Welcome to my 'now' page! :) This update is from 23 June, 2024.
Hi, it's past time for another update. To describe everything in one sentence: I'm now in the USA where I've been doing an IT/cyber internship at Nippon Life Benefits, trying to stay active in programming/IT career/art/Cantonese/gym/family stuff before I move to Hong Kong in August and begin my master's programme (and reunite with my girlfriend!).
It has been six weeks since I started my internship, and things are going well. My manager gives me a wide variety of tasks and I get to interact with other people in IT. I admire them a lot and get a lot of motivation from the idea of reaching their level of knowledge and skills. Everyone in IT has also been really friendly, which I appreciate. When there's nothing for me to do (which is very rare), I work on my programming projects and brainstorm article ideas. I am also working on a few high-level AI tasks for the underwriting and IT departments. I like working in New York, I like being 50/50 in-person/remote, I like my company, and I like being involved in IT things all the time.
This summer, I have a list of twelve-ish goals I'd like to achieve and six main areas/fields that I want to work on. Those six areas are: server-side programming, IT career stuff, Cantonese, creative expression, physical/mental wellbeing, and cultivating my relationships with friends and family. I try to spend time on at least three areas every day. To call back to my article about goal-setting and Atomic Habits by James Clear, it's like addressing these areas is a way of working on my systems, and my goals are benchmarks to see how effective/sufficient my systems are. Here's a visual of my track record for each area:
You can tell that I'm doing alright, but need to step it up with programming and Cantonese -- oops. I think I should start to aim for four areas a day since it feels like I could do more. I'm glad to be prioritising family time, though, especially with the upcoming move.
I'm currently working on a couple things. The mini project is that I am connecting this site to a database filled with my own restaurant rankings so visitors can see my top restaurant recommendations. It's like the app Beli, except that I'm the only one who updates the database. I have other programming projects in the works but won't share them for now. Outside of work hours, I self-teach about protocols/policies/etc that are useful for my job and potential career in security. I am thinking of doing a 'ten days of Portswigger' series on here where I solve different Web Academy labs. I also keep a brag sheet with the things I've done at my job so I can make sure that I am progressing and helping my company concretely (and so I can put my accomplishments on my CV later).
Right now, I am unsure where my career will go. I have been planning to go into computer networking / network security for the past two years, but now I wonder if I would prefer going into backend development. Since I was sixteen, which is when I took my first programming class, I have felt anxious about 'not being a real programmer'. It's a frustrating and irrational block. Other IT/security skills come a lot easier to me, and I enjoy security so much -- but since I took that first class, programming has been my holy grail. I want to improve, but I will continue to stagnate until I stop worrying about being stupid. This makes it difficult for me to evaluate which area I actually prefer. It's not too stressful -- I'm trying hard to figure things out and gain more clarity.
In other news, I recently started Cantonese lessons, which will run until the beginning of August. I haven't tried to learn a new language since I started learning German in eighth grade (eight years ago!) so this really takes me back. There's something so fun and also funny about taking a language class for beginners because we're all struggling together. I probably sound hilarious when I try to speak, but it doesn't bother me. I take group lessons on Zoom from Hills Learning in NYC, and can definitely recommend them.
My current painting project is a rose bouquet still life for my girlfriend (belated Valentine's Day gift), and I am writing poetry when I can. I might put some more poetry and art on a dedicated page here, if I decide it's good enough. I have been reading a lot of books and crossing movies off of my to-watch list. I intend to start writing book and film reviews for this site once I've gotten more consistent with my posting.
Finally, for mental/physical wellbeing, I'm still going to the gym and I try to walk/hike a lot. I have quantitative bench/curl/leg press goals that I would like to reach by the end of the summer, but because it's so hectic with visits, travel, work, graduation, and my move to HK, I will be happy as long as I noticeably progress and maintain some gym consistency.
When I'm not working on my silly amount of goals, I am hanging out. Now that the stress of university is briefly over, I am reading, watching movies and the WNBA, and exploring NYC. I feel very different from how I was during my last update -- I have a lot more energy and time for hobbies. I hope that I can maintain most of these healthier habits when I start my master's. Still no word from HKU on if I've gotten into their programme, but it is what it is and HKUST is a great school. It's so insane that I'm going to Hong Kong at all!
Thanks as always to those who read, and even more to those who reach out! My inbox is always open at ccarrieasmith [at] gmail [dot] com.