Tuesday, December 21, 2021

Student Ambassador community voices: My start in tech

Microsoft Learn Student Ambassadors weren’t necessarily interested in tech their entire lives.  This month in Community Voices, they tell us what they originally wanted to grow up to be, how they discovered they wanted to go into technology, and how they began their journeys.

 

Responses have been edited for length and clarity.

 

When you were a young child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

 

Student Ambassadors’ childhood aspirations were quite varied, ranging from teacher to veterinarian to Prime Minister!   

 

I wanted to be many things, among them President because I thought that I would have everything for free including chocolates and candies, and I wouldn't have to go to school anymore.

--Mayra Fernández

 

When I was young, I wanted to be singer because I used to listen to many songs on television. Whenever I went to school, I would tell the school bus driver to play my favorite song on repeat every day.

--Aditya Kumar

 

When I was a kid, I had a lot of dreams, but I was mort interested in being a scientist because the lovely technologies and experiments of science gave me a rush.

--Diya Vijay

 

When I was a child, I wanted to become an astronaut, firefighter, car designer, or architect.

--Gino Messmer

 

I really wanted to be a gamer because I was very much obsessed with the game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and then I thought of being a cricketer, as cricket is in our blood as Indians.

--Vishek Pratap

 

When I was young, I had lots of ambitions that kept on changing every month. Sometimes I wanted to become a dancer, sometimes a soldier, a teacher, a singer, a police officer, an artist. Then as a teen, I stopped thinking of what I wanted to be because no one knows what will happen next.  Just do what makes you happy.

--Megha Vishwakarma

 

I wanted to be the Prime Minister because I wanted to make Chinese people happier.

--Weihong Xu   

 

 

How did you end up realizing that you wanted to code, and how did your coding journey actually begin?

 

Everyone’s path to coding is unique. A few students seemed to have an “aha!” moment where they realized that they love to code, whereas some students gradually found themselves drawn to technology. Regardless of their path, Student Ambassadors share a passion for creating change in their communities using the coding skills they’ve developed.

 

I was about 6 years old when my parents bought our first PC running Windows XP that included a comprehensive book about Windows XP. Its last chapter was about Visual Basic Script. I typed and executed the samples and was so excited about the code running live!  At the age of 11, my parents gifted me a beginner’s book about C# on Christmas.  I completed all the samples and tasks, and eventually started to advance by developing desktop apps and my own projects.  And that’s how it all started!

--Gino Messmer

 

When I was 17 years old, I started learning about C at my university. What made me realize that I wanted to go into coding was the logic and reasoning used in languages like C, C++, and more.  I love logic.  I was not very experienced in coding, but once I got into the Student Ambassadors community, I have been learning new coding skills every day.  The community has provided me with the platform to become a coder.

--Aditya Kumar

 

It was during my middle school years that I realized that coding is better than expected and had a dream of building my own website one day.  My journey didn’t really begin until my university years. I was unsure about the major that I chose, Computer Science, because coding never crossed my mind as a dream job. It was scary at first, but I quite enjoy the process of building from the ground up.

--Monica Chan

 

Growing up, I wanted to be a doctor but then felt that the medical field wasn't for me.  Not because I wasn’t interested, but I realized how technology grows endlessly and how math can be the source of all sciences, so I started going deeper into coding fundamentals 4 years ago.

--Berrachedi Yousra

 

When I was in grade 9, my computer class teacher taught us HTML. To be honest, I found it boring because I didn't understand it properly at the time, but then in my first year of engineering, I started coding and found it fascinating.

--Diya Vijay

 

My older brother is my main inspiration and the person who brought technology closer to me.  We always gamed together, and as I grew up, he taught me many things about coding, games, and tech in general. It was through text-based games that I learned my first programming language--BASIC! My sophomore year in high school, students were offered the chance to participate in a 4 month program to learn web development. I had an amazing teacher and learned a lot. The rest is history…

--Lila Litvin

 

In 2017, I discovered I wanted to code. I really liked my computer science class. I loved what they were teaching—how to program robots that we built with Lego blocks.  It was quite interesting and impressive, and then I knew that I was interested in programming and loved to solve problems with algorithms. That same year, my professor selected me to replace him on Student’s Day, the day the best students take on the role of being teachers for the day, and I realized that I love teaching.  It makes me very happy to provide my knowledge to others.

-- Mayra Fernández

 

I realized that I wanted to code when I was 16.  I learned C++ in higher school, and pattern printing made me realize that coding is really a very interesting thing.  My coding journey began when I got to the second round of a coding competition in a hackathon during college.  I didn’t win because of a small error in my code snippet, but I decided then to hone my coding skills.

--Megha Vishwakarma

 

In high school I was introduced to C++, and when I learned the “Hello World” program, I was amazed and was very curious to know how it worked.  At that moment, I decided to learn and understand each line of code.  Also at that time, one of my friends introduced me to HTML, which I thought was very cool.  He said I had to give him a treat for him to teach me HTML.  I did not have enough pocket money to give him a treat, so I had to save one week’s pocket money.  After he taught me, I was more curious to explore this field and decided to pursue engineering for my career

--Vishek Pratap

 

Readers, thanks for joining us.  We'll see you next month.

 

If you’re not yet a Student Ambassador but are considering joining, don’t delay a moment longer.  Learn more about our wonderful community now! 

 

And Student Ambassadors, we’d love to hear your voice in the next Community Voices blog.  Keep your eyes peeled on our Teams site for our monthly blog announcements. 

Posted at https://sl.advdat.com/3FdIwsp