Programming. It's pretty important for and useful in a number of different fields - or so I've been told. Medical researchers are using gene-sequencing software to tackle various medical issues, in hopes of finding the long sought after cure to cancer. Companies are constantly looking for business intelligence analysts, database administrators, and software application developers, all of whom need to have some (a lot) knowledge about coding. Yet, right now, from my position as a sophomore who just barely made it through her third semester as a computer science major, the struggles of learning code seem to outweigh the benefits of knowing it (Yeah, I know, it'll all be worth it some day). Hopefully all of you other computer science majors out there can relate to the problems that I'm faced with every day as a result of choosing this major.
1. Never getting enough sleep.
Let's not pretend we haven't all pulled all-nighters in hopes of finally getting our code to run properly. One hour of debugging turns in to four, which turns into seven, which turns into, "How the hell is it already 7:00 in the morning?"
2. Thinking you understand something only to realize you're so lost you didn't even know you were lost.
There's always that rare moment in one of my computer science classes when I experience this brief moment of relief. For that one minute, I feel like I could actually do this, because finally all of the hieroglyphics on the board are starting to make sense. And then the professor adds one more note and the moment is over and I'm confused all over again.
3. All you friends ask for computer help, so you have to bullshit your way through helping them fix a problem.
I don't know about you guys, but sometimes I get texts from my friends that go something along the line of, "My laptop won't turn on. You're a computer science major; how do I fix it?" or "You're into computers right? If my computer crashed and I lost everything how do I like get that back?" PSA: just because I'm a computer science major doesn't mean I actually know anything about computers. Honestly, I probably know as little as you do. And since we're being candid, all the smart-sounding advice I sent to you was really the result of me frantically googling the problem you described and copying-and-pasting the first solution I could find.
4. Being one of five (or less) girls in your class.
Okay, so obviously not everyone (sorry about the misleading title) has this struggle. I get that. And hanging out and being friends with guys is great, so no complaints there. But it'd still be nice to have some more girls to be in class with. So to all the girls out reading this, if you're considering a computer science major, DO IT. It's a rough time - not going to lie - but definitely worth it. Plus, it's always fun to show guys that we can do things better than they can.
5. That initial moment when you compile, and your program does nothing for about a second and you think everything is going to be okay but then it throws 7 errors and 1 warning.
I feel like that's pretty self-explanatory. Maybe someday I'll actually be able to write a program where this doesn't happen (but also probably not going to happen).
And even though this has happened a million times, after every error you fix that results in 20 new ones you're just left like:
But like I said, it'll all be worth it someday (and it is actually kind of rewarding when you make it through some of these struggles and more and your code actually works...but don't tell anyone I said that).
