Hello, world!

Look, every coding blog in the history of the internet starts with some variation of “Hello World.” I’d love to tell you I’m different and revolutionary, but let’s be honest — I’m not above the classics.

The Obligatory Code Sample

Remember the first time you wrote code that actually ran? That tiny dopamine hit when you saw your program do exactly what you told it to do? I still chase that feeling with every project.

Here’s my version of the blogging equivalent:

public class HelloWorld {
  public static void greetVisitors() {
    System.out.println("Hello, World!")
    System.out.println("Welcome to my corner of the internet.")
    System.out.println("Where bugs are plenty and solutions... eventually found.")

    // This is where I'd put error handling
    // IF I HAD ANY

    System.out.println("Thanks for stopping by!")
  }

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    // Let's run this bad boy 😈
    greetVisitors()
  }
}

Is this the most groundbreaking code you’ve ever seen? Absolutely not. Could I have made it more complex to seem impressive? Probably. But there is only one thing programmers love more than coding, and that’s being efficient. We call it “working smartly.”

Speaking of efficiency, it took me an embarrassingly inefficient amount of time to start this blog. Before you continue reading, if you’re curious about who’s behind these words, feel free to check out my About page! But right now, let me dive into why I finally decided to add my voice to the already noisy internet.

Why This Blog Exists (Despite My Best Efforts to Talk Myself Out of It)

The truth is, I never thought I’d be the “blogging type.” The idea of putting my thoughts out there for strangers to read felt somewhere between unnecessary and terrifying. Who am I to think my coding journey is worth documenting? What could I possibly add to the ocean of tech content already flooding the internet?

But here’s the thing – I’ve learned more from reading other developers’ messy, honest stories than from any polished tutorial. Those raw accounts of someone staying up until 3 AM debugging an issue that turned out to be a missing semicolon? That’s the content that made me feel less alone in this journey.

So consider this my contribution to that tradition. No filters, no pretending I have it all figured out – just real experiences from someone figuring it out as they go.

The Initial Hesitation

There’s this weird imposter syndrome that kicks in when you consider writing about tech. The internet is already packed with tutorials from people way more qualified than me. Stack Overflow exists. Documentation exists. Why add more noise?

And let’s be honest, there’s that fear lurking in the back of your mind — what if I say something stupid and the entire internet comes for me? (Dramatic, I know, but these are the things that keep me up at night.)

What Changed My Mind

What really shifted my perspective was realizing that the content I personally valued most came from people sharing their unfiltered experiences.

I found myself searching for “how I learned [insert tech]” stories more often than “best way to learn [insert tech]” tutorials. The difference might seem subtle, but it’s huge.

The tutorials tell you what to do. The stories show you what it’s actually like. And that second part? That’s what most of us are really looking for.

The Real Journey, Not the Highlight Reel

This blog isn’t going to be one of those “How I Became a Tech God in 30 Days” stories. Those make me roll my eyes so hard I can see my own brain.

Instead, I want to share the real stuff:

• The times I spent hours debugging only to find I’d misspelled a variable
• The projects I abandoned because I bit off more than I could chew
• The moments when something finally clicked after weeks of confusion

Because that’s what learning actually looks like. It’s messy. It’s frustrating. It’s full of detours and dead ends. And sometimes, it’s incredibly rewarding.

Learning in Public (Scary, but Worth It)

There’s this concept called “learning in public” that changed how I think about this whole blog thing. The idea is simple: document what you learn as you learn it, not after you’ve mastered it.

That’s scary because it means showing your work before it’s perfect. But here’s the thing — it’s also incredibly valuable:

1. It forces you to understand things well enough to explain them
2. It creates a record of your growth that you can look back on
3. It might help someone who’s one step behind you on the same path

I’m not waiting until I’m an expert to start sharing. I’m sharing because I’m not an expert. And that’s okay.

Who This Blog is For

If you’re a CS student wondering if you’re the only one struggling with that algorithm class — this is for you.

If you’re a career changer trying to break into tech without a traditional background — this is for you.

If you’re building something and hitting walls every other day — this is for you.

And honestly? This is also for me. Future me, who will hopefully look back at these posts and think, “Wow, I’ve come a long way.”

What You Can Expect

I’ll be writing about:

• My experiences as a CS student at Cornell (the all-nighters included)
• Projects I’m working on (the good, the bad, and the “why is this still broken?!”)
• Tools and technologies I’m learning (and occasionally fighting with)
• Opportunities and connections that pop up in unexpected places
• Mistakes I make and what I learn from them (spoiler: there will be many)

No sugar-coating, no glossing over the hard parts. Just honest takes on what it’s like to learn and build in this field.

A Final Thought

Starting this blog feels a bit like writing my first “Hello, World!” program. There’s that same mix of excitement and uncertainty. Will it work? Will anyone care? Does this semicolon go here or there?

But that’s the beauty of both coding and writing – you just have to start somewhere. So consider this my digital “Hello, World!” – the first step in what I hope will be a long journey of sharing and learning.

And if no one reads it? That’s fine too. At the very least, I’ll have created a time capsule of my journey. And at best, maybe something I write will help someone else feel a little less lost on their own path.

So here goes nothing. This is me, learning in public. Feel free to follow along – it’s bound to be an interesting ride.

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P.S. A Test for True Engineers

Did you notice the missing semicolons in my Java code?

If you did and it bothered you to your core, congratulations! You’re officially a real programmer. Welcome to the special club of people whose brains can’t unsee syntax errors. We meet on Tuesdays to debate tabs versus spaces and silently judge each other’s bracket styles.

If you didn’t notice it, don’t worry — you’re probably living a happier, more peaceful life than the rest of us. Cherish that innocence.