Covid to Coding

“You don’t have to see the whole staircase to take the first step”

When the pandemic hit, the lockdown started, and the whole country decided to shut down completely. Everyone was stuck at home with nothing to do. We had exams to worry about, but we didn't even know if we were going to have them. Everything was uncertain.

Flash forward to a few months later, we still didn’t know what to do. Everything was still uncertain, and the country –now the whole world– was still shut down. We were hanging on to the memories from a few months ago, eager to make new ones as soon as the world returns to normal.

One day I was going through the memory archive of my brain when I came across a memory: the robotics competition in February 2020. My teammates and I were almost beginners in that particular area, and we had no idea how to do anything (or even what to do). Yet, we managed to make a robot using my five-year-old lego set, program it and give it a go at the competition. We were disqualified in the first round. But we didn’t give up and managed to write a new program at the competition venue, and ended up winning 3rd place. We were ecstatic! We won third place in our first-ever robotics competition!

This memory brought about a new interest: coding. I had a few Pascal lessons at school, but I wanted to learn how to write actual programs: programs that can perform complex tasks. I was curious and eager to learn. But I had no idea where to start or where to find resources. After hours of Googling, I discovered the websites GeeksforGeeks and W3Schools which played an essential role in my journey of learning programming. I decided to start with Python, as it seemed the least intimidating (I would recommend starting with C or C++, as they contain the basic elements of programming and are not as simplified as Python). Within two months, I finished all the basic lessons on the website. “Now what?” I thought. I wanted to learn more. I wanted to put what I learned to practice.

This was when I discovered the online course on EdX. Offered by Harvard college, CS50's Introduction to Computer Science is a great place for any beginner (with or without previous programming knowledge) to start learning. I learned C++ and Java and decided to choose web development as my preferred track. This course helped me not only to learn programming languages but also to put them to use. Even though it was a struggle at first, I started to like programming a lot more than I expected. I enjoyed the feeling I get when I write a successful program. I enjoyed the feeling I get when I fix a bug. I even enjoyed the feeling I get when I start to write a program. Within a few months, I finished the course with heaps of knowledge and a certificate in my hand.

As time passed, I started to realize that only knowing programming languages isn't enough for programming. I had to have the talent for solving problems. That was (and still is) my biggest challenge when it comes to programming. There are many websites where you can learn how to look at a problem logically and solve them efficiently. HackerRank is one suck website. With the articles about algorithms on GeeksforGeeks and the problems on HackerRank, I started to improve my problem-solving skills.

Around December 2020, my parents found out that there was an informatics Olympiad competition. Having participated in the mathematical Olympiad since 2017, I knew how Olympiads worked. But I was terrified since I wasn’t confident in my programming knowledge. Nonetheless, I started to take part in the monthly contests. As it turns out, you don’t have to know loads about programming itself. What’s vital is problem-solving skills. I kept getting better from practice, and in May 2021, I was qualified for the final round of the national competition. Yes, As the only girl in the whole competition, I felt very proud of myself. But I was also terrified. After the two-day final competition, I managed to win 10th place, exceeding my expectations greatly.

This boosted my confidence. I also realized that this might be what I want to do even 20 years from now on. I was still eager to learn. Since I was interested in web development after doing CS50, I decided to do the web development course of the same series, also offered by Harvard, CS50's Web Programming with Python and JavaScript. This experience was different, as I had plenty of time and could leisurely finish the course. It also taught me a great deal about web development, much more than what I learned from the first course. By the end of the course, I could make user-interactive web apps that can perform various complex tasks.

Now, almost two years after my robotic competition, I’m preparing for the 2022 informatics Olympiad. I wanted to tell this story because even though it was a struggle at first, I achieved a lot more than I expected. If you’re passionate about something but scared to try it, you should take the first small step towards it. That first step might be the easiest, or it might be the hardest. But it has to be taken. It might seem intimidating at first, but I promise it gets better as time goes by. So now, run off! Take the first step to achieve your goals!

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