About Me

On this page, you can get a more holistic view of who I am.

About Me

I am currently a student pursuing a B.S. in Computer Science at the University of Virginia. I enjoy working on personal projects in my free time, given my school work allows it. Outside of programming, I also enjoy playing piano, running, and playing trading card games and am a coffee enthusiast.

Why I chose computer science

This is a question you get a lot when you’re in college. Im sure everyone is familiar with the “Hey what’s your major” conversation starter, which generally has a follow-up regarding why you chose that major or what you like about it. So here is my answer to that question:

The real answer is because of a Minecraft YouTuber I used to watch. He is quite known at this point, being one of the largest Minecraft YouTubers, and goes by the name of Mumbo Jumbo. While watching one of his videos when I was in middle school, he mentioned that he was studying computer science (or planning on it, I can’t really remember at this point). At the time, I loved computers, I enjoyed using them, I enjoyed messing around with them, and I enjoyed getting a glimpse into how they worked. When I learned that you could actually STUDY computers in school (which I was not a huge fan of at the time) I had my mind set (even though I didn’t even know what a computer science degree entailed).

Despite this interest in eventually studying computer science, I never really intentionally set out to learn computer science before college. Despite my lack of intentional effort, it kind of just happened. One realization that I had when I was young is that if you want to know how to do something, there is very little stopping you if you have a computer and access to the internet. If I or thought of saw [insert cool or interesting thing] I would then think “Oh wow I want to do [insert cool or interesting thing]”, and then my Google search history would then include “How to do [insert cool or interesting thing]“. This is how I learned how to do origami, solve a Rubik’s cube, play piano, do calculus, as well as learn computer science. As mentioned (or implied) earlier, I was very into the video game Minecraft, which had a boolean logic system called Redstone, which is very close to real-world digital logic. Eventually, I had the idea to search “how to build a calculator” in Minecraft, which then brought me to a 12-part series in which a creator made a working, 5-bit 4-operation calculator. At the time, I just thought I was doing Redstone. Little did I know, that I was doing computer science (the thing that I eventually wanted to study). This trend continued, where I would have unintentional run-ins with computer science until I eventually enrolled in a programming summer camp, where I had my first formal introduction to coding.

The rest is kind of history. After learning my first programming language (C++, although I barely learned past the basic operations), my Google search history was filled with things like “How to learn [python/java/javascript]”, “How to create a [calculator/game/website] in python”. My world expanded 10 fold, as I began to realize the subject area I had uncovered, and I have continued on that path since.

Interests

First staying in the realm of computers, I am a budding Linux enthusiast. I got into using Linux at the start of 2023. Currently, I have a bit of an Ubuntu “rice” ([dotfiles] if you want to check them out), and I am an avid nvim user. I also enjoy playing video games in my free time. Nowadays, I mainly play games to stay connected with friends.

Moving outside the realm of computers and into the real world, I enjoy being outdoors and going on runs (although I do hibernate a bit in the colder months). I also love playing piano and was classically trained for about 7 years, but now play just for fun. I really like coffee, and messing around with the different ways of making coffee drinks at home (as well as refusing to spend $6 on a cup of coffee when I go out).

In 2019, I also rekindled a childhood interest of mine in the form of the trading card game Yu-Gi-Oh. While it is marketed as a children’s card game (and it does carry some childhood nostalgia) it actually has a complex competitive scene which I was unaware of until I got involved in it. Currently, I do not play very often, but I like to visit card shops to see old friends when I am home from college, and I still collect.

Goals and Aspirations

As of right now, I am looking to learn and expand my horizon as much as I can. I understand that there is a privilege to being in my youthful years, and I want to take as much advantage of it as I can. This applies to my personal and professional life. In regard to computer science subject areas where I want to focus, I have found I am interested in a large amount of them, and can’t quite pick one just yet. One thing I know for sure is that I want to create software that has a far-reaching and positive impact (or at the very least is pretty cool).