Why I Decided to Study Software Engineering?

To answer the question, “Why did you decide to study Software Engineering?”, I’ll need to explain my backstory. I was always a bright student ever since my last two years of high school. From 6th grade through my sophomore year of high school, I had an amazing tutor who made me the student I am today. Because of her, I’m an independent learner who may need help at times. Before my junior year, I used my tutor as a crutch and was not as independent.

This is me discussing an assignment with my roommate in 2013.

The college I graduated from was Franklin & Marshall College, and I was a very successful student there. In that institution I never received an overall grade below a B-. After receiving my F&M Bachelor’s degree, I applied to Montclair State University to receive my Master of Arts in Teaching with Dual Certification in Elementary Education (K-6) and Students with Disabilities. In other words, I wanted to become both a regular elementary school teacher and a special education teacher. I came so far into the program that I only had one more semester to go. However, there were 3 massive problems. 1. The workload was going to be so intense, that I was going to crash severely. I was already having trouble with the previous semester. 2. Children don’t see me as an authority figure. That is because I’m often too nice and doubt myself when it comes to disciplining children. 3. I honestly can’t teach. I really found out that third problem when I was in my first semester of student teaching, which was the semester before I took a leave of absence.

One of the projects that a class partner and I created for MSU along with the help of out professor. It functions similarly to an abacus. This is supposed to resemble the number 5,431.

I eventually withdrew from MSU and got a job to hold me over until I could figure out where to go next. Many months passed and I was about to join a career counseling place, but then the Pandemic happened. I no longer had a job and I was waiting to see if they would open again. Eventually I found out they were holding virtual meetings, but that didn’t matter. Before finding out that, the idea of becoming a computer programmer/software engineer was being planted into my mind.

This is where I move closer to answering the question directly. I have had a strong technology background ever since my college days. I was always decent with MacBooks, but I knew much more about TVs and other displays. I knew a lot of the technical jargon, such as HDR (high dynamic range), Dolby Vision, HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma), HDR10, HDR10+, 4K Blu-ray, HFR (high frame rate, WCG (wide color gamut), WCV (wide color volume), HDMI 2.0b, HDMI 2.1, OLED, Quantum Dot, Mini-LED, etc. before more average consumers started knowing the lingo.

My “home theater” setup: Vizio 50-inch 4K HDR10, Dolby Vision, HLG display; LG soundbar and subwoofer; Sony 4K HDR10 and Dolby Vision Blu-ray player (on top of shelf); Samsung 4K Blu-ray player (on second level of shelf); 4K Blu-rays (first, second, and half of third level of rack); 1080p Blu-rays (second half of third level of rack up to bottom level of rack; and 3D Blu-rays (on bottom level of rack).

I’m very skilled at quickly learning how to use HDMI devices and displays. My family relies on me a lot to help them use them. Even with computers, my family sometimes need my help with technical things, like setting up Zoom or going on a particular web portal and filling out certain things.

Since the spring of last year, I became interested in audio, with my sister receiving a great speaker for her birthday that made me curious about the audio world. I bought two more speakers and received one as a gift. The ones I bought were more powerful than my sister’s speaker and they could be paired for stereo mode. The one that I received as a gift is my favorite because the sound quality is immaculate. I eventually bought incredible, but reasonably priced headphones, a subscription to an incredible music streaming service, and other audio equipment to help me listen to hi-res music (basically higher quality music than CDs and Vinyl).

My audio equipment: MacBook Pro 2017, Philips Fidelio X2HR headphones, Anker Soundcore Motion+ wireless speaker, auxiliary cable, USB Type-C hub, and amazing value portable DAC (red USB stick-looking thing).

So now I’ll give the direct answer to the question. During the time from September 2019 through June 2020, some family members, especially my aunt, suggested that maybe I teach myself how to code so I can be more employable. They saw that I was very tech savvy and I have always been a great learner, so learning how to code would be the best thing for me. The idea was in my head, but I didn’t want to follow through with it. It wasn’t until my therapist and I had an emotional session and he suggested it too that I agreed with my aunt and other family members.

I started first with teaching myself Python, but I realized I need a tutor to help me. He helped me a lot and suggested that I apply for a bootcamp that offers an ISA agreement. That was when I researched the best bootcamps and found Flatiron. When I applied to the school, I saw that the Software Engineering track was what I wanted to do as a job, whether it is as a web or app developer or even providing firmware updates to really awesome TVs.

I first tried the virtual program with the NYC campus. However, the pacing was way too fast, so I crashed and burned in one week. I reapplied to the part time online program, but I had to wait more than a month because the next cohort was starting too soon for me to be accepted in time. Now I am here and I plan on making it through these 10 months, being the great student I have always been, and learn the skills I need in order to become an incredible software engineer.

My Flatiron acceptance email into the Virtual NYC Campus which started 11/16/2020.

Things are looking really up, and I can’t wait to have a nice fulfilling career.