Reflection

Heading into college I knew what my goals were and what I wanted to do. I was always passionate about computers and knew early on I wanted to major in Computer Science. I thought I would study that here and then have a typical career path where I enter big tech as a software engineer after college. After I started my studies, I noticed I would pay more attention to my math courses and in hindsight, did not care much about my computer science courses. I saw them as more of a burden. Eventually, I kept adding Math courses to my schedule and declared it my second major.

I loved the challenge math presented. Not only was it rewarding to finally solve difficult problems you spent a lot of time thinking about, the creativity required was a big reason I was so interested in it. I think this was a big reason I did my chess engine project. You begin with a problem which is to make a piece of code learn and play chess. The rules are given and are not particularly difficult to learn but there are so many possibilities that you need creative ways of making a program good at chess. My love for problem-solving which stemmed from pursuing math in college is what made me want to work on that project and choose it as an artifact.

Currently, I am unsure on what I want to do in the future. Choosing artifacts was hard because barely any existed. I originally wanted to pursue software engineering and building projects is a major part of entering the field and the career itself but I realized that is not my passion. I do not enjoy building these projects as much as I like them as a tool. The chess-engine taught me the algorithms and techniques used to make a machine master a complex game. The basketball analysis project was only made because I wanted to study and analyze basketball with less hindrances. I want to explore what I love to do and adjust my goals accordingly for my future.