Ethics and Professional Issues

           The past week of class has been enlightening, and not always in a positive way. It is easy for us, as students of progressive institution lauded for bringing together the best and the brightest, to assume that we are not ensnared in the same traps as the rest of American society. We are. The discussion in the past week has been filled with the same heated, bipolar rhetoric that has become a hallmark of American media. Presented with a simple fact, that computer science falls well short of diversity benchmarks, we could not have a discussion that would bring people together, but rather farther alienated members of our community. Those who felt affected by the lack of diversity shared their experiences only to be questioned at length and trivialized. Those who saw little problem with the issue were met with contempt and apparent judgment. The inability to communicate effectively and understand that dissenting opinions can lead to communal understa...

               I have prepared for the hiring process in a variety of ways. Practically, I have reviewed the past projects on my resume in order to be able to speak competently about them and brushed up on some of the languages I use less often. On a more personal level, I have reevaluated what it is I want from an employer and what my priorities are going to be through the next few months. I know that I want to work for a company that values employees who don’t spend every waking moment behind a screen, and whose hiring process reflects that. I know I want to be back in the South, somewhat closer to home.                As the process gets underway I have found myself leaning on the advice of my brother, who has been through the process himself and is aware of the pitfalls. He is always a level head and good listener, even though we are taking ...

               I did not come to Computer Science early. I did not have a coding class in high school or start editing game code in my garage. In fact I avoided Computer Science as much as possible because it was something my brother did. Our relationship was often rocky in high school and I could not bear to start learning something he already knew so well; it would have been humiliating. Imagine my surprise when during my Intro to Engineering course I discovered that coding was something I enjoyed and was good at after all. This mindset originally caused me to stray away from the computing stereotypes I saw in my brother. I didn’t immediately switch to Linux and swear off Windows; I didn’t put all my time into passion projects. I let coding be a part of my school life, but kept it at a cautious distance.                This has changed. As muc...

My decision making process is rooted in consequentialism. Growing up, my father would remind me constantly to think of the consequences of my actions, both good and bad. I am still fully learning that lesson, but strive to understand the potential impacts of my actions on myself and the word around me. This mindset bleeds into my understanding of talent. I see talent as human potential. It is something to be nurtured and strengthened. Talent is the ability of a person to affect the world around them using a particular ability or skill. The consequences of honing and developing a talent cannot be overstated, as talented individuals can change the world. The consequences of ignoring one’s talents are less immediately apparent. This is where the danger lies, the loss of human potential in underdeveloped talent is impossible to quantify and often easy to ignore.                Raw talent must be refined. For Compute...