Experiences

Kennedy Space Center (NASA) visit:-

In 2019 I had the opportunity to visit the Kennedy Space Center in Orlando, USA as a part of our educational school trip to NASA. We had a lot of different kind of experiences on that trip. We had the golden opportunity to have lunch with Astronaut Jerry Ross where he shared his experiences of his adventures through space. On that same trip we visited a robotics workshop at Synapse, Orlando. Over there we had to build and program robots in which our team were the fastest builder and fastest programmers and placed over second. This experience further enhanced my interest in the field of computer science and AI. 

Camp K12 Course:-

Since a younger age I was quite interested in computer science. During the Covid-19 lockdown we had lesser schoolwork to do so I decided to utilize that time and learn something that interested me. I took a 3 month course by Camp K12 about javascript. This course taught me how to build logic for my codes and how to convert those logics into an algorithm and then finally convert it into a piece of code. It also gave me an overview of AI and machine learning which is one one of the subfields of computer science which interests me the most. Over the period of 3 months I made multiple small projects and 3 major projects like the snake game and the chrome dinosaur game. Taking this course was my first ever real life experience at coding because due to lockdown we had not learnt coding in school.  

Univariety internship:

In the beginning of class 11 I was still a little unsure about which field I want to pursue so I was recommended to go try the internships offered by Univariety on the fields I wanted to try. These internships weren’t by real companies, rather they were made by Univariety themselves and were meant to just give me an idea of what the work in each of the fields is like. Even though I was interested in pursuing computer science from a younger age, I still tried out 3 fields just to be sure. I tried out marketing, psychology and computer science because these were the fields which matched my interests and skill set the most. After doing this I decided to continue forward with computer science as my field as that was the one that excited me the most and I had performed the best in this internship out of the 3 that I tried. Marketing was also interesting but I realized that it was a bit difficult for me. The psychology one was not something I really enjoyed. So I became sure about pursuing computer science as my field of study. 

UI/UX Design Course:-

After deciding upon computer science as my field, more options within the field revealed themselves. Most of them were options that I had heard of before and had an idea of what they included. There was one field that I was completely unfamiliar with which was the branch called UI/UX design. To explore this field further I tried out this course on Coursera which was made by Google. It was a very good decision to take this course because it cleared so much about this field. I learnt the steps of development of any project in the computer science world. I learnt how to identify and build a good UI. I learnt how to analyze what the customer wants and how we as the developer can give it to them. However, I still preferred being at the more technical side of things. I ended up deciding that I don’t want to pursue UI/UX designing as my main field but it was something that I definitely wanted to continue to learn. 

C/C++ Course:-

Once I had decided to continue with the technical side of software development I decided to start with the basics which I was told was the C and C++ language so I started a course on Udemy about it. This course was my first ever deep dive into the world of coding. It taught me the basics and some higher level stuff about C and C++ language. Since it was the first time I was doing proper coding, I found it difficult at first but since the instructor of the course was good and fun, I slowly got the hang of it and was able to make different types of projects. 

AP Exams:-

I wanted to challenge myself and learn new things in addition to my school curriculum. One great way to do so, I was told, was to take the AP examinations. I went through all the different subjects that Collegeboard offered for AP exams. I decided to take 4 of the exams. I took calculus AB since I was pretty confident with the calculus that I was learning in school and wanted to increase the level of my knowledge about the subject (which has been quite helpful to me in 12th standard). I even took 2 computer science examinations: CS principles and CS A. One of them was about the computer science field in general and the other one was about Java in specific. I had not learnt java before so it was a new experience for me. Lastly, I took Physics C: Mechanics because it was my favorite subject in school. I received a certificate of merit for these examinations and was certified as an AP scholar by Collegeboard. 

Java projects:-

After having learnt Java in my AP curriculum I wanted to see how well I could apply my knowledge in practical cases. I found a group of 3 guided java projects which looked quite interesting so I enrolled in it. In this they would give me the task and then I had to create an algorithm for the task. Then they would reveal the best algorithm for the project so that I could see what I could have done to make my algorithm even better. I would then write a code for it on my own then they would go step by step on creating the code themselves so that I could compare and improve upon the code that I had built. These projects showed me how well I could apply what I had learnt. 

The projects that I built were:-

• I had to provide the user with an email id name based on their name, designation and the company that they worked at. I also had to provide them with a randomized password which they could change. 

