This article has been machine-translated from Chinese. The translation may contain inaccuracies or awkward phrasing. If in doubt, please refer to the original Chinese version.
2022, An Article Written for Myself
Just these past few days, my spring internship search has come to an end. I applied to many companies, got rejected by many, and gathered quite a few lessons learned. There’s a lot of frustration, and I’ve realized how many shortcomings I still have. I’ve also started doing daily practice problems to prepare for the early batch of fall recruitment.
Feeling inspired, I’m writing a blog post to document my past. I might update it casually later on.
Looking through my photo album, I came across my high school graduation photos and instantly felt nostalgic.
When I first chose this major, my dad didn’t recommend following in his footsteps but didn’t object either. I filled all my college application choices with computer science or software engineering. In fact, after starting university, I discovered that I truly found something I love — programming. Classmates, teachers, and many others would react with: “A girl who likes coding? How boring! You’ll definitely lose your hair” (my hair is indeed thin, though). Some thought it was pretty cool. I even doubted myself at one point and searched Zhihu for answers about “what it’s like for girls studying computer science, blah blah…” But after the second semester of freshman year, I realized gender doesn’t matter at all — passion is what counts. I also don’t like being compared to other girls. I am who I am. Coding is my hobby, and if this hobby can make money, that’s even better. That’s all there is to it.
I’m not someone who enjoys writing assigned essays, nor am I someone who excels at exams and test-oriented education. I realized this since high school. “No cultural depth, everything I write reads like a diary”… So this article is truly a miracle that could only happen when I’m bored to the extreme. In high school, I loved math and hated science comprehensive exams, Chinese, and English. In college, I still didn’t like university physics, but gradually, I started enjoying recording things in blog posts, whether about technology or life.
Since starting university, many things I never imagined happened, and I gained a lot. College has been quite fulfilling — I stayed on as a club department head, stayed on as a student council department head, received a year of scholarships, became a probationary party member, did work-study, won all sorts of campus awards, got first place in my class GPA once, participated in quite a few small competitions, tinkered with cloud servers, set up auto-check-in systems, wrote web scrapers, attended various training camps…
However, being busy doesn’t mean you learn a lot. Looking back now, I did quite a few things that seemed amazing at the time but now feel like wasted effort. A lot of the time, I was just spinning my wheels…
Technically speaking, I can’t be complacent or stagnant… All my course projects in college were completed independently, though the grading was quite arbitrary (my database project, which I thought was decent, only got a “medium,” while my C++ and Java projects that I thought were weak both got “excellent”). I still remember when I saw a senior’s Java project using JavaFX instead of Swing for the UI — I was blown away and decided not to use the ugly Swing but to customize with JavaFX. I spent about a week on it, coding every day. In the days before the deadline, I even slept in the office to avoid disturbing my roommates with late-night coding. Now I think: it took me that long? I was so bad.
In terms of productivity tools, from being clueless as a freshman — I even used my phone to browse an OJ (Online Judge) — to now being proficient with IntelliJ IDEA, DataGrip, VSCode, and more. Who knows what transitions I’ve been through…
As for relationships… well, that’s a bit too embarrassing to talk about. Moving on.
Friendly reminder: The memories below are mostly diary-like accounts. Feel free to close the window now.
Freshman Year - First Semester
Before enrollment, I cherish the memory of strolling around campus with my parents…
When I first arrived in this major, my understanding of computers was limited to playing games, making PPTs, and writing documents. After learning about programming from the class group chat before school started, I began watching online courses.
When school started, I joined the Computer Service Club and the college student council. Joining the Computer Service Club was probably one of the most important decisions of my college career. I met many talented people, seniors, and upperclassmen, which greatly broadened my social circle and knowledge. I even unlocked the skill of repairing computers (though it was basically just reinstalling systems and opening up different laptop models to check minor issues). The Computer Service Club’s charity repair events were really fun.
At the busiest times, I’d even vent on my social media feed, hahaha. Looking back now, I was so immature, even though things actually got much harder later.
Back then, I loved taking my phone around to photograph campus scenery. I was curious about everything. After joining the student council’s New Media department, I’d run around with a camera and absolutely loved it.
- Snapping the bell tower
- Snapping the sunset glow
Snapping the little grove outside the bathhouse
The little blue bikes that used to be there — they’re all gone now
This is the campus — the reed clusters by Lotus Lake
Snapping the first snow
Snapping the military training parade
First gathering of the New Media department
That was the first college sports meet I had the chance to attend — who would’ve thought it’d be the last one I’d ever participate in.
