Ali C. '26

When I have to do things like this, I put the tagline "I like computers" a lot. I do like computers. At age ten I had a scooter accident; I smashed hard into a metal railing, flew into the air and fell, cutting myself up and down my arms and all over my face. In great pain and crying very much, I said: "I don't want to do this anymore, I wannnaaa coooooooode". (To be honest, I don't know why I said this--I didn't code much back then, and certainly not well.)

But life is a bit more complicated than that. As I grew up, I found out I liked a lot more things than just the living glowy magic binary portal; I had a math phase, I got really really into webtoons (11,043 episodes last year!), my pipe dream is to draw one someday, I enjoy trying to keep my Aerogarden alive with moderate success, and I've been indoctrinated into the bike cult. But who am I? And who do I want to be? I've discovered a lot about myself in the past few years: I go all-in, I choose based on my gut, I'm a compulsive introvert. Rather than being things I chose, these are things I am.

On the whole, though, I'm still trying to figure myself out. So what am I doing now? Right now, I'm focusing on machine learning. I am curious about how tiny components come together to create large, powerful systems, how we can be intelligent and what that even means, how we all came to be and maybe even where we're going. Through it all, I'd like to share a bit of my journey with you, the public. Writing is my attempt to hang onto my artsy side even as I code monkey all day (yay 10yo me! we won!).

Please reach out if you'd like to talk!