Finally

Hi everyone! What a time last couple of weeks have been. I could not have asked them to go by any better.

Starting off with DefHacks which turned out to be a great event. It was completely different, being part of the organizing team and being up to the entire duration of the event, not to code but to help the people who code. I got to learn a ton of things from all the different creative minds who attended the event and I, in turn, gave advice to many of them and tried to help them when I was able to. One thing that I did not expect was the mentor turnout. I had expected there to be around 60% attendance among the registered attendees, but I expected all the mentors who signed up, to be present at the event. Contrary to my expectation, their turnout percentage was even less than the attendees’. This is something I would keep in mind while organizing future events. One thing that did please me was getting acknowledged by the mentors that did attend the event about the arrangement and the organization of the entire event.

Moving on, I am excited to share that this summer I will be interning at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society. I never expected it to come true but when I finally did, the happiness I felt was inexplicable. My advice for anyone out there hunting for a job or internship would be to never give up. I know it gets tough and I pretty sure my rejection count for this summer would be near 200 but never let those rejection emails or no-replies bog you down. At every step you don’t fall, you move ahead of the many who do.

A new quarter has kicked off at the UW and all the four classes I am enrolled in are very interesting. I know this will be my most challenging quarter yet, but I look forward to tacking the problems, one at a time. In the process of taking this busy course load, I did have to give up the opportunity to intern at King County’s office, but I did not want to do the internship without being able to devote the time it required. I look forward to learning a lot throughout the quarter and then over the summer. Also, I am excited about going back to India after wrapping all the things up and spending time with my parents.

Here is a link to DefHacks Seattle Album.

A few suggested reads: Motivating financial chart, Lithuanians and Bees, Blind artist's perception of Color, Some thoughts by Nietzsche, and A Story of Stoics.