A jaw-dropping question at the Computer Service Club quiz competition (what a creative question-maker! who was it?)
Rainy day, staying in the dorm to code comfortably. The tool I was using back then was still Code::Blocks…
About the Computer Service Club’s Double 11 group avatar:
Computer Service Club’s New Year’s party and my naive 2019 self-review
Who’s this immature person - -
Freshman Year - Second Semester
During the winter break after the first semester, I started self-studying C++ for the next semester ahead of time. I still had great enthusiasm for coding, wrote some silly self-reviews, and also did things like this.
Third attempt at disassembling a computer, at home — brute force miracles…
After school started, I continued learning C++. I followed a well-known MOOC course, and when doing the assignments (World of Warcraft 1, 2, 3), I experienced increasing code volume for the first time. At first, I wrote about 100 lines and thought “wow I’m great,” then the final assignment was 700+ lines, and later the course project in C++ was 1000 lines. I gradually came to understand everything.jpg. I learned STL and could participate in some competitions.
I started trying to write blog posts, documenting my learning and understanding.
C++ comprehensive case study — first attempt at writing a small game
Oh right, the second semester of freshman year was actually online because of the pandemic. We never went to school and had online classes the whole time. So after just getting together at the end of the first semester, we were long-distance for nearly a year… (how unfortunate)
The lake near my home
After the winter break training and a whole summer of topic-specific practice, I made the decision to go the development route rather than the ACM route. There were many reasons — lack of self-confidence, couldn’t find teammates at the time, was more interested in development, etc. Looking back now, I don’t regret it.
Sophomore Year - First Semester
Run away! This semester was packed with classes. I also had to work part-time, doing shifts at Building 5. Although I could earn three to four hundred yuan per month, it was still quite tiring.
The poor kid who chose bridge as an elective (may there be no bridge exams in heaven)
Gift? More like a brick! But it really was heavy
First time making cola chicken wings myself! And first time frying French fries to eat x They were delicious (even though they were a bit burnt)
Went back to my hometown during winter break to visit Da Huang (the super well-behaved dog at my great-aunt’s — how come it looks so elegant?), never barks and lets you pet it freely. Not sure why its color matches my outfit so well
Sophomore Year - Second Semester
Spring arrived and the flowers bloomed beautifully
Smart Technology Alliance — gained a peculiar new skill! (not really)
Went to an art gallery for my Art Appreciation essay. Yes, that’s how real it was.
During this period, I teamed up with a super talented freshman girl. Since I hadn’t really trained much either, we went to the provincial contest at Henan Agricultural University and got nothing QAQ (but the European-style architecture at the agricultural university was truly beautiful)
My GPA this semester didn’t look as bad (Professor Hou’s Discrete Math from last semester and this semester’s Operating Systems were both taught by excellent professors)
During the break, we still went out eating and drinking (Zhengzhou prices, thumbs up!)
I think it was during this semester that I developed the adapter for our university’s XiaoAi Class Schedule app. Over 900 people have used it by now — incredible…
Tried developing a mini program
Junior Year - First Semester
During the summer, I tinkered with cloud servers, domain names, auto-check-in systems, and set up a simple blog with WordPress. I also tried running a personal cloud drive for a while (felt pointless though). The original blog looked like this: ugly, but functional
Took the PTA Level B exam, though I didn’t get a perfect score.
During this period I won a provincial silver medal (finally a small award — thanks to my teammates, thanks to CCTV, thanks to everyone)
Oh, there was also the GPLT (Group Programming Ladder Tournament), around this time last year~
“The Story of How Our Department Had to Review All 2019 Student Activity and College News Articles, So I Wrote a Web Scraper” What. Fun. It. Was. Though in the end it wasn’t even needed — suddenly they said no review was necessary (tears)
Went to a collab event and got a poster for the dorm (I love it so much)
About how VSCode can even be used to write assembly
Junior Year - Second Semester
After that, at the beginning of this year, I started learning front-end development, sought advice from seniors, and pushed hard during winter break. Starting in March, I began looking for summer internships. Meanwhile, the campus got locked down yet again.
Dorm setup upgrade!
Oh right, here’s a snapshot of this year’s brutal spring internship hunt — the “Bronze March, Iron April” situation: absolutely devastating.
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