Random thoughts — How I Became a Software Engineer (Part 1)

I used AI for some grammar and spelling fixes.

Helloo, feels like forever since I wrote a blog post. Been busy with work and wanted to write something that summarizes my journey as a software engineer.

So let’s get started…

I first “started programming” by messing around with the frontend HTML of a website that my middle school used for grades and report cards. Turns out, clicking Inspect lets you edit HTML elements (like your grades!). Of course, refreshing the page reset my changes but that didn’t stop me from showing my friends how I “got an A+ in English” 😆.

During that time until my last year of middle school, I didn’t have access to a computer. The only devices that connects to the internet at home were an iPad Mini (which my mom won in a contest) and later a PSV (that my sister gave me). So to play games like Adventure Quest, UberStrikes, Social Empires, and other Flash games, I had to go to the library every day. With just 2 hours of computer time, I’d play all the games in the world.

That’s also how I learned most of my Chinese. I finished all the Chinese books on the second floor of that library while waiting for a second round of computer time (the librarian sometimes let you use the computer again if you were lucky). My favorite series? Geronimo Stilton. I must’ve read 80+ Chinese books.

Anyway, that was a lot of gaming and not much programming. But surprisingly, you learn a ton from gaming from how Flash Player works, how browsers work, console logs, window systems and stuff like task manager, accounts, permissions, emails. It set me up with pretty solid ground.

I’ve kept a few hobbies over the years: besides my 10+ years of accidental League of Legends learning (yes, that’s what I meant), I also play chess sometimes. Started in elementary school and realized everyone around me was kinda bad, maybe I could be good at this.

And I was. My team was the only one to beat our chess teacher. I don't remember my exact rating back then, but I do recall playing tournaments against high schoolers. That lasted until I started helping at the laundromat after school and got pulled away from the game.

Still play it today, just casually. In one of my high schools’ chess clubs, a student taught me Python. Ever since, I’ve wanted to learn more because it sounded totally different from the JavaScript stuff I’d seen in browsers.

I used the money saved from summer jobs to buy the book Python Crash Course. Let me tell you how much that book meant to me, IT COAST $30+, which was a lot for a kid living with his sister and working every break to save up for what I needed.

I remember reading it after every losing streak in League of Legends, mad at myself, telling myself I’d read at least X pages before bed, even if I had to wake up early for work the next day.

The only cool program I remember building back then was my very first blog! It had a handmade rich text editor, kind of like Google Docs, that allowed you to change the text color and styling before appending it to the blog.

I was so proud of that. I even got a Google Foobar challenge while I was building it. As a high school student, I was damn proud of what I’d made. Sadly, I don't have a photo of my blog anymore, but I do still have the photo of the Foobar invite

I also got it again in college in junior year, though I was so full of myself that I though hmm I will just apply for full time, don't feel like doing it.

Well I think I will write part two sometime later, I'm still early in my software engineer career with only close to 2 years in but looking back seems kinda of cool