Who are you?
Hello there everyone! I’m going by Silas Mao on this site, so don’t feel afraid to send me a message or something!
What is your industry and profession?
I graduated summa cum laude with a bachelors degree in chemistry, but my specialisation is more toward biochemistry, as I did one year of organic chemistry research and three years of biochemistry research in faculty lab, and was able to present at a national conference. Most people don’t like chemistry, and I can definitely understand why and how they could have a bad experience, but I think I was lucky enough to have great professors. Especially my research advisor!
Were do you plan to use your new coding skills? Personally/professionally?
I definitely plan on using that which I learn here personally. I have always had a computer growing up, and learnt how to fix what I needed to fix primarily by accidentally botching something up and then having to use a different computer to search for solutions! I have pretty much noooo programming skill prior to coming here. I did play around with C++, but got kinda annoyed or bored after I couldn’t figure something out. I really love programming languages because it’s like a grammar puzzle and grammar was always the best part of English courses I’ve taken.
Anyway, I’d really enjoy to learn some penetration and security testing skills. In another life, I could just as likely have majored in computer science (or Chinese language or philosophy or music or…). But I didn’t choose computer science, so pleaaase be patient with me. I do try to search up solutions to my own questions, but create threads after spending an amount of time leading to frustration. So, I’m not just searching for a quick answer to proceed. I want to learn!
Why do you use Codecademy and what is your favorite thing about it?
Well, I found codecademy (I keep wanting to write codeacademy or something!) by accident while searching for information on PHP, and found out it could teach me a bit about PHP. and so I started and completed that course pretty easily (way easier than Javascript! XD). Now, I’m just sorta choosing languages at random to learn about them! I think the Q/A forums being so active with not only Questioners but also realllllyyy quick answers from experts!
What courses have you taken, or are planning to take?
Took PHP and completed it in a night and a day. Now working on Javascript here and there…
Have you been to any of our meetups, or events?
Nope! I didn’t know these existed, and I’m a bit of a recluse and noob, so I’m not sure what I’d really contribute to these?
Do you have any examples of work that you have done using the skills you learned at Codecademy?
Not really! I’ve only recently joined and am just completing the assignments now. However, sometimes I get curious about different ways to simplify the coding that the site is guiding me to use, so sometimes I figure out different ways to complete the assignments. I am testing my intuition, haha.
Do you have a cool story to tell about how Codecademy helped you achieve your goals?
Hopefully I’ll be able to come back and add something here!
Anyway, I’m not really good at programming at all, but I see the magic in it, am trying to learn, and have not much going on this year, so it should be a good hobby for a while!
Thank you to those who created, moderate, or simply answer questions here. Very awesome place!