Good morning fellow wizards of RECCS.
I guess tis that time. Well last week I have to say went very smooth and I think it’s safe to say that this is the best job I have ever had. Okay, maybe it wasn’t as good as the golfball selling business I started when I was 14…..oh the the good ol’ days. I think the main emphasis of work for me last week was learning some new programming languages. I know wizards all powerful and all, but so is computer programming, and sometimes Wizards aren’t what is needed to get the job done.
So with Linux I find it pretty cool because you can program and it seems like you can almost force the computer to do what you want it to do via the different commands you have at your will. I must admit that while I do suck at the language it’s been interesting to learn it and see what kind of applications it has. I thought it was so cool that I could use the command line and Linux to extract a file from the internet, download it, and then have it written as a file in a location of my choice all through the command line. The takeaway is that I am barely scratching the surface and learning just how powerful programming languages can be.
The next point of emphasis is that of Python. I kind of wrote about this in my weekly survey but I will elaborate here as well. Python is essentially a computer programming language that is geared more toward big data and computational type work. Although it can be used in many different applications, we are learning Python because that is the language that is being used to handle all of the radar, satellite, and various other components we are working with. I have been blown away by how Python is so versatile and learning that is could be a pathway to careers in STEM Field ( particularly environmental sciences for me). I have always thought I had to get some type of hard science degree in order to switch careers into STEM, but it seems that is really not the case. If you can show someone that you have certain skills in programming like Python; that could easily be the foot in the door somewhere.
I came into this program with my eyes set on hydrology, renewable energy, and related with the mindset of getting another BS in civil engineering or just getting my masters in Environmental engineering. But now I am thinking about the idea of just getting really good at Python and using what I already have to get into some type of job in the STEM field. School is great and all but it is so OVERPRICED and being 30 years old time is really of the essence. So this internship has been great in the sense of exposing me to different parts of STEM, you have no choice but to learn, and it is serving as a catalyst to other ideas that I had never really thought too much about.
Lastly, we began the first parts of the research project. We have been using the command line to run Python to which we then use to run the SSARS system. This system is what we use to download different satellite data which we will be analyzing to begin writing the research paper.
Thanks,
Gandalf
