Aspiring Software Engineer
Being a software engineer is a natural fit for my personality.
I enjoy solving problems and exploring topics in-depth to gain a full understanding of how things work. I’m fascinated by how computers can solve everyday problems. I enjoy the creative aspect of designing and developing software, from my personal projects to professional work. To me, learning new tech skills and seeing my programs in action is incredibly rewarding.
My natural curiosity and ambition, along with my professional experience consisting of two summers of software engineering internships, makes me a stand-out candidate among a vast pool of young computer science majors.
From Humble Beginnings
I didn’t fall in love with software right away. My passion for programming developed gradually over time: first I did it for school, then for work, and eventually for fun.
My software journey started in high school, where I took an introductory computer science class and AP Computer Science. As a stereotypical hard-working Asian student, I excelled at these classes. My teacher encouraged me to pursue a computer science degree because of the opportunities for interesting, high-paying work.
I came to Christopher Newport University in 2020, set on majoring in computer science. Early on, I simply viewed college as the necessary status symbol for people to take you seriously and to get a better job. In my first few years, I didn’t take the education too seriously and just showed up to class to get a good grade. However, I displayed some early signs of ambition when I taught myself Python from a book before coming to college. This simple decision put me leagues ahead of my peers in my first CS course. Already, I was beginning to notice the power of self-motivated learning.
While in college, I had a goal to find a summer internship for software engineering. As a young student with no professional experience, this turned out to be a more difficult task than expected. Still, I was relentless in my search. I applied to over 90 jobs, interviewed with less than 10 companies, and received 1 offer. Who knew it was such a job to find a job? Despite its difficulties, my grueling search taught me the importance of having goals and sticking to them, no matter what.
For a while, I enjoyed coded for school and work, but I didn’t code anything on my own. Then, during my second internship, I had a sudden realization: I’m going to be programming for a long time. Maybe the rest of my life. Why not try to enjoy it more? I decided to program more outside of work and track my progress on GitHub. My personal programs drew inspiration from the projects I did at work. At work, I was developing on a program that parsed Excel files to create XML test scripts. I used these principles to create a program that parsed Excel files to create pie charts visualizing the user’s spending habits. It was a very simple JavaFX program, but it was fun for me to work on, and it sparked an urge in me to continue making programs I enjoy.
Outside of work, my hobbies are fitness and programming. Fitness offers tremendous opportunities for self-improvement, and having good physical health boosts mental health. Programming is a challenging but incredibly rewarding hobby that keeps me sharp and ahead of the curve compared to other entry-level software engineers.
Future Endeavors
I’m excited to continue building software professionally and personally.
As of the time I’m writing this, I have one semester left in college. In the upcoming semester, I will be developing a fitness application for people who want to hit the gym and/or transform their physique by adding muscle, losing fat, etc. The app will log exercises and calories, as well as suggest workouts and meal plans for the user based on their needs and goals. I’m doing this project as my senior capstone project. I intend to make this a cross-platform application that can run on iOS, Android, and the web.
Another project I’m looking forward to developing is KeepUp, a customer relationship management tool designed to help professionals stay in touch with their customers, mentors, co-workers, friends, etc. KeepUp will store the user’s contacts and send the user reminders to reach out to contacts regularly. It will also support the ability to automate reach-outs for a contact’s birthday, anniversary, etc. It will also be able to generate messages for any occasion using generative artificial intelligence. I’m working on KeepUp as the Chief Technology Officer, alongside Ian Holloman, the Chief Executive Officer. We intend to make this a cross-platform application that can run on iOS, Android, and the web.
To develop these applications, I’m in the process of learning how to use React Native, a Javascript library for developing cross-platform mobile and web apps.