I, like many of my college first-year peers, have no idea what my major is going to be yet. Sure, I have some inklings of what I enjoy and what I do or don't want to do in the future, but who's to say that what I major in in college will really determine my career? And how do I know I'll still be enjoying that in ten years?
These existential thoughts run through my head a lot more than I'd like to admit. So to cope with that, I started taking a bunch of classes that I normally wouldn't have. Last fall I took classes on economics, linguistics, and Chinese philosophy. They weren't bad at all, considering I didn't have very high expectations for them in the first place. This spring, I kept this mindset as I signed up for my first ever computer science class.
Admittedly, I was pretty anxious and unsure about this decision, but I had heard good things about the class (things like "it's a great introduction to comp sci!" and "it's hard, but it's worth it") and I wanted a challenge. I had no experience, but I was determined to gain something from this class.
Of course, there was a learning curve involved with the beginning of this class. Most of the class were beginning coders, and we needed to understand the fundamental concepts behind computer science before trying to write any programs. There was a lot of terminology that I had to memorize and apply to the problems that we were given. Additionally, I had to alter my entire way of thinking because the logic of computers does not necessarily match up to human logic. It was definitely one of the interesting introductions to a topic that I had ever gone through.
As the semester progressed, I found myself thinking more like a programmer and finishing my programs faster. It was actually starting to become fun- like a puzzle that I had to figure out, with all the pieces spread out in front of me. All I needed to do was piece them together.
This class comes to a close, but I've honestly really enjoyed it. And I still don't know what my major will be, but maybe computer science is now on the table. This just goes to show that there is nothing to lose from trying something new, whether that is a new hobby, a class, or a new TV show. As the saying goes, you only live once; don't live that life not trying things out of fear!
