In our minds at the time, the school projects that kept pilling up were more than enough to keep us occupied. As we continued down the line of companies there, it was clear that the recruiters were expecting more from us.


One thing we can both confirm is that by the end of the projects we've completed for our courses, we've grown as programmers. The reason we say the moment we declared our major as Computer Science, is because it would have been great practice for us to continue to grow as developers.


Although those side projects we would have made probably wouldn't go anywhere near our current portfolio, it would have helped us grow as programmers. Side projects don't have to be the most complex project you've ever created, but the mere point of it is to better enhance your skills, and continue learning new things from the mistakes you'll make during and after each project (and trust us, there will be plenty - but that's good!! You need to make mistakes to learn. The process of most of your projects won't be as smooth as butter, but that only means you've gained far more knowledge and experience from the mistakes you've made!).

From our experience, we found ourselves learning at a better pace as well as enjoying the projects we were doing far more, simply because they were projects we came up with. And doing side projects doesn't mean they have to be done solo all the time! They can be, depending on your preference, but doing it with a friend or a fellow classmate even, makes it all the more fun. You get to hold each other accountable, more than you would when you do these side projects solo - and it's a great excuse to hang at a cafe to get the project done.

Now, don't get us wrong, we did enjoy our school projects and learned a lot from them, but the difference with side projects is that it's your own - hence you have more flexibility with it, you have more fun with it, and you probably take a little more pride in it too (but don't get too prideful, always stay humble, folks!). Also, there isn't a grade that gets stamped on it at the end!

Computer Science - I knew absolutely nothing about the field, yet I somehow ended stumbling upon it and felt it was so intriguing enough for me to change my major - how?  Let us start from the beginning, shall we? (P.S. - This is Sarah here, the other half of CodingSisters! Last week was Sahara's post (I know, the names can get very confusing but I promise you'll get the hang of it) on her journey to computer science so if you haven't yet, feel free to check it out!)

I was a Junior in University pursuing a degree in Math with a concentration in education, but let's backtrack a few months here (as those months played a bit of a crucial role throughout my journey to Computer Science).  In the summer of 2015, before I started my fall semester as as Junior, I interned abroad for a teach and travel program to Turkey where we would spend 4 of those 6 weeks teaching the English language to Middle School students who had only known the very basics of the English language.  It was one of my best experiences to date as an intern, and before embarking on my trip I had my mind set on wanting to become a Math teacher.

The first three weeks of teaching went by, and to my surprise I found that I was not enjoying teaching as much as I had anticipated.  The first two weeks or so were great, however the weeks proceeding that was when I started to feel every minute pass, and that didn't sit well with me if this was something I wanted to pursue in the near future.  When I came back home to America from my internship, I felt that I was left with a decision to make. I had quite possibly the best hands on experience with teaching, yet something was telling me that this didn't seem like the fit I was hoping for. I was then left with an even bigger question I kept asking myself, which was "are you sure teaching is still the field you want to continue with?".  Still, I continued my fall semester as a Math major but this time I felt more uneasy about keeping my concentration in education but stuck to it anyway considering how far along I've come.

I continued with my math courses and completed all of my education courses to start applying to the education Program at my University.  Two of those courses happened to be computer science courses - Intro to Java 1 and Computational Concepts (Math majors are required to take these two computer science courses). These two classes were my very first introductions to computer science, and soon enough I found myself more excited to go to these computer science classes than my Math courses (I still enjoy math so don't fret!).


I decided to look further into what computer science was all about, and what programming was.  I would spend my free time searching everything I could learn about the field, some of its history, its real world applications, and was intrigued by most of what I was coming across.

Now, I found myself having an even more difficult decision to make - do I switch my major entirely and start all over with Computer Science? Or do I continue with Math? But, what about the education program? What jobs are available to computer science majors? Will I like them? Will I be good at it? All of the questions one could think of, were happening simultaneously in my head day in and day out.

By now I decided to no longer pursue teaching, but I was still left with a decision that I knew had to be made as soon as possible, because quite frankly I felt I had no more time to lose. I decided to try out Computer Science and take two more courses in the field, while continuing with a few more math courses on the side.  I did not want to solely base my decision on two courses I took in Computer Science and some research I did, hence the reason I continued with math while taking two more computer science courses to serve as more clarity for myself to see if this switch was the best fit for me.  After having taken four courses in computer science, looking at what courses I would need to take, and doing my homework about the field and what I could picture myself doing in this field - after giving this decision much thought and with the support of my parents, I made my final decision during my last semester of my Junior year (scary, I know) to switch to Computer Science. 



