Who am I?
My name is Maria Deslis. I am majoring in Computer Science.
What am I doing?
My plan is to make change in my life.
Despite my current struggles, I love Computer Science with all my heart and I still have a strong thirst for learning as much as I can.
For a long time, I thought it was because I wasn't studying enough. But with time, I noticed that I worked myself into an exhaustion so deep that I also got massively sick. Not to mention, my grades got far worse no matter what I did.
I also noticed that I wasn't studying for the fun and joy of learning anymore. I was studying to avoid consequences - not for my pleasure.
When I realized this, I knew things needed to change. I needed to gain back my love of learning. I needed to take care of myself again.
My plan, is to just start at the beginning.
Why am I doing this?
Starting over is not easy. Especally being in the middle of getting my degree.
The difference between what I am doing here versus what I am doing in the classroom is simple:
I am taking it one step at a time, at my own pace. Without the pressure/anxiety of grades/school.
I am giving myself the space to fail without the consequences having a profound effect on my life and pursuit in education.
The reality is, the only way to learn is to fail. To be banging your head against the wall over and over until it clicks (metaphorically speaking of course).
The problem lies in reality as well though.
We are taught from when we are young that failure means lazy, dumb, etc.
That shouldn't be the case, but it is.
If we fail in class we don't have the time to go back and try again, the class keeps going and you end up falling behind farther and farther, and we up spending more time struggling and frustrated (my situation) than we do actually being able to learn.
Spending countless hours and studying, going to office hours, doing review only to end up making everything worse.
If we fail a class we have to take it again. And if you have to take a class too many times one of two (or sometimes both) things happen:
1) You begin to doubt your ability (gaining other negative feelings as well) with the thing you love. Thus, putting you in a vicious cycle.
2) You get in trouble with the school (probation, kicked out, etc.)
I know that the above things does not apply to everyone and everything, but it does seem to be the general consensus from my observations.
And it's definitley been my experience.
I have tried many things and they have either not worked or made things worse.
So I am trying it a different way.
Why GitHub?
Much like an artist or a writer is able to see the progression of their skill and ability by being able to see the many past works they have created, so will GitHub and it's commit history allow me to see the progression I make as a Computer Scientist.
How do you plan to do this?
Ingredients:
1) Think Like a Programmer: An Introduction to Creative Problem Solving
by V. Anton Spraul
2) Code
by Charles Petzold
3) Data Structures and Other Objects Using Java
by Michael Main
Recipe:
1) Think Like a Programmer is my main book. I will give myself different projects and do my best to work on them each week and see how far I get.
2) I will write small reflections in a folder called blog.
a) In this folder I will write any improvement I have observed
b) I will write thoughts on matters I have not noticed before
c) I will write about the process of teaching myself and learning