After this summer vacation, I will be a junior student.
I used to think that being a junior was far away, and internships were distant, but now they are all right in front of me.
I have updated my equipment, changed the knowledge I need to learn, and there have been changes in the leadership of the club and the graduation of senior students... many things have changed, but the only thing that remains unchanged is that I am still so inexperienced, as always.
Freshman Year#
You probably won't believe it when I say it.
The pressure in my freshman year was even greater than in my sophomore year, maybe because I was just thinking about how to survive at that time.
How to survive in the club.
When the new student recruitment started, I avoided the Student Union and the school clubs, and then I was deceived by a senior sister with a good temperament to join the club.
Although I haven't seen this senior sister since I joined.
But since I'm here, I might as well learn something.
That was my original plan, until I went through two assessments and realized that I might be eliminated if I didn't work hard.
I vaguely understood the materials sent by the senior brother,
I wrote messy code without comments,
I inexplicably completed the functions we were supposed to implement,
I stayed up late and skipped classes to complete the group project in the training camp.
I was fearless as a newcomer and often bothered the senior brother and sister with all sorts of questions. Although there were times when they didn't reply to me and I had to figure things out on my own, I also annoyed them with my questions...
I vaguely remember being scolded.
Freshman year was the most dedicated time, without much confusion, just study.
There was no special reason, I just didn't want to lose.
Sophomore Year#
I thought I would become a CTO right away, but I ended up being demoted and became an assistant director.
If I really got this position, it would have been a lucky break for me, and now I feel relieved.
I was still unhappy about being rejected, but I knew I was lacking in many aspects.
During the new student recruitment, I learned about a tradition in the club,
The seniors would come back and pretend to be new students during the recruitment.
After persuading someone for half an hour, when he told me that he was one of us, I decided to continue this tradition. (Give me back my business card!)
Interviews were also an opportunity, and the seniors didn't let it go. They were all insiders.
My CTO came in without saying a word and started answering our questionnaire,
The last question was about what kind of people programmers are (I forgot the exact question, but it was something like that), and the freshmen answered seriously,
"Devoted to the field of technology"
"Studying seriously"
"Very rigorous"
But only his answer was a drawing, a few stick figures, and some stars above them. There was a sun in the upper left corner and a moon in the upper right corner, and the two were connected by double arrows. There was a computer below, and he wrote "coding" next to it.
When we saw that simple drawing, we wanted to laugh because we knew he was just causing trouble. Naturally, we had to follow his lead and challenge him: "You drew a picture under our question. Can we assume that your attitude towards this interview is not correct, or can you explain the meaning of this drawing?"
"Oh, I just think that programmers are like good friends, working hard together under the same starry sky, from day to night, coding and learning together."
This became the answer I admired the most.
Looking at his receding hairline, I had a bit more respect for him. When he left for an internship at Sina in Beijing, I happened to be buying bubble tea. After I sent him off, he said he would treat me to a meal next time he came back, although I haven't waited for that yet.
Starting as an assistant director was no different from the previous one,
Giving lectures to new students, the content was almost the same, even the assessments were identical.
I also had the enthusiasm to create some products, but my ideas were rejected,
The teacher wanted a single-function, simple project, and it was almost like telling me directly to do a "mini-program".
If you can't beat them, join them!
So I started learning front-end development and decided to pursue a career in that direction.
The pandemic forced me to stay at home for a semester,
I gave up socializing at school, no longer worried about whether I could get food, and in return, I had a more comfortable time playing computer games and using my phone at home.
I was like a 20-year-old Hu Shi.
But there were also benefits,
During meetings and when teaching freshmen, I couldn't see the people below me, which saved me from imagining them as giant cabbages.
During every meeting, the chubby senior sister would always show up and speak up, giving us advice and pouring us some motivational words,
She even proclaimed herself as the programmer's encouragement mentor in our Technical Research and Development Center.
Although I think it's better to rely on self-improvement than listening to her encouragement, having such a position is better than nothing.
I think she is a very important person to the club.
I borrowed her book "Introduction to Algorithms" and it's still in the office. I don't know if I will have a chance to return it to her.
Conclusion#
When the new semester starts, it will be time for the club to change leadership. The energy of the freshmen makes me, a sophomore, feel really old.
In middle school, I thought that getting into a good high school would be stable,
In high school, I thought that going to college would be stable,
But after entering college, I realized that there are still many things to worry about,
I can never stop, and I don't know which direction to take next,
At the end of my sophomore year, with regrets and reluctance, I continue to move on to the next stage.