• I had to build a student registration form for schools and universities. It would ask for their name, what year they are enrolling in and what courses they are taking. It would then tell the student how much they have to pay for the courses that they have opted for. Lastly it asked the student how much they had already paid and gave back the remaining amount.

• Lastly I made a project which when fed with the data of the people connected with one bank would segregate them into whether the data given is of a checking account or a savings account. It had other features too like showing the customers’ account number or SSN number. This project also helped me to learn inheritance in Java which was a topic I had a little difficulty with while preparing for the AP exams. 

MBTI project:-

I wanted to do more Java projects because I enjoyed the first 3 so much. I went to my career counselor for ideas. He then gave me the idea of building a digital version of the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test because it would help him a lot when testing new students. This was by far the most challenging project that I had done. The backend of the project went through multiple changes and improvements based on the feedback given by my computer teacher. When the time came to build the frontend interface, I had never done that so I first had to learn how to do that and then I could finally finish the project. 

Java Swing course:-

As I mentioned before, while building the MBTI project I didn’t know how to build interfaces so my computer teacher told me to learn Java Swing. I went online and found this course on Udemy which taught java swing. This course helped me learn something that I had never learnt before and it helped me to forward with my MBTI project. 

Cognizant Internship:-

Now that I had already gained some basic knowledge about computer science, I wanted to see how it was like to actually work in the field of computer science. For that I enrolled in an Internship on Forage in partnership with Cognizant which is one of the biggest data analytics company. This internship taught me how to effectively analyze data. Along with that it even taught me how to work on the collaboration platform, Google Colab. 

Black Bird Australia Internship:-

After completing the Cognizant internship I started another one immediately. This time I chose an internship partenered with Black Bird Australia. This internship was a bit difficult for me but after completing this, Forage classified me in the top 2% of their students.

OMUN:-

I attended the online MUN on ‘Human Trafficking and Forced Labor’ and represented the country of Maldives. I had to research for a week and read about the laws against human trafficking and forced labor in Maldives. There were students from across the globe participating in this debate. The resolution for the debate was given to us a day before the actual debate and we had to think of amendments to be made to it. It was a 2 hour long debate where everyone presented their assigned country’s opinion or solutions on the issue. I got to interact with students from across the world and got an insight of their opinions regarding the global issues. This taught me how to research well on a topic. It even taught me how to effectively speak publicly and taught me how to present my opinions in a systematic manner.

FSMUN 8.0:-

We as the youth are the next generation of this world and therefore we should stay updated with any and all the world or national issues. MUNs provide a platform for discussion and debate on such issues. I was part of the Lok Sabha committee playing the role of the Prime Minister of India, Mr. Narendra Modi, discussing the privatization of public assets by the government. This helped me expand my knowledge and taught me about one of the decisions the Indian government is taking. This helped me build a well researched opinion on this matter. It also improved my public speaking skills and debating skills.

Trinity exam:-

To further improve my communication skills I decided to give the Communication Skills examination offered by Trinity College London. I gave the grade 8 examination which is the highest grade in Trinity examinations. With a preparation of just 3 months I managed to get a Distinction with 89% in this examination. During the preparation of this examination the feedback in each class by my teacher helped me to improve my public speaking skills drastically. 

Volunteer work:-

I have always liked helping other people and to be able to make a difference towards the less fortunate is something that means a lot to me. Here are the events/organizations that I have been a part of so far:-

• Kavina Foundation 15th August 2021 Food Drive: On India's 74th Independence day I volunteered at the food drive organized by Kavina foundation. We went around town giving food to all the homeless and needy people that we could find. 

• Volunteer at City Family Court: Being brought up in happy and well to do families I didn’t have an idea of the magnitude of the problems that people were facing on a daily basis. Volunteering at the counseling room of the City Family Court made me realize what kind of problems people have to face everyday. My job there was mainly to fill out the form of the person that came to visit and to write their name in the register. After doing that I would listen to the person’s problems and watch the counselor offer ways to solve the problem without taking the matter to court. 

• Waste2Wealth: I have been associated with this organization since June 2022. Every weekend they have events in different societies across the city urging them to separate their waste into wet and dry. We are working along with the Municipal Corporation in order to make our city waste efficient. They are a junior organization of Innovate4India who are putting in a lot of efforts to make India a better place for everyone to live in.