SWE but Me
01 Sep 2023
Full Stack Development
I used to think full stack development was my interest. Understanding all the tools and frameworks necessary to create an application from beginning to end is such a powerful skill. Frontend allows me to explore my creative side while the backend requires me to think about structure and how everything works behind the scenes. Full stack also seemed like one of the easiest things to get into due to the sheer amount of resources available. However, over time, I’ve learned that there are other specialties within software engineering that I’ve found interest in.
Robotics
I started robotics in elementary school when I participated in First Lego League and VEX. I loved seeing my actual code come to life. I took a break from robotics in middle school and high school but I eventually came back to it in university. I’m currently studying computer engineering so the exposure to both software and hardware has increased my passion even further. Over the last 2 years, I worked on the teleoperation controls and website of a mini-production Mars rover. This experience made me become even more passionate about it. Furthermore, I believe that robotics will continue to play a big role in the future of the world since it allows for automation.
Computer Vision and Machine Learning
Diving deeper into robotics, I want to focus on computer vision and machine learning. In my most recent summer internship, I had the opportunity to work on a project that involved robotic hand-eye calibration. Hand refers to the robotic arm while eye refers to the camera. The project involved using the camera to generate a world reference coordinate frame for the robot, camera, and target object. Working on this project really intrigued me and it’s led me to want to learn more. Going into this school year, I’m going to be working on research that takes in camera input and other sensor information and encodes it together to predict rover state. I really hope to continue on this research and build on my knowledge of computer vision and machine learning.
Looking Ahead
Regardless of my change in interests, the meaning of engineering stays constant for me. I love the process of problem solving and critical thinking. Software engineering provides that outlet to leverage my technical skill set and use it to solve real world problems.