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autogeneity · 4 months

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Hi, I was looking into computer science and I wanted to ask you what drew you to it and how you feel about it as a career choice?

I don't think my reasons for getting into it are likely to be very helpful to anyone else because they are very specific to my life at the time and not actually much about computer science at all. Skip to the last section for more relevant things.

But here is my story —

I went into university with a starry-eyed idea of understanding the True Fundamentals of Everything and was majoring in maths, physics, and philosophy. also my brain was broken and I had a very fuckd't relationship to reality as a concept (mega derealisation with substantial perceptual distortions and potentially some delusional features) and some part of me saw this as Deep Philosophical Insight, while another hoped getting The Answers would solve it.

after a year it became apparent that this was probably at least a little silly and not going to happen, and I didn't actually see myself being a professional physicist irl.

additionally, I felt more drawn to doing something with more tangible outcomes in the real world rather than chasing maximum abstraction. I had a growing interest in neuroscience and AI and simulation, but also could maybe see myself becoming a professional mathematician. so I kept the maths and switched the others to computer science and psychology.

I guess the specific CS appeals were: I already knew some programming and had found it basically trivial to learn, so I sort of figured it is probably a good match for my brain. and I like puzzles (actually when I first got to uni all the departments were doing little recruitment speech thingies and the CS department actually gave us puzzles! I somehow imagined this would be representative of literally anything (it is not)). I still find those, like, code challenge type problems a lot of fun though.

the final thing that sealed the deal was the availability of a scholarship for maths+cs major, and the fact that it could provide a backup plan if my academia plans failed.

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As for how I feel about it — well, my academia plans did fail so I am very glad I had a backup in place. Even if they hadn't gone wrong at the time, it's pretty clear to me now that the many mental health issues I continued to deal with in the time since would have led to me fucking up in academia sooner or later in a way they did not in my job. There is much, much more latitude here.

And it's pretty alright as a job; I'm not ecstatic about it but I don't really mind overall and it is sometimes fun. I actually like bug-fixing, lol — the kind where there's an immediately-obvious mistake and I just gotta correct it is boring but the hunt is fun. In general I dislike the amount of small, tedious tasks where I just gotta do some obvious thing, but I like it when I get to build something more substantive that requires more figuring out. I am somewhat fond of the way the shape of the things feels in my brain (not sure that makes any sense lmao). Albeit there are not really many puzzles. :(

But I'm not intending to stay in my current work. I worked briefly in data science and found it much more engaging. I plan to move towards that and/or stuff in the direction of bioinformatics or scientific computing or computational neuroscience. Which is all still computer science but not. software development.

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Which is probably the biggest thing I would want to highlight for someone considering computer science. In general working in software development (the most typical career path) is very different to working in computer science. Very often someone interested in the one will not be very happy with the other. I would encourage identifying which is your interest, and seeing what they both actually entail, before pursuing anything.

Because like, if you want a run-of-the-mill programming job, in many places it might be worth considering just doing some sort of bootcamp and projects. The company I work at gets probably like 20% of their graduate hires from that stream. Much cheaper and faster than a degree! Or for various other types of work certifications might be a good approach.

If you like mathy things, you probably want computer science proper. If you like engineering, tiny technical details, performance focus, etc, you probably do want formal education and may want to look at things requiring low-level languages, e.g. embedded software. I think people who like twiddling and configuring enjoy cloud shit? or infrastructure and ops work more generally but I think these days most places that looks like cloud shit. If you like the big picture, modeling, and the human side, you may be interested in systems analysis (I find this Very Shaped tbh but am not up for the human side and honestly don't like making big judgement calls).

Somehow I don't actually know what the people who like everyday application development actually like about it specifically lmao? even though they are surely the majority. But ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#asks #shinyangelwombatknight #long post #guess I took the opportunity to go off #I am sort of contemplating my career future and motivations and recently applied for a masters and several jobs #so thinking out loud somewhat also #also it is technically not true that the puzzles are not relevant to anything #they are relevant to job interviews. for some reason.#I have encountered a situation where I needed to apply that sort of thinking exactly one time #and that was a cryptographic thing #I don't really understand what they are proxying

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awstenlookbook · 11 months

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Do you know of other lookbook blogs (not strictly awsten)?

Hi! For Geoff & Otto no :/ For other celebrities yes!!

Lookbooks/fashion archives/style finds are in my opinion a fandom staple for any pop artist/group and most actors with fan followings, but I guess not so much for the alt scene lol. Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Beyonce, etc etc etc all have them, sometimes even more than one. I'd recommend googling like "celebrity name+fashion archive+[social media site]" or "celebrity name+lookbook+[social media site]" and you'll more than likely find someone running one somewhere.

I more or less model this one after @styleslookbook - I've been following them for years & love their layout and dedication. I really think they are invaluable in Harry's fandom space lol, somehowwwww they find the craziest niche vintage stuff he wears!!

For Awsten, there are two very old accounts on Instagram that I have found while looking for some of Awsten's pieces lol, they have some of his older stuff for sure and are a great resource when I get really stuck! awstenknightswardrobe which ended during Entertainment and awstenknight_closet which ended when Awsten cut his hair in 2020.

Hope this all helps!

#ask #shinyangelwombatknight

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