What did you do this past week?
For this class, I started work on the Netflix project. I’m making an effort not to be overconfident when working on projects which I’ve completed for other classes. The RMSE formula ought to be about the same, it’s just a matter of using correct data structures and caching now. I also had some friends come and visit me on Saturday. We went to a show that one of our friends was holding, so that was pretty fun. I also spent quite a bit of time preparing for the upcoming career fair! Getting my resume ready and researching companies in which I’m interested, etc. I’ve never been to one in all my years in CS due to a particularly severe case of impostor syndrome. In fact, the effect is still ever-present, and I still don’t believe I have any business attending, but given that I’m graduating soon, I feel obligated enough to go anyway. At least it might be fun!

What’s in your way?
Balancing schoolwork with the career fair preparations has been challenging. Thankfully I’m far enough ahead of my other classes that I can simply focus on this Netflix project. I’d like to start working with other people on these things, but I need to think of a way to actually find partners. This was certainly a lot easier last semester.

What will you do next week?
Finish up Netflix, attend the career fair, do more homework. I’d like to do something non-academic too, so I’ll probably be visiting my friends and family in San Antonio towards the end of next week if I’m not too busy.

What’s my experience of the class? I’m feeling much better about speaking up in class. The time that I missed was a bit of the old anxiety coming back at me, but I’ve gotten back into a nice spot in class, and feel fairly confident that I’ll be present and active for the rest of the semester.

tip-of-the-week?
Oh man, I recently had a gyro for the first time and it’s absolutely my favorite food at the moment. In fact, I’m going to go get one after writing this post. If you’ve never tried it, check out Verts, a mediterranean grill around Austin (most notably; on the drag and on Riverside.) That’s my tip. Take a break from the project and go have a gyro! Until next time, dear reader.