So, I’ve finished my first year of Computer Science. It’s unfortunate that it ended on such a strange note, what with Covid-19 and all. However, I survived and I’m incredibly pleased with myself for doing so. If you had asked me a year ago whether I would ever learn to program, I would probably tell you no.
My interest in coding stemmed from creating HTML/CSS sites on Neopets (good god, does anyone else even remember that site?) when I was probably 10. However, my distaste for math drove me away from STEM which I think came from constantly being compared to my brother and just generally told I’m slow or bad at it. Looking back, I don’t think I was even bad. I had somehow ended up in AP Calc despite telling myself I didn’t belong there. And then I returned to campus after 6 years of not touching math and passed both Calc I and Calc II. The weirdest part? I think I liked it.
It’s no wonder though. Why would anyone ever want to nurture a skill that they’re constantly told isn’t for them? I was always praised for being able to draw and encouraged to pursue it as a career. Yet math was just a no-no for me and I believed the people that told me so. I also believed that these skills were a god-given gift. Despite spending years drawing for hours after school, my skill was labeled as a gift. A talent. Likewise, my brother’s math skills were also described as the same. However, when I majored in Industrial Design, I had seen others enter and self-proclaim themselves as “unartistic”. Yet, I watched them grow in their next four years and develop those skills that people touted as a natural ability.
Some people are born good at art. But nothing beats hard work. I found out that the same goes for everything else.
“Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard.”