Tech Talk with Toni

2020-2021: The Year of Chegg and Zoom Calls I can remember Thursday 12th March 2020 like it was yesterday. I was at The Student Activity Centre (SAC) with some friends, watching them play dominoes.  News of the first case of the novel coronavirus in our twin-island state started to make its way throughout the campus thanks to social media. Naturally, we joked about it at first, but those giggles soon died down when we were all told to immediately leave the hall without a predefined time of return.  We went home thinking that this entire thing would blow over in a week, but as time went on, the quarantine lifestyle became the new normal.  Hand sanitizer and toilet paper became the most valuable commodities, second only to gold! And with that came the wide adoption of an online version of school, a virtual environment that lacked human contact.  As a Computer Science major, this experience brought about pros, one being the fact that we could compile our code instead of...

2019-2020: The Year of Curly Brackets and Confusion I chose to study Computer Science with Management for my degree, as I wanted to apply my programming skills to the business world. My first year was a bit rough, as I was starting from scratch. I was confused about the purpose of curly brackets in C++, which led to me getting a C in that course. I felt overwhelmed when comparing myself to my male classmates who had taken Computer Science in high school. They seemed to handle their assignments and programming exams with ease, while I struggled. The combination of courses from two different faculties was another challenge. My final exam schedule for the first year was like a sandwich spread over two days. Group projects were a good simulation of what it would be like to work in the real world. I was usually assigned to groups randomly, which