Sirus Salari

Hello!

My name is Sirus, I am currently enrolled at Oregon State University, and pursuing my B.S. in computer science.

Before I even decided to pursue my B.S. in computer science, I had had some solid understanding in programming fundamentals from some courses I took during my first degree program, and also through self-teaching web development through Coursera, Udemy, and the Odin Project.

If you're still reading, you're probably wondering what my first degree is in, and why I chose to pursue a second degree. I graduated from the University of California, Irvine in 2021 with a B.A. in psychology. When I started college, I had no idea what I wanted to do as a career, but I just knew that I was passionate about psychology. During my third year at UCI, I took a cognitive robotics course as part of my required classes for my major, and this was the first time I was ever exposed to coding, and my first time programming. I quickly fell in love with programming, and I decided to take an intro to programming course using Python during my fourth year at UCI. I continued to love and enjoy programming and learning about all the logic involved.

Initially, my plan was to combine my interests for psychology and computer science into one by applying to PhD programs in an extremely niche field called "computational neuroscience". Essentially, this field focuses on mathematical/theoretical models of consciousness, the engineering of brain-computer-interfaces, and artificial intelligence/machine learning.

I was denied from all 8 of the PhD programs I applied to. Instead of being defeated, I decided to continue pursuing my passion for programming. I started with just toying around with web development using HTML and CSS, then learned JavaScript, started making project websites, learned a lot from a Coursera course and Udemy course on web development, and learned a lot from following the Odin Project curriculum.

Even though my passion and interest in programming never died, I found it hard to find the motivation to continue self-teaching. Ultimately, I still wanted to find a career that would involve programming. As a result, I started researching different options for people who wish to receive a second degree in computer science. I found Oregon State University as the perfect match for my needs, as it's entirely virtual while still having the same content as in-person classes, it's affordable compared to other options, and it allowed me to transfer all of my general education requirements from UCI, saving me tons of money and time on starting all over with another degree.