Like Dad by Amelie

Like Dad by Amelie - February 2024 Scholarship Essay

Fingers typing at a tremendous speed. Unblinking eyes glued to the screen. Face scrunched in total concentration.

My younger self was intimidated but amazed at my dad’s job as a computer programmer. The idea of him controlling a machine at the tip of his fingers was captivating. Growing up exposed to computer science, I found myself irresistibly drawn to it. Like every other 10-year-old, I wanted to be like my dad.

In my junior year of high school, I took AP Computer Science to get a glimpse into my dad’s world. I was baffled. The seemingly manageable assignments quickly evolved into insurmountable challenges. The red, glaring errors on my screen left me frustrated, perplexed and disheartened. I couldn’t grasp the foreign language of symbols and syntax. My expectations fell down the drain and I began questioning if I wanted to do this in my future.

Rather than one breakthrough moment, it was a culmination of learning, patience, and shifting my perspective. The more assignments I completed, the more I relished the moment when my code executed successfully. I would hover my mouse over the run button as my heart beat viciously, my mind raced anxiously, and my eyes widened eagerly. Seeing the desired output gave me the utmost satisfaction. Nothing compared to the pride of a successful program after hours of dissecting it. I began to approach coding differently, not as a foreign, incomprehensible language, but as a puzzle of logic and problem-solving.

When we were tasked to develop our own program for the final, I realized coding is not only a useful skill but also a creative outlet to bring ideas to life through the same lines of symbols I once resented. I was enthralled seeing my program develop from an idea in my head to a working program made by my own two hands. It felt like I had unlocked the potential to create and innovate anything I could imagine.

My decision to major in computer science is driven by a passion for technology, its future advancements and applications, and an endless thirst for knowledge. Coding has taught me to persevere and adapt, valuable life lessons that I will continue to apply on my journey of becoming a programmer, like my dad.