Final semester! The B.A. in Computer Science finishes in January 2024. If you told me this two years ago when I was sweating through Precalculus I would not have believed you.
This semester is all upper-level stuff: data structures and algorithms, operating systems, software engineering. The concepts that made zero sense when I first encountered them... I actually get them now. They click! I can look at a problem and have an actual intuition about it instead of just staring blankly.
I've been grinding LeetCode and practicing system design on the side. The job market is rough right now, especially for someone like me who doesn't have the typical CS background. But honestly, I've stood in front of 30 eleven-year-olds trying to teach them how to play an instrument they've never touched. A technical interview can't be worse than that. (Right? Please tell me I'm right.)
I also started tutoring CS at Queens College, which is funny because I left teaching and immediately went right back to teaching. But it's different now! Helping someone understand recursion or wrap their head around why their linked list is broken, it scratches the same itch that teaching music did. I think I'm just someone who likes explaining things. I can't help it.
January. I just need to make it to January!