Continuing Momentum:
Ringing in a new year lends itself well to a (brief) reflection of the year past. 2021 was a year of massive transformations for myself. And all such growth stems from one pivot: the decision to pursue computer science instead of law and undertaking intensive C.S. study @ Penn. This resulted in plentiful amounts of self-reflections, adjustments in modes of thinking, and most notably the doing away of a decade-long math anxiety. All of which makes me smile and honestly quite proud in hindsight.
Obviously the year was not one without its hardships too. Getting even an Online Assessment, let alone the actual SWE internship, in Toronto proved much more challenging than I imagined. But this led to some freelance work and a consulting internship, which I think was a pretty decent outcome. In terms of actual subject of study, algorithms was…complicated and often even painful in the moment. A shout-out to my study partner Wilson who had to deal with my aping around during many of our long study sessions. So, 2021 was pretty eventful as a whole. We made significant progress into a new field, we’re relatively unscathed (other than my hairline), and here we are. 2022.
Looking back, perhaps the best way to sum up the last year is with the word “problem-solving”. It’s a bit cliché but simplification can be insightful as is often the case with a higher level of abstraction. In actuality, the inspiration for the one-word summary is the optional characterizations/skill box that is seemingly in every job application but really isn’t optional if one intends to land an interview. Earnestly though, problem-solving is what I learned most in 2021. In 2022, I think the word “grit” should be my emphasis in addition to problem-solving. To continue the learning momentum and getting into more of the nitty gritty.
To kick things off in the new year is the move over to the Linux OS which I have pushed off for far too long. In classes such as Operating Systems Design and Implementation, we used Ubuntu Containers (Docker) which was sufficient for the class. But F.O.M.O. is real and a close friend Kevin suggested me to make the switch after chatting about his current role working in DevOps. He suggested to follow this roadmap if DevOps sounded interesting at all. And the first per-requisite is Linux, of course. I guess using Linux daily would make for pretty good practice and using a virtual machine was also considered, but perhaps VM’s are more relevant when I have a better sense of what I’m actually doing. So time to choose a Linux distribution. I decided on Ubuntu (21.10) for Ubuntu’s general relevancy in cloud computing, though Ubuntu Desktop ≠Ubuntu Server, and after weighing the general pros-cons of each major distribution. Now to install…
Installation is the biggest reason why I kept pushing off the move to Linux — I could never get any distribution to both install and boot. Supposedly, all that is needed is the flashing of a USB, booting into USB, and everything should be pretty seamless for dual booting. According to the docs at least. Let’s just say this hasn’t been the case in my attempts. Embarrassingly it took about 6 hours of debugging, a walk outside at -12°C , and a complete re-imaging of my S.S.D. this time around. Yes, a complete re-imaging. Thankfully Git exists. Originally, Ubuntu couldn’t find the Windows partition when installing so I had to do the partitioning manually. Then arose the problem with booting. I resorted to re-imaging after finally being able to install Ubuntu on the manual partition but then not being able to boot into it in the BIOS Menu. StackOverflow threads, the holy grail for when the computer is not doing what you want, suggested problems with GRUB, conflicts between UEFI Ubuntu and BIOS (legacy) Windows, etc… but all to no avail. Eventually, I decided to just re-image and reinstall Windows at a later date if it was ever needed. Out with the old, in with the new I suppose.
Honestly it was such a fitting exercise for early in the year as it tied together both problem-solving (2021) and some grit (2022). Installation of an OS is such a simple (debatable) roadblock but dealing with the obstacle was one of the more frustrating instances I have experienced in the past year. Such may be more a nod to the clear instructions and Piazza support in my classes rather than ease of the content themselves however. Or perhaps installing Ubuntu was just much too traumatizing. Regardless, now we can actually spend time on what we came here to do. Beginning with first quickly finishing up this course by the Linux Foundation. Cheers to 2022 and, for the record, 1/4 of 90 is 22.5.
