Last Day!

         Today was the last day of the Open Source Summer Institute at Berea College. It feels very bittersweet as I think about the road ahead because I am very excited to put on my undergraduate student hat, even if for this one last year of my bachelor's career, and yet I will miss going to bed every night wondering about the ways our team could improve the material for our open-source project. As I am writing this reflection, I am feeling a large weight of responsibility coming off my shoulders. This project was not just a school project to me; I understood from the beginning that we are developing a major product that will impact thousands of students worldwide in the future. And now, looking back, I think that we were able to achieve that.

        On a personal note, I look back to the days I felt challenged, frustrated, and accomplished, and none of them stand out to me distinctly because all I feel is gratitude for the opportunity to learn and be a part of this process. I only feel this type of grateful blurriness when I know that the project was a success. In my eyes, my biggest accomplishment was overcoming my fears of working in a programming environment and better understanding my strengths and areas for growth. I confirmed that Computer Science is challenging, however, it gets a lot easier when you are working in partnership with someone. When I worked by myself, I constantly worried about my levels of productivity - I felt as though I did not produce enough work. However, after joining another team I quickly learned that my work before was enough and I made up these assumptions in my head. This project was also the first time in my life I have ever worked in an 8-5 environment. In the beginning, it felt like a major challenge. However, I was able to strategize my life around the summer institute, and it worked! I woke up on time, produced good work, and went to sleep feeling very content with myself.

        In terms of professional growth, most importantly, I had first-hand exposure to the research side of a computer science project development process. I understood what it takes to conduct extensive research, learned about the areas of Data Science and Data Analytics particularly interesting to me, and even had a chance to connect with professors and researchers within the disciplines. I am now more aware of my preliminary interest directions for grad school research. I am now open to not only exploring grad schools in computer science, but also applied mathematics and business. Through conversations with professors, I became aware of the ways I could develop myself via employment before I decide I want to pursue a research-based career.

        At the beginning, I was insecure about the prospects of my PhD journey, because I enjoy so many different things in life and cannot envision myself narrowing down on a very specific topic in Computer Science. Whatever I do must encompass different areas and impact communities. I believe that I found the intersection of what I want to do in the fields of Data Science and MIS. Originally, I was a little wary of the idea of a business PhD, however, now the prospects of teaching business in combination with Computer Science and working with different companies is so exciting to me. 

        Throughout the summer, I learned that I deeply enjoy leading computer science teams and managing large projects. I was able to identify and capitalize on our team's different points for growth and improvement as well as minimize potential risks. I understood from the beginning that the teams needed better communication, and I worked on improving it by creating channels for discussions and scheduling meetings. I had to be well-rounded about all areas of our study and well-connected with the members of different teams and leadership. I enjoyed that I was not constantly working on the technical aspects of the project, however, was still aware of the progress being made and could support our pair programmers. I felt a sense of validation from the act of supporting mini-teams in our common goal to produce an amazing product.

        And we did produce an amazing product which is now being used by real life students.