Sergiu Pod

Years of professional experience?
2

What was your major and background?
I'm European and grew up in Illinois. I graduated from Purdue with a B.S in Finance and am self-taught. I started programming in the summer of 2020 after college.

Research/Engagement Experience

What are your interests within computer science?
I like low-level systems languages and high performance computing applications. I also think artificial intelligence is cool.

Project Title

How did you get interested in Computer Science?
I graduated in 2020 and finally started asking myself the important questions like what are my strengths, what are my weaknesses, what do I like, what do I not like, and what am I good at. I greatly believed in my ability to think of wonderful ideas - or solutions to problems - and figured the very best thing that I could do then, was to learn how to build my ideas.

What social interests matter to you?
I feel there are very many wonderful voices in computer science and the software engineering space, people who have helped me navigate this industry, have shown me the ropes, and have influenced my decision to pursue an education here at iCAN. I believe that I should try and find a way to give back to this community at some point as it has helped me learn so much on my own, and continues to foster the growth and development of many junior software engineers to this day.

What is your most impactful iCAN experience?
As a self-taught programmer of two years prior to entering iCAN, I was very happy to see the many themes I had picked up on my own surface in the curriculum. It was very reassuring knowing that I had been on the right path prior to iCAN and that the work I had put in on my own hadn't been in vain.

What are your hobbies/outside interests?
I built a gaming PC recently and like to catch up with my friends on Discord when I game.

Where are you from?
Romania