If You Didn't Study Computer Science, What Would You Become?

This question was asked to me two times since I started my summer internship with Microsoft. Once asked by another intern on my first day, and the other by my mentor during one of our team’s lunches.

The first time I was asked, I couldn’t think properly. But I did answer if I didn’t major in computer science, I’d probably major in English literature instead. I said that I once wanted to be a writer. Fictional writer. Even though the idea seems to be far-fetched now, being asked that question made me realize how once, computer science, coding, and being a software engineer were not all that I could think about.

My earliest memory of writing is when I was in 3rd-grade primary school. I wrote a short story about friendship in our old gigantic PC that ran Windows 98. Our house didn’t have a printer then. When I was finished with the story, I saved it to a floppy disk and asked my mom to print it out in her office. She had her coworker print it out and her coworker added a nice word art of the file name printed as the cover. I named the file “Novelku” (My Novel) back then, I guess I couldn’t really think of the title for my story. So when it was printed, it has a gigantic word art that says “Novelku”.

It was kind of funny, and I was kind of embarrassed by how the cover turned out. I took the printed story to a copy center near my school and had them bound so it looked like a real book. I remember how the lady in the copy center half-laughed when she saw the cover.

I lent “my novel” to one of my classmates back then. She read it and returned to me 3 days after saying that the story was really touching, that she cried reading it. She also said that her family also thought that the story was well written.

It is amazing how I, who is very forgetful and don’t really have any early memory of anything could remember this moment to its little details. I don’t remember the details of the story, of course. The only thing I could remember was that I named one of the characters as Bunga, obviously the most creative name an 8-year-old could come up with. However, I think this is the earliest memory of me doing something I really liked and being very proud of it.

When I was in primary school, I was more or less an academic superstar. I ranked first in class six years straight. Strangely, I don’t really have a clear memory of feeling proud when I achieved that. What I remember the most was the fact that my sister and I would study for the finals one month before the finals. I remember that we didn’t have any game consoles, and when we wanted something, we had to be the first in class to get it. I got my first bicycle because I ranked first in second grade. I got my first non-hand-me-down phone because I ranked first in sixth grade.

Looking back to this memory, I realized how tangible my dream and passion as a child was. If only my parents and teachers had cared for my interests in writing more than my academic achievements, I would probably have been a young writer or some sort then.

When I was in sixth grade, my interest began to shift to graphic design. This was the time when our house finally had a proper computer with a proper internet connection. My dad who realized my interest bought me books about photoshop and hired a graphic design university student from Binus to come to our house and teach me privately. This was when I was still in sixth grade, eleven years old. The guy would come to my house every week for two hours and he would teach me how to replace Mona Lisa’s head in the painting with Luna Maya’s. I bet he never thought he would be teaching a sixth grader how to do exactly that. And this was like 2009.

In junior high, I realized that I was not the most artistic person. And I realize that graphic design was not all about knowing how to use the computer and the tools, you need to have a creative mind and be able to draw to be really good at it. That was the moment I started doing web development and shifted more to the coding side rather than the design. And at this time my dad who saw this also supported this new interest of mine and bought me books and offered me to do coding courses which I refused to do at that time. By this age, I knew exactly what I wanted to do and how to do it. I was 13 years old when I decided that I wanted to major in computer science in university.

But even then and after, I still continued to write. Even though I knew from that time on that I’d never be a writer, because I’d decided to be something else.

I love what I’m doing now. I see myself having a career in software engineering for at least the next 10 years.

But deep down, I also dream to have my name on a cover of a book one day. Maybe once I retire.

I’m writing this because this has been a very good reflection of my life and how things turned out to be how it is now. I encouraged you to ask yourself these questions and reflect on it:

What would you become if you had your parents’ support to do anything you wanted to do? What would you become if you didn’t follow what others want of you? What would you become if you weren’t afraid?

This is a gentle reminder that I think we should support the next generation doing whatever they feel proud to do. Because when we are proud of what we do, we become the best in it.

I create this little space on the internet to write my thoughts and reflections on being a human, a woman, and a software developer. I don't have Instagram/Twitter but I can be found on LinkedIn. Feel free to contact/give feedback/tell me your story through my email: ivanaairenee@gmail.com