CS 373 Spring 2020: Chinmayee Kulkarni

Hi everyone! This is my Week 8 blog post for Software Engineering.

What did you do this past week?

I completed all of the assignments that were due this week, gave a midterm presentation, and sort of got through my midterms.

What’s in your way?

Nothing is physically in the way of my work. Mentally, things are a different story though. A few of my family members & friends have immunodeficiencies that make them very vulnerable to COVID-19. I’m praying that they stay safe even while living in cities with many confirmed cases of the virus. I can’t stop thinking about them.

What will you do next week?

I will be at home. I plan to catch up on readings and get some work done for all of my classes. I am also going to take this time to read a few books that have been recommended to me.

What was your experience of Test #1a?

The material was what I expected. It was what we covered in class. It was just so disheartening to have felt like I prepared well by going over every quiz, lecture, and HackerRank multiple times only to begin the exam with my mind flailing helplessly. Lessons learned though. I will treat the test like an ordinary practice HackerRank and not as a test with points. By slowing down, stepping through my thinking carefully, and dissociating the outcome with the grade, I think I’ll be able to better handle future assessments.

What made you happy this week?

To be honest, this was a bad week, but I’m finally home with my family. That makes me happy.

What’s your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?

I was reading an article titled Mapping the Social Network of Coronavirus. It’s really interesting to see how small interactions between people whether in-person or online and intersections between their lives via other points of contact are being modeled to track the spread of the coronavirus. The paragraph about how this model can help predict the reduction in the number of interactions by closing certain schools is pretty relevant for our situation. I think that having technology is so important and helpful during this time. It is uplifting to know that the work we are learning to do can help so many people during such hard, unprecedented times.

Thanks for reading! I hope you, your family, and your friends stay safe, happy, and healthy.