When I decided to major in computer science, I LOVED to tell people about it. During the first week of fall quarter at my university while everyone was getting to know one another, the most popular question was, “What is your major?” The common response to that question on my residence hall floor was nursing or perhaps becoming a teacher, so I felt satisfaction with my floor mates having a face full of surprise when I told them mine.

The truth is, I didn’t know anything about coding. I saw someone do it for about fifteen minutes during the spring before and, me being me who is slightly spontaneous, decided to switch my major from political science to computer science. It surprised everyone in my life that was keeping up with my college journey. I didn’t look like your stereotypical programmer, and I didn’t know how to work the college printer let alone most computer programs outside of Microsoft word and chrome.

However, I went through with it, and during my first quarter as an aspiring programmer I learned more about myself, perseverance, and time management than I ever thought I would. Through this I have five thoughts to offer to anyone that dares to choose computer science as a major.

• You’ll get confused. A lot. More than a lot. Probably all the time.
• Learning is more important than being the best.
• If you’re a female: You go girl.
• Watch Netflix.
• Keep going.

It was inevitable. Did I mention I knew NOTHING about programming? Well, that fact seemed to be magnified a hundred times sitting in my first programming class. As my professor introduced computer science to the class I constantly had questions swimming through my head. What is char? When do we use char? How does pass by reference work? Did I pick the right major? I didn’t usually grasp the topics the first time they were introduced to me. On average, I probably visited my professor during his office hours at least once a week with the dozen questions I had from the previous lecture.

But here’s the good news- it’s okay to get confused, or completely not understand. Acknowledging that you are confused or do not understand is never something to be embarrassed about and is the first stepping stone to being a stronger programmer.

Can I make a confession? OK, here it goes: I’m a perfectionist. That aspect of me did not change when I first began computer science. I expected to be at the top of my class when I was finished. To put is simply: I expected to DOMINATE in that class. I wanted to be the best so badly. I had my goals on being the next Marissa Mayer.

The reality of the situation is I wasn’t the best. I wasn’t the worst, but about halfway through that first class I stopped caring so much about being better than everyone else in the class, but rather being the best that I can be, and there’s so much more fulfillment in that. There’s always going to be a better programmer than you, but one of the aspects of computer science is that you need to keep an open mind and always be willing to be corrected or learn something new.

When I walked into my first programming class, I noticed a wide diversity- of laptops, that is. I quickly realized that I was one of the only females in the class. To get a better picture of this, there was about 35 students in the class and of those only six were girls. As I took a seat and looked around, the guys around me sounded so smart discussing what programming languages they knew. I immediately felt intimidated. Soon I would find out that many of them had already taken multiple programming classes.

But girls, remember this: you being a female should never correlate to how well you will do in programming. Maybe you like to practice your makeup with YouTube videos or maybe you’re in my boat where I did not know (and still do not know) much about laptops. Maybe you do. Maybe you’re not into makeup, or maybe you already know how to build your own computer. No matter what background you have, never, I repeat NEVER, let being a girl make you feel inferior in the computer science world. It may be a male dominated industry, but as more females pick up on programming it will not stay that way. You may be a princess outside the classroom but your coding skills can be like your eyebrows -- on fleek.

Now, I know what you must be thinking. Did she really mean to write “Watch Netflix”?

Why yes, yes I did.

You will likely be assigned a programming assignment or two that may (most likely) require a beginner like you to spend anywhere from an hour to over five hours. While being able to code feels like a superpower, we are not super human. You need to remember to take breaks to either rest your eyes, take a break from your frustrations (which are bound to happen), and just relax. If you have a favorite show on Netflix (mine happens to be How I Met Your Mother), watch an episode or two in between coding sessions. Sometimes taking a break and coming back to your program with a fresh mind is all you need.

Just remember self-discipline, and don’t ditch the programming assignment for a binge watch of Netflix.

At some point sooner or later you will find yourself in the following situation: tired, confused, frustrated, and you may or may not be ready to punch your computer. The question that will enter your mind is “Should I keep going with this major?”

I hope your answer is yes. Computer science is a roller coaster: there are high points, there are low points, but I hope you are in it for the fun. Yes, you may ask yourself that question. I have asked myself that question at least a dozen times, and probably will two dozen more, but I know computer programming is something that I genuinely enjoy and that I can think technical while also releasing my creativity. Through the trials and many, MANY errors on my programming assignments I have never regretted choosing computer science as my major.

To you future computer science majors, I leave you with this: persevere, be patient with yourself, and remember there are many that are willing to help you as you travel into your new unknown. You can do it.

And to you that do not know if you want to pursue it as a major, try it. You will not regret at least trying it but you may regret not trying at all.