Reflecting back on this past summer, I feel as though I could have done more. I did not have a job or internship like many other college students. Instead, I choose to spend the summer at home, working independently to learn valuable computer science skills that I hope will ultimately help me land an internship next summer.

During the school year, I thought about how I wanted to spend my summer, and I decided that I wanted a job or internship. When I realized how competitive the process was, I still went ahead and applied to various internships and jobs. I soon came to the realization that the combination of my lack of experience and the fact that I was only a freshman in college did not make me a very attractive candidate.

For the first few weeks of summer, I applied to every retail job in my area, in hopes of landing a position. After not hearing back from employers for a few weeks, I decided to end my search. Although I was disappointed that I did not have a summer internship or job, I decided to use the summer to spend time with family and improve and learn new computer science skills. For the remainder of the summer, I used various online resources and even took a few courses on programing languages to learn skills such as Python (programming language), HTML & CSS and basic android app development.

Although I did not have a job or internship this summer, I still gained valuable skills that I hope can be useful in my classes this semester, as well as in helping me find an internship for next summer. Something I learned was that I need to plan in advance, if I want something. By the time I came home for the summer, most summer-only retail positions were already filled. I also realized that with so many people looking for internships, I need to begin applying earlier than I think.