Thinking Futuristic
I'm not sure if I have mentioned it before but I'm studying Politics and Sociology at University. It's not a very practically orientated course, as you may guess, and in the end you're left without "a profession". Or to put it not so harsh - you don't have a sure career path ahead of you. So after some consideration I took the decision to start learning how to program. It sounds funny when I put it this way but let me explain what I have in mind and what's the overall plan. So ...
Who?
Mr. Boyfriend is currently working/ doing his PhD in Natural Language Processing after a BA in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence and won't be too much if I say that he knows how to do programming in at least 2 computer languages. He is the one targeted with the job of being my teacher. I have very little previous experience in programming - few years ago I did a project in Pascal for school. And that's it. My father, who teaches "Programming" at an university back at home, has always claimed that my brain is excellently suited for being a professional programmer but I just lack the mental preparation to become one. Well, I guess that he'll leap with joy when I tell him that I'm undertaking Python.
What?
For starters - Python. Mr. Boyfriend is convinced that the language is easy enough for me to understand it but usable enough to actually have some practical outcome from this joint venture. I like to think that if I manage to understand one computer language there is nothing that could stop me understanding a second one.
Why?
I want to be competitive when I'm at the job market. Yes, I speak two European languages fluently. And yes, I'm able to read and speak two more. And yes, my mother tongue is none of those four languages but this is not enough. I don't want to blend in with the masses, I want when I look for job to be distinguishable and to have an asset that no one else in my field has. And will make my life so much easier if I know how to process my own data and to do my own quantitative research.
Bonus points for spending more time with Mr. Boyfriend doing something he likes and he's good at.
So, wish me luck, I guess..
You can't get lost if you don't know where you're going...
