The applications in the picture above were the tools IT used to slaughter me. It wasn't easy, but I made it. And in this post, I'll be sharing my thoughts on my poly experience so far. I realised there aren't many polytechnic students who talk or blog about being in IT so I thought it'd be cool to do it.

My dream would be to inspire more girls to pursue technology💕
Enough blabbering, here's the tea.
So much has happened since I last blogged. Let me address the biggest update first which is how did my first semester go?

It wasn't easy. I knew I'd be in a very male-dominated environment but I wasn't expecting it to affect me as much as it did. Let me talk a little bit about my background.
I studied in an all girls' school from primary school till secondary school. The only time I got to study with the male species after that was in my first year in JC (thank goodness for that or it'd take me so much longer to adapt to studying among so many guys in poly).

Let's talk about the gender ratio in my class. There are 4 girls out of the 26 people in class. I'm very thankful for the girls though, they make going to school fun. I'd group with the girls for almost every group project. Some guys are very friendly and helpful too which is great but some guys got us girls triggered nearly everyday. But I suppose you can find all sorts of people anywhere.

The first semester started off well. I felt like I had a good start and was on the right track.

I came into poly with big dreams but having experienced the first term, I'd be delighted to come out of poly with a 3.65 GPA, anything more would be a bonus. 

I have friends in business who are in their second year with a 3.95 GPA and I respect them so so much. Maybe IT is a very different ball game but wow. What a dream it'd be to have a GPA of 3.9+. Then again, business seems very content heavy and I can imagine the things they'd test - especially if economics is involved (*flashbacks to JC econs*).
Every course has its own struggles.

Anyway, IT is not easy because there is a lot to juggle during a short amount of time. I managed to do alright for the first term but when major submissions came around in term 2, there could be 3 submissions due on one day and 4 presentations in one week. On top of that, you have to make sure you're doing the weekly online quizzes for most subjects.

Some teachers also weren't very helpful, in my opinion. It's sad because if each student had gotten more individual attention and fostered a stronger student-teacher bond with the lecturers, the whole learning process would've been so much more enriching. But the teachers always seem to be so busy. The only means of communication with the teacher would be email (excluding calling their school phone number). Some teachers tend to reply late too which can be frustrating especially if you have a submission due around the corner.

On the other hand, there are some kind and patient teachers as well. If you kindly email a teacher for a consultation, more often than not they will meet up with you. You can request for a one-to-one consultation and really make sure you are getting the help you need in your assignment.

Also, be ready to spend a lot of time with your computer. If you are planning to do IT, make sure you have a good laptop because so much work will be done online.
Some subjects are e-learning subjects so there are no face-to-face lessons for them at all (a lot of students were frustrated that they basically paid the polytechnic to learn online instead of from teachers but that's the way it is I guess).
Many subjects also provide a lot of e-resources and when you do go for the face-to-face lesson, you feel like you've already learnt everything online and the teachers are just reading off the slides or repeating what you already know thanks to the e-learning. So no matter what, students are always going to complain. #guilty

I'll probably make a video or blog post about some tips when starting out poly, we'll see how it goes. I'll take a look at my GPA for this semester and see if I'm worthy to give advice, HAHA.

I'm currently waiting to get my results for the semester, I'm not sure when it'll come out but I'm so nervous. I doubt I did as well as I hoped, but there's nothing I can do to change my results now. I just have to do better from now on. 

So what kind of assignments/projects did we have to do?

I'm studying Information Technology in Temasek Polytechnic. During the first semester, we had these diploma modules:

• Logic and Mathematics (LOMA)
• Statistics and Analytics (SANA)
• Computational Thinking (COMT)
• User Experience and Interface Design (UXID) 
• Network Technology (NETY)
• Business Information Systems (BUIS)
• IT Law and Ethics (ITLE)

ITLE was 100% e-learning.

UXID was fun because it had some design elements involved which I enjoyed.

The subjects which I really struggled in were COMT and NETY.
COMT is basically the subject where the bulk of our coding was done. We were tasked to create a music player app and it was honestly quite difficult.
It's so important to not get influenced by other people in class because some have coding experience- good for them, they put in the time and effort to learn - they better be better than you (for now at least).
Students who went to ITE have a huge advantage when it comes to NETY because that's what they did most of in ITE, so don't be intimidated when they are good at it, again, - they better be.
Just keep up with the school work and you should be fine. Classmates are also usually very helpful so don't be afraid to ask for help - this is so important.

As I mentioned previously, I had to make a music player application for COMT. My music player application turned out fine, I suppose. I had the main basic features like a signup page, login page, music player page with several buttons like play, pause, next, previous, shuffle etc. but I couldn't manage to get a lot of my more advanced functions to work which really stressed me out. I kept comparing my application to others which were so much more aesthetically pleasing and advanced but in the end, I decided to just work with what I have and do what I can. I'm hoping for a B at least (please).

Whenever the emulator/app crashes, I felt my heart sink and shrivel in my chest. I felt so immobilized whenever something went wrong. 

Very often you don't know what's wrong and that makes it so much scarier. That's IT for you and I quote my teacher, "It's only the beginning." 

I told myself that I'm going to work on my coding during the holidays and that's what I've been doing since the holidays started :)

I have stayed up quite a few nights on the brink of panicking when my app doesn't work. I have broken down a couple of times and one of those times was in school. I've never felt this worried about my work before, not even in JC. I've come to realize that the more you care, the more stress you get. It's not about which post-secondary path is more difficult or stressful, because there will be stress wherever you go as long as you care about what you do.

Does being a girl in IT have any benefits?
Some teachers have the tendency to be a little less comfortable with girls, simply because they're not used to teaching girls too so they'd be more careful with their words and gentler in how they explain things. But that's a small percentage of teachers and it's not all the time.

Most of the time, if not all, how a teacher views you is not so much dependent on your gender but how you behave. A lot can be said about your character from the tiniest mannerisms and habits so I'd say to be mindful of how you behave around teachers, especially in the first term so that you're able to make a good first impression- the perception your teacher has of you tends to stay for quite a while.

But think about it, how cool is it to be a girl in such a male-dominated industry? Girls in technology are such a rare commodity and you'll definitely stand out amongst the many other male applicants during a scholarship or university interview.

It's a benefit because, at the moment, it's uncommon.
But it's funny how an advantage can also be a disadvantage - the lack of females in IT is shunning more females from entering IT which makes it a vicious cycle.
But I guess what I'm trying to say is - be proud and confident in what you do, no matter what you choose to pursue.


How have I improved so far?
I've definitely learnt a lot regarding IT but I've also learnt a lot about myself and improved some personal skills.

1. For one, my typing skills on the computer has improved by leaps and bounds. 
2. I also discovered what study techniques work for me. 
3. I've definitely improved my public speaking skills due to the array of presentations we had to do. 
4. I'm much more comfortable around people because of orientation and having to make new friends.
5. I'm much more comfortable around guys - I remember crying in JC one time because I was so shook by the new species that is boys. But I honestly treat some of the guys in class like gal pals HAHA. Very thankful for some helpful guys in my class though, honestly.
6. I'm better at managing my time and prioritizing.
7. I've found my motivation and that has allowed me to really push myself to do the best I can.

Do I regret dropping out of JC to go poly?
Ultimately, no. But I've been doing more research and recently discovered some amazing YouTubers from UK who are very intelligent and going to top universities like Cambridge, Oxford, Durham, Harvard etc. and I kind of regret not staying in JC to do A-levels.
The A-levels, if done well, can get you to so many good places. With that being said, I felt that I wouldn't be able to perform well for A-levels at that time due to my lack of motivation and purpose which is why I made the decision to go poly.

Now that I'm in poly, studying a field which I have interest in and having a goal in mind (I'll make another blog post about my goal hehe), I feel so motivated to do my best.

Being in poly has its drawbacks when it comes to future prospects but in the long run, if you're able to do well in poly, you're as qualified as any JC student.

In conclusion, this first semester in Information Technology hasn't been easy and I felt like giving up on IT a few times. I questioned myself if this was really what I wanted - so many people have also told me that I don't seem like an IT person. But I pulled through and now that the stress is gone and I've been able to collect my thoughts, I am quite certain that I enjoy what I'm doing.


That's all for this post, bye for now! :)