When I 7/8 I was diagnosed with Epilepsy. Until about 8th grade I would have seizures frequently as doctors tried to find the right treatment for me. From early on in school I had troubles in school no matter how much effort I put into everything I did. I struggled in testing situations because my memory was/is impaired. I couldn’t easily remember things that I was studying. Throughout the course of elementary school I would go to separate meetings with a few other students for help with reading. I wasn’t diagnosed with dyslexia until I was almost in college, but I was sent to those meetings because I struggled with reading comprehension. It all tied back to my impaired memory, because I would read two sentences and by the time I finished the second sentence I couldn’t remember what the first sentence was about. This problem still exist to this day and the fact that I am where I am now shows my strengths. In 5th grade, I couldn’t pass our spelling quizzes which consisted of 15 words each week. My teacher in an effort to help me, cut my list down to 5 words. I eventually was able to get 100% or close on those and after doing well on a few, she would give me more words. My favorite subject was/is math and this ties into why I picked Software Engineering and why I am so good at it. I liked Math because for the most part it’s all logic. Only the right ways will lead you to the correct answer and there were always patterns to be found. I was always really good at math with the exception of word problems which you can imagine why now. In high school my struggles continued. I did well in class in general, but struggled on test, and since they make up such a big part of your grade, it was hard for me to get good grades. My senior year of college is when I was finally diagnosed with Dyslexia, and the diagnoses is what created a pathway to the college I went to, because my grades and ACT scores were not good enough to get me in. I qualified for a summer program for students with a disability. As long as I finished the program with a specific GPA I could return as a regular freshman. I did get the GPA. In college I faced similar problems where I did well in my classes, but struggled with exams, so it was hard for me to get decent grades. I advocated for myself to find out what options were available to me, and besides longer testing time and a separate room to test in, there weren’t any other options. These didn’t help much as the problem was with me being forced to remember a lot of stuff in order to succeed. In my computer Science classes this was a problem as well, but I just made sure to do well on all my projects, labs and ask questions so that I could at least get a passing grade. In the end I graduated in 4.5 years.
What’s wrong with my memory?
My Epilepsy is due to scar tissue that I have on the left side of my brain. It’s unclear where it came from. but MRIs also show that there is significant volume loss, and the results uses other scientific terms to describe what makes my brain MRI different from what’s expected of a normal persons brain MRI. This is why I struggle in testing situations, because my condition makes it almost impossible for me to retain the amount of information needed to do well. A better show of my skills would be some kind of assessment that allows me to not have to rely on my memory ( probably a take home assignment) That allows me to show that I poses the skills needed to do well in a environment that a Software Engineer is used to. When solving a problem as a software Engineer I don’t have to be concerned with if I remember the algorithm for traversing a graph. As long as I know what the algorithm is I can look it up.
Proposed method of testing my skills
Provide me some kind of assignment I can complete that will show you I poses the skills you are looking for. I am a quick learner, so I am open to the challenge of the employer even telling me they want me to do it in a certain language, perhaps the language they use. Even if I don’t know it, I will learn it and complete the task in a timely manner. This is where my skills shine
Final thoughts
Despite not being able to perform well in live coding sessions like most companies are looking for. I feel I would be a great asset to any team because of the effort that I put into everything I do, and because of how proactive I am. I recognize my weakness and find ways to overcome them. looking at my journey and what I had to overcome to make it this far should say a lot about the effort I put forth in everything I do. Work/life balance is important but my strength is spending the time necessary to accomplish my tasks, regardless of how much time I need to put into completing it.
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