was stymied by the jump from High School to University. Homesickness, lack of self-confidence, and the abrupt transition to classes that actually challenged me (what a concept!) led me to a less competitive field. I graduated with a B.A. in Classics, having developed some facility with Latin and a foundation for studying human languages rather than machine.
I brought this fascination in human languages to Colorado, rediscovering over the course of a Master’s degree in Linguistics the importance of computing and my ability to apply myself to machine problems as well as problems of human language. Courses in Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning have since convinced me that I have a great desire to learn to wield software, and at the same time a lack of fundamental knowledge and practice.
Flatiron
A year later I find myself here at the Flatiron School, connecting with my cohort and instructors from afar. My interests are still too varied, and my tools still too dull for me to call myself a programmer yet. But I am encouraged by the puzzles I’ve solved and the simple tools I’ve fashioned, shadows of feats to come that might take the form of useful gifts to others and a livelihood for myself in addition to the joy they already spark in me.