Google Summer of Code: The Beginning

Today I was surprised with the craziest news ever…

• I got into Google Summer of Code! No way!
• I was literally in the middle of a BigN online coding interview, and I think I was bombing hard haha.
• But like all things, I treat it as an opportunity to learn and get better.

What I’m most excited about

• Having recently been laid off from a gig to pay for school and where I live, I’m excited to just focus 100% on learning Haskell and working with Gabe and Chris, my two mentors.
• Having the whole money thing out of the equation is really satisfying. If I could just focus on coding, that would be ideal (and it is now possible!). The stress off my back means I can just focus on coding and taking constructive criticism from my mentors.
• I’m excited about continuing to learn Haskell. I really couldn’t be happier!
• Haskell all the things!
• I’m excited to show the community something I’ve built in Haskell, with supportive mentors. That would be pretty sweet.
• I’m really, really thankful for the opportunity!

I actually

• I have an onsite on Thursday that’s going to be in C++ halfway across the country, so I’m going to study for that right now. I’m going to do that today and tomorrow, be done by Thurs, and get back into Haskell full-time. Yesterday, I had to split my time into Data Structures in C++ and Haskell. I mean, in some ways similar, but C++ is not Haskell :/
• Strangely, Haskell has made my problem-solving skills a lot better. It’s the language I enjoy the most and the one I intend to stick with.
• I can’t believe I ALMOST DIDN’T APPLY. A dear friend of mine, Phil, who works in Haskell, asked me to do so. He said “you should apply, even if you don’t think you’ll get in.” Reluctantly, I did. I didn’t think I had the ability. But I have a real, continued desire to learn Haskell. I also have a real desire to be mentored by my mentors; I think that I can learn a lot from them. That’s actually what I hope to get out of this experience. I had a dream that if I could find a way this summer to learn from these two great mentors, my summer would be amazing!
• Haskell really changed my life for the better; I LOVE the community. My proposal had a bit of that; a bit of everything that I learned and a bit of the community that means so much to me. I’m surprised they liked it!

Oh yeah…

• BayHac is coming up. I’m excited about that, too. Both my mentors will be there. My friends will be there. And there’ll be lots of Haskell, so I have nothing to complain about :D
• Oh, and the FUNNIEST is that I’m wearing my BayHac tshirt today! Good news that is Haskell-related comes to those who wear Haskell tshirts!

And that’s about it!