I'm ready to learn

I remember it like it was yesterday - June 6th 2021, the day that for some reason I fell in love with learning. Maybe it was the imposter syndrome talking, telling me that I was the most incompetent student in my artificial intelligence class.

But I remember liking the feeling of getting good at something, discovering that you could do something that you couldn't do before. The first time I remember loving programming was when I pulled out the #1 IDE - notepad - and made my first HTML website.

So the love of learning was always in within me - but I truly unlocked it when I first enrolled the Python Udemy Course by Angela Yu, on July 30th 2021.

And that's where it started. From Udemy to Coursera to Skillshare, to thsi very day I am still learning, hoping to grasp the goals and dreams before me.

Hi. I'm Aadil.

I’m a graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology and am currently attending Willam and Mary. I am interested in coding, music, writing, languages, and other topics as well. Above all, I’m interested in the topic of learning, and how we can learn whatever we want with high quality online education.

My Coding Journey

I originally started coding when I was 12 years old and my parents enrolled me in a coding summer camp. Although I was initially averse to the notion of doing anything productive, I grew excited when I learned I could make my own Pokémon game. And I actually did! Except it had no graphics and was only text based. And there were only two Pokémon you could battle with. But it was my first real project, and it lead my down a path of hopefully lifelong learning.

In the summer before senior year, I suddenly became interested in real development, like web development and machine learning. Although HTML and CSS are pretty easy to get started with, I was still elated to etch my html file in the color of body { aquamarine : blue ;}. Along with the help of platforms like Udemy and Coursera, I leveled up my web development skills. Now I know NodeJS, AJAX, React, Pytorch, MongoDB, and SQL.

My Music Journey

guitar

Music is a big part of my life, as it is for half the world. Although I could jam out to my radio all day, something about making my own music entranced me. I started the guitar at 12 years old along with some of my friends, and the days I spent jamming in the guitar elective at my school gave me some of the best memories of my life.

After many years of practice, I learned that consistency is the best way to improve in anything. Although I’m not yet where I want to be with my guitar playing, I know that over the coming months I can constantly improve.

piano

My second instrument is the piano, and this one I have a shaky past with. Although I started at an early age, I also quit at an early age. I was never serious about practicing since I never really enjoyed playing songs on the piano. Although it sometimes sounded nice, playing felt like a chore since I had no intrinsic motivation.

However, during summer 2020, I randomly found a piano music theory book and decided to read it since I had nothing better to do anyways. That was when I discovered how to make my own music sound good. After reading that book, it sparked a blazing fire within me that wanted to get better at music seriously. After that, I continued with piano and guitar and kept up with them ever since.