You know how back in the days you’d rush back from primary school to get home in time to watch Spongebob Squarepants at 3:30 on TV2? And Spongebob would always find some way of giggling and saying, “I’m ready” in pretty much every episode? That was me at the start of last semester (minus being full of holes, fluorescent yellow and the ability to convert my nose to a flute at will). To tell you the truth, I used to think all the other characters in the show were lame compared to Spongebob, because they never had that excitement, energy and unrelenting positive attitude Spongebob did. But as I got further into Semester 1 of this year, I started to understand where they were coming from. I used to dislike Mr Krabs because of how much he valued money over everything – until I applied for my student loan :((. Now, I get it (still shocked that Maccas made frozen cokes $1.50 instead of $1 smh). I used to dislike Squidward for how tired he always seemed – until I pulled an all-nighter writing mathematical proofs. Now, I get it. I used to think Patrick was just an idiot and laughed at him – until I forgot to renew my after hours access card on my student ID and got stuck in the engineering building at night (on multiple occasions). So while I still like to think I’ve got a fair bit of that Spongebob enthusiasm, those other characters make a lot more sense to me now than 12 years ago (woah I just felt really old yikes)
But is that all Software engineering has to offer? Is the only benefit of my degree an appreciation and understanding of the nuances of the deeply-flawed but ultimately relatable characters in Spongebob Squarepants? Will I continue to stretch out the Spongebob example for the rest of the blog post? Thankfully, the answer to all of the above is no.
Before I get into what my experiences in Software Engineering have been like, I should probably tell you a bit about myself and hopefully you’ll want to hear what I have to say about studying this degree.
My name is Vishva (you’d be surprised at how many different pronunciations you can get out of those two syllables) and I’m your Part II Software blogger for this year. In my free time I like to play/watch/discuss basketball and hope/cry/despair over my favourite NBA team (if you’re a Pelicans supporter you’ll know what I’m talking about). I also enjoy volunteering every weekend at my local temple and trying out new things I couldn’t picture myself doing, ranging from collaring cows to being in Engineering revue. Outside of that, watching movies, making dry jokes and hanging out with friends at Maccas are things I enjoy – nothing crazy, just regular stuff.
When it comes to my experience with software, I’m nothing close to an OG. I’m basically a rookie given that my first real programming experience came from EngGen131. So if you’re considering putting software as #1 on your list of specialisations but don’t know if you’ve got the experience or skills to do it, I’m your guy – feel free to reach out to me whenever, be it on social media or in person. If you’re considering it at all, then also feel free to reach out if you want to hear more about my experiences outside what I share in these blogs, or just for a general chat. If you’re in first year engineering, thinking about doing software engineering but not 100% sure, and came to these blogs to see what it’s all about then you’re basically just me from 10 months ago, so don’t feel intimidated! I’ll be talking more about how I got to software in the first place, what I think of the different papers and how I adapted to second year in the posts to come (I promise it won’t just be an in-depth look at various cartoon shows from my childhood)
Laters, I’ll catch you on the next one
-Vishva
Thank you, this was very helpful