This is a submission for the 2025 New Year Writing challenge: Retro’ing and Debugging 2024.
Note that I chose a random wallpaper since I do not know how they would be chosen, but this one looks nice for the occasion
Oh hello welcome to my first post
This year I managed to graduate from my community college after a tiring four years and get into university, all in one year
Hacktoberfest
I am glad I was able to participate in my very first Hacktoberfest during my first semester at my University, a worldwide event sponsored by DigitalOcean to contribute to projects by open-sourcing on GitHub. This monthly event taught me that open source is not just programming but also editing documentation. I started the [repos I contributed to].
(https://github.com/stars/johnny603/lists/open-source-contributed)
Notion
Notion helped me with note-taking and storing them so I can pull them when I need them most. It does not clutter my pack, which is a plus. I learned a lot about LateX with this app on my desktop and the use of Overleaf, another program to learn LaTeX. LaTeX is important for me since I was able to make equations I could publish online and ask for help or feedback faster.
Computing Talent Initiative
I started this program in August 2024, and I will never regret that decision. I was able to learn more about how to contribute to open-source projects as well as on how to read/make research papers. I also managed to learn a bit of C++ which is an Object Oriented language, just like Python and Javascript. I also learned how to use Linux for one of my Computer Science courses. I even had the chance to get paid as long I stayed on track on my learning path in the program, which helped me stay engaged in Computer Science. I used GitHub copilot to identify files in a large codebase, which allows me to contribute to open source.
CSC 317
This was one of the major classes at my university based in San Francisco. I started there in the Fall of 2024. This turned out to be one of my favorite classes since there was a lot of review but a lot of opportunity to use what I learned in major projects. One of them was to form a group and make an e-commerce site. There, my group formed a group chat to allocate several tasks to get the website done as fast as possible, or at least within the deadline that was set in class. Here is a repo of the website.
In this class, I learned a lot of SQL, Bcrypt, HTML, CSS, and Javascript.
CSC 300GW
This was a writing class at my university which surprisingly does not require coding, but uses AI to support how I code and improve my writing skills. The most important skill I learned form this class to how to write resumes and cover letters to send out to recruiters, whether that is through fairs or online. I have used AI including Microsoft copilot, Github Copilot, Gemini, and ChatGPT. I made an archive of my writing assignments, which helped me improve my writing skills.
With that, I have ended up with a 3.45 so far after my first semester at university, I am excited to do more with open source and web dev to be able to contribute. Even if coding is not involved, as it could allow for writing skills to be developed since documentation is always needed and read in everything.
STEM instructor - CodeAdvantage
It is almost the end of the year and I got a part-time job opportunity as a STEM instructor with the help of my CSC300GW class after interning for a while in the past. I am right about this opportunity since I can teach robotics through Legos, which is what I enjoy doing with some of my free time.
Opportunities for All - Enterprise for Youth
This is the summer opportunity where I got to develop my love for teaching and confidence in working with people, whether that is in person or virtually. A challenge I faced was getting to be in front of a whole crowd of people around high school and college. I was partnered with two other coworkers which helped me build confidence and I ended up teaching what I learned to help me get a couple of job and internship offers. If the opportunities were in computer science or not, I would still be able to go the right path, while doing something I enjoy since I would now be able to effectively network and create a pitch for myself.
In the future, I hope to archive more of my writings, personal and school-related. However, I want to showcase my skills. I also want to work more on my programming skills through personal work. Perhaps even create a research paper.
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