Just a year ago, I had made fun of Computer Science majors saying that all they do is “type things on their keyboards”. It wasn’t until I started taking a CS class myself that I realized I was heavily mistaken. Being a programmer requires critical thinking and efficient problem solving skills to be successful. Since my exposure to programming, I have taken interest in web development, app development, and game development. What do these all have in common? While cybersecurity and data visualization is cool and all, at the end of the day, I want to be that someone who made the game I enjoy playing, who made the app that millions of people use daily, and who enjoys creating products for other people because they know they’ve made that difference.
Classes only teach you how to code. It is up to the programmer to develop the other skills necessary to become a successful programmer. I am genuinely excited this semester to be taking a software engineering course. It is easy to think “what is printing “__” in console going to do for me?”, because I have done the same exact thing before. That’s all we have been doing in our ICS 111 and 211 courses. What’s the bigger picture? I feel that software engineering is the part where you put everything you learned so far, and putting it together. It will be a great opportunity for me to challenge myself.
Currently, I am nowhere close to my desired level of problem solving skills. I lack the practice that is required for programmers to think fast on the spot and make decisions. By pushing and challenging myself in this course, I wish to develop the skills that I currently lack, and strive to be a better programmer/software engineer.