Why Software Engineering?

Programming to me is a wonderful intersection of logical and creative thinking.

When writing a program, you are creating your own little world with its own rules which you can play with and share with others.

Once you’ve made some progress with a new idea such that you can interact with it, you start to see your own intelligence and creativity reflected back at you. In a sense, it is a small but more powerful replica of your own brain. But at the same time, while you have created each part of it, it soon grows into something more and begins to seem to have a life of its own.

To me, the process of taking an idea and creating this little world for yourself and others to enjoy can be immensely satisfying.

Recently I started a Software Engineering course. So far we have looked at HTML, CSS and Javascript. As someone who has encountered each of these before, and has a fair bit of experience with Python, it’s been fairly straightforward so far. Getting used to the syntax of Javascript for tasks that I would normally use Python for can be challenging.

I think a significant challenge for me will continue to be aesthetics. Generally my attitude to CSS is to keep adding and removing things until it looks okay. While I’m generally less interested in the front end than the back, the ability to create excellent aesthetic packages with which to present my ideas would be a highly useful skill to acquire.