Everything about this field was intriguing to me - I loved this idea of what programming could do, and loved learning that this was how my very phone worked, the apps that I use on a daily, my laptop, or even a simple calculator (a project we had to program for my Intro to Java 1 course).  I loved that I could use my knowledge gained in technology to create things that in turn helps others, whether that was through the use of a simple calculator (to help during those dire times in Calculus), or an app like mWater that maps clean water points, health clinics, etc., solely to help people around the world gain access to these places they otherwise may not have access to or known of, in order to improve their lives on a daily basis. I loved that there were almost no limits when it came to what could be created as a result of how far technology has come, and that improving people's lives through the use of technology is possible on multiple scales. I wanted to learn more about these revolutionary ideas and products to better understand what it is that we can do to bring that ease to people's lives, on a day-to-day basis - whether that be on a national or global scale.

Funny enough, my sister and I joined the Computer Science bandwagon at the same time. While she had just chosen her first major, I had just switched to my second. But our journey together through this major shall be left for another post, or a video perhaps!

So, that is my very long story of how I ended up where I am today - it was a path that challenged me in many ways I never thought could, into becoming the individual I am today.

Thank you for reading if you have made it this far! Now, I'd like to hear from you! What made you choose your field of study or work that you do today? What is it that you're pursuing, and if you've ever felt stuck or still feel stuck on how to decide on a path to choose, how did you deal with that?

Until the next one,
Sarah Fathelbab

The funny thing about me is that I didn't instantly know the second I saw coding that I wanted to major in Computer Science. I programmed a robot on my robotics team in High School, thought it was pretty awesome that the robot would move in whatever direction I coded it to move, and then found myself stumbling into University undeclared.

Being undeclared in University, to me, meant that I didn't have an end goal yet and I had to find one before I became a fossil at University. Since I was undeclared, I was advised to take my General Requirement classes (classes that all University students must take regardless of major). I was just coasting along taking my Trojan War and Roman Civilization classes (I can confirm I probably know more about European History - which might I add is actual quality tea I'm happy to read more about - than American History) getting solid A's and about 6 hours of sleep a night; it was great.

Fast forward to my Sophomore year, a general requirement class I signed myself up for was an introduction to coding class. With a new environment and new programming language to learn, I found myself enjoying the challenge of getting my code to work. Now, coding was majorly a challenge for that class because, the professor assumed you knew everything about programming and it was more or less here's a homework assignment it's due at 11:59PM, go learn the material by yourself.

And that's how I found myself getting solid B's and C's coupled with about 3 hours of sleep a night; it's not great but I'm doing okay.



As I'm in my last semester now, this major has had more downs than ups. The head of the Computer Science Department knows me, my sister and a friend by name because of how often we've visited his office to bring concerns up on how a course was going. We've also had to fight for Academic Freedom Rights in the classroom and soldier on the honest exam taking way while some students around us clicked their phones on and googled the answers to exam questions.

Oh. Also, it was always me and my sister - with maybe one or two others- as the only girls in class - there aren't many girls in this field and if anything that encouraged me to keep going.

In the beginning, programming was a pile of stress I didn't want to deal with but now, I enjoy coding and actually code some side projects for fun. How did I make the leap from dreading coding to loving coding? Well, I guess you'll have to stay tuned to the roller coaster of a major this has been.

The first episode of a Coding Walkthrough series I'm working on will be up on our channel on Friday - if you're not subscribed already, head over and subscribe HERE!

What happens when you have two sisters who major in computer science together? A lot of chatting back and forth on coding errors, attempting to understand concepts and theories together, and now a blog to add to that list.

How did we get to this point in time where we both decided to create a blog together? Well, we realized that we learned a lot in our computer science classes and for the most part learning was done outside of the classroom.  Our classes consists of professors lecturing - well more like reading off of powerpoint slides (although we're pretty sure we're literate at this point since y'know, we're in university and made it through K-12??).

Most of what professors were lecturing did not really stick to our brain since most of what we do in this major is applied, and lectures were hardly ever about the applied part.

We came to find that we learn and grasp topics that our professors - for the most part - may not have taught in the best way by other resources.  This had us thinking: Well we have some sort of rhythm to figure out how to understand programming concepts (special thanks to Google, YouTube for teaching us through our degree), but does everyone else?

We know of a lot of students who actually end up dropping Computer Science as their major, or contemplate doing so, specifically because of the approach being used to teach it.  The teaching style usually leaves most students with two options - either stick to this major with these not-so-great learning approaches and figure things out for yourself (i.e. - teach yourself just about everything). Or, save your time and energy now and go into *code red mode - abort mission* and abandon the ship that is Computer Science before you even left the dock.

So, why didn't we abandon ship? Well, that's where this blog comes in.



Since we have had this realization that many students like ourselves at the time struggled through this major and struggled to properly learn it, we wanted to put our focus on what we have learnt and gained from our personal experiences.

We'll be touching on why we didn't abandon ship (and maybe why you shouldn't either, if this is something you are currently studying or interested in) when the majority of the professors we had did have us contemplating doing so, and some tips we have picked up along the way.

We will both be having our own upload weeks - Sahara will upload one week, Sarah the next, etc., and once a month we will have a post we will be doing together!

Also, if you're more of a visual person, no worries! We've got your backs, we are also starting a Youtube Channel: Coding Sisters.


SEE YA IN THE NEXT ONE