In my life computer science is more than a degree program. It's the ability to create. The beauty and breadth of exploration in this field creates incredible opportunities for connecting with others, learning new concepts, turning ideas into reality, and helping people. Hackathons became an increasingly important part of my life over the course of my final semester at FLCC.
I built the entire backend of a Dungeons & Dragons Pathfinder character sheet tracking website. This involved lots of PHP and SQL, but it also involved lots of learning how to work efficiently in a team.
I assisted in connecting with Google’s ‘Google Maps’ API in order to plot a gradient field of crime rates per block across a map of Los Angeles to demonstrate how this data can aid people travelling in unfamiliar areas. This was entirely in Javascript, a language that prior to this event I had no knowledge of or experience with. I learned how valuable pair coding can be, as well as how to apply API’s to a web application.
I helped to create a Python library that expands upon existing libraries to allow a user to “listen” to graphical data. I worked with pitch and speed adjustments of audio files and learned a lot about how audio files work. I also learned about accessibility, first-hand, and where and how it’s applicable.
Taking an idea or a concept and dissecting it into all of the little parts that make it work, then building it back up again piece by piece into a tangible piece of technology is my greatest passion.
