My Posts

Assembling the CPU, SSD, RAM and GPU onto the motherboard was relatively simple, the only difficult thing about it was the fear surrounding it since I wouldn't want to damage it. The cooler was a bit tricky to install and connecting the power supply to the MOBO was a headache but I managed to do it. I actually did enjoy the process, it felt almost like connecting LEGO pieces together. Watching my parts come together physically helped me understand how they work together much more clearly than any diagram or tutorial ever did. Just seeing the inside of the system gets rid of a lot of the abstraction in CS, things like how data moves between components, where power goes or how cooling and why airflow matters etc. So after assembling everything, I powered on the PC and got into the BIOS, then from there I installed Windows 11 OS via my USB, and finally installed all my necessary drivers i.e. AMD chipset and MSI MOBO drivers. Building this PC was a valuable experience and I'm glad I built up the courage to do it solo, it turned CS concepts into something that I could see and touch. Plus I've now got a machine that can actually run my work and play.

I applied to every tech spring week I could find, like JP Morgan, Maven Minds, Jane Street etc. I tailored my CV, wrote cover letters and did every psychometric or Leetcode-like tests given to me. But not a single offer came through, the furthest I got was a self-recorded video interview. Overall it was just silence or rejections. But it wasn't a waste, it taught me a few things: Literally everyone is applying, the bar was far higher then I realised, it made me reconsider what makes someone actually competitive. A generic 'passion for tech' would not get me anywhere, I needed something that sticks, maybe a great standout project or relevant work experience, something that makes my differentiates my CV from the thousands of others. So now I'm focused on trying to gain real experience like building projects that could help my profile stand out next time. I didn't get in, but I did get the message, and its either be better, be different or be ignored. But looking back, I don't regret applying, rather it forced me to see where I actually stand such that now I know what to fix.

I have just finished building this portfolio website, a project I started making right about in the middle of my web tech module as part of QMUL. Instead of using Linkedin for updates, I will be posting here from now on. This space feels a lot more personal and honest to me. To keep costs down for now, I decided to store my database that holds my blogs locally on my computer; So I write to the table using SQlite, and then use Jinja2 to write a new blog.html file which overwrites the old one in order to incorporate the new blogs. I'll rent proper storage later once the table grows.