My journey in computer science was rather unusual compared to other students. For the majority of my adolescent years and young adulthood, I wanted to pursue a career in medicine. I thought that by pursuing this field, I would fill the void that I constantly felt. In high school, I joined the health academy, which subsequently set me up for the healthcare route in college. At UH Manoa, I majored in Kinesiology and Rehabilitation Science with a premedical track. While working on my degree, conducting research, and shadowing, I still felt that emptiness. That was when I realized that healthcare might not just be for me if I constantly felt that way. Unfortunately, this realization came to me during my fourth year. Desperate for a career shift, I looked into other fields, and software engineering appealed to me. The first course that I enrolled in was none other than CS50. Through CS50, I made my first program with Scratch, and the void finally disappeared. Shortly after, I spoke with a career counselor and the advisors in the ICS program for guidance on my next steps. Now one year later, I am taking Software Engineering I.
Software engineering is quite an extensive field. Currently, my interests are in full-stack development and interactive media. Full-stack development is considerably challenging. It involves an understanding of both the frontend, the backend, and connecting the two parts via APIs. Becoming proficient at this will give me a strong foundation for when I want to specialize in either frontend or backend. So far, I prefer frontend development more than backend development due to the immediate visual feedback. The backend handles all of the data, but it lacks the same visual appeal as the frontend. Going off from this, interactive media also plays into the frontend. Developing buttons, navigation bars, and other media elements with accessibility in consideration is essential to make web applications easier to use. This is of particular interest to me because it allows me to express creativity in designing applications.
By the end of this semester, I hope to develop more unique applications that can solve some of my current problems. Based on the curriculum, Meteor, with React, will be used to create applications. Meteor is an intriguing technology, and I look forward to developing full-stack applications with it. Bootstrap is another technology that can quickly create a user interface, and it will challenge me creatively. Overall, these experiences will help me become more knowledgeable in both full-stack development and interactive media.