Thoughts after my first hack

Big personal experience & Quick insights & Zero fluff.

After this hackathon, I gained quite a few new followers and friends on Discord and GitHub. During this period, I looked through and studied many high-quality submissions. I got to meet plenty of outstanding people, who fall roughly into three groups: seasoned researchers with years of experience, PhD students, and master’s students.

Examining their polished projects helped me recognize my own gaps and clarify what I plan to learn going forward.

Many of them are native English speakers with really fluent, natural expression. I often get nervous talking with them, overthinking how I should phrase my words and whether what I say sounds right. Conversing with native speakers can sometimes feel frustrating and perplexing. Sometimes I spend extra energy just drafting a proper reply. To communicate more easily, I’ve had to push myself to learn natural phrases and common online shorthands. Even so, these conversations have really helped me improve my English for casual online messaging.

To be honest, my English hasn’t reached IELTS Band 7 yet. My current English proficiency is roughly between 6.0 and 6.5. When I watch hackathon walkthroughs or tech courses created by native speakers that touch on specialized terminology and cutting-edge concepts, my shortcomings become especially noticeable. That’s why I still need to set aside time to strengthen my English.

All in all, these experiences leave me with two main takeaways. First, I realize I still have a lot to learn to meet higher standards, and I’ve grown curious about many new topics along the way. Second, I really need to keep working on my language skills. Communicating and expressing my ideas with my current level takes so much energy that sometimes I feel worn out and lose the drive to share.

As the saying goes, 'And our cause, however righteous, pales in comparison to the impact of our effect.'(from MISSION IMPOSSIBLE) For me, hackathons, building projects and continuous learning are never about slogans or ideas alone. What truly matters is shipping tangible work and creating something valuable.

There is still a long road ahead of me. Wish me luck.

Lastly,this is William Leong speaking from China.I firmly believe I can create impact.

I'll catch you later.Stay curious.Stay informed.

ദ്ദി◝ ⩊ ◜.ᐟ (ฅ⁍̴̀◊⁍̴́)و ᕙ( •̀ ᗜ •́ )ᕗ