I code, therefore I cry

It is my greatest failing as a self appointed technology expert - the fact that I choke whenever I need to code on command under a time crunch while being watched. My mind blanks out, I mix up the syntax of every language I know, and I become a nervous, stuttering wreck. It's super not cute. I am still working through the self imposed stigma I have associated with tech interviews, and while I have some scattered thoughts regarding tips and navigating them successfully, I don't feel right sharing advice that I am bad at implementing myself.

Focus on battery life and keyboard comfort (for your hand size and typing style). You are going to be typing a lot, and you don’t want your device dying on you randomly in class. *shudders in lost code* 

Invest in the largest solid state drive (SSD) that you can afford. Avoid hard drives as internal storage. Please. Your computer will constantly scream if you don’t. SSD’s are so much faster.

Good screen quality helps, especially if you play games and watch videos on your device like I do

Invest in an external monitor (or two!). The extra real estate is a life saver when coding, as you can pull up documentation, stack overflow, and multiple tabs in your IDE all at once. Really helps optimize your workflow

If you’re thirsty for cool tech, a dedicated GPU helps (but it will hike up your price a lot). It mostly comes in use if you are doing a lot of video editing, gaming, animation, machine learning or data science tasks. Don't really need it otherwise

First, I have my dashboard. Notion is the first app I open on my computer every time I use it, and this page serves as my hub to everything else that I use on a regular basis. (Forgive the alignment since I screenshot this on a tablet - it’s perfectly spaced on desktop!) Everything here is either a link to a website that I need regularly, or linked to a page where I can record / track more information that I need to remember.

I also have pages like this where I keep track of long term goals and larger scope projects. I use the toggle feature to take notes on topics that I want to remember quickly, databases to organize meeting minutes and resources, and to-do buttons for goals I may have. This page in particular tracks the personal projects that I undertook last semester. My favorite part about this is how easy it is to move everything around, and how I can move all of this to its own toggle once I start the new semester. Out of sight, out of mind, and a cleaner overview.

I will also sometimes create pages to break down my revision for exams by topic. When a class is especially difficult, this helps me keep track of how many topics I have left to review, and I can shuffle the order in which I want to study them with ease. I also have separate pages for my reading and watch lists, where I add tags based on the genre. People are constantly recommending content for me to consume, and it’s easy for me to pull out my phone and enter it like this so I don’t forget. The tags allow me to filter my database based on my mood, and make the decision making process much easier.

Lastly, my favorite part about my notion is my to-do list tab. Before you laugh, yes I am a computer science major using a kanban board to track daily tasks. It’s highly effective lmao, don’t come for me. Whenever a new thought about something I want to do crosses my mind, I add it to the not started column. I add the essential tasks for the day (based on my google calendar) to my in progress column. Whenever I start a task, I also move it from not started to in progress. When something is fully complete, I move it to the completed column. I display the date that each task was last updated so that I can keep track of how long it has been since I have seen that entry, which helps with accountability. Lastly, at midnight everyday, the completed column automatically resets, and so I wake up to a blank canvas of tasks waiting to be completed everyday. Tasks completed in the past are stored in the backend, in case I ever need to reference them. I literally love this system so much, and it has increased my productivity immeasurably.

Those who know me know that I’m a pretty busy person, and the past few semesters have been insanely hectic. As a result, I quickly became addicted to google calendar to keep track of my many commitments. I tried bullet journalling and list making, but this ended up being way more portable and cross-compatible for my preference. Above are examples of moderately busy weeks across two different semesters. It may look overwhelming, but it’s a system that works super well for me, and if it even helps a single person, then this post will have been worth it.

To begin, my color coding system is as follows:

Orange: Classes that I need to attend

Light Pink: Scheduled work shifts

Dark Pink: Campus and social events that I have committed to attend

Red: Big Scary Deadlines that I reaaally don’t want to miss

Purple: Assignments that are due soon / studying that I need to finish

Green: (not pictured) birthdays, errands and personal goals

The color coding helps my brain compartmentalize the importance of upcoming tasks so that I don’t freak out. I don’t set reminders on any of the events because I don’t want to clutter the notifications on my devices. Instead, I have google calendar set up as a widget on my phone and laptop home screens, and I check either every hour or so to make sure I’m on top of everything / know where I need to go. In terms of adding events, I enter that as early as possible. Every time a new date is shared, I immediately pull out my phone and note it down. That way, I never forget.