Possibilities in the land of 1s and 0s

Feb 2018

12 Mon

13 Tue

14 Wed

15 Thu

16 Fri 09:00 AM – 09:25 AM IST

17 Sat 09:00 AM – 09:25 AM IST

18 Sun 09:00 AM – 09:25 AM IST

NIT Calicut

Possibilities in the land of 1s and 0s

Submitted Dec 3, 2017

Technical level: Beginner

The field of Computer Science is challenging and vast. It is easy to get caught up in thinking if we took the right decision and if CS is a good place to be. As I was graduating, I found myself asking many questions about the career path I’d be able to take and the problems that I’d be working on through this path.

This talk aims to open graduates up to the possibilities that lie ahead as they venture out and start their careers in the world of Computer Science. We will start from the basics, trying to crack the real meaning behind what we try do in Computer Science. Building on these basics, we’ll understand why and what about the CS field opens up so many opportunities across domains. From there, we’ll move on to ways to learn CS better - including tips from mentors that I’ve had across the years, some of my own learning and general ideas to help set a sense of direction for oneself. In the same section, we’ll briefly touch on the world of open source and how indulging in it can help us grow better.

This talk will have no programming jargon or make any assumptions about the listener’s skill levels. It is a mere brain dump of thoughts and experiences.

Outline

Introduction
- Agenda
- What is Computer Science?
- Why Computer Science?
  - Understand domains in which CS has a hold
  - Understand applications of CS in domains
  - Power of CS in today’s tech savy world
- How (to learn) Computer Science?
  - Understanding and getting involved with Open Source
  - About 10 tips on how to go about learning CS better and being a better
    team player
- Conclusion

Speaker bio

Shrayas Rajagopal is a Software Engineer with a passion for learning the internals of how things work. It is this passion that makes him jump in joy when he learns the wonders of programming languages. (psst: static typing for the win!)

At Logic Soft, he heads a small engineering team building the core framework and practices which will set the ground for the release of the company’s next set of products.

Previously at SAP Labs, he was instrumental in orchestrating and maintaining all parts of the team’s infrastructure while also building out the entire middleware into a clean, usable and pragmatic RESTful API.

He’s also the co-coordinator of Chennaipy - Chennai’s Python user group where he’s presented a number of talks and workshops.

If you can’t find him in front of a computer, chances are that he’ll either be trekking the mountains or running a trail.

FOSSMeet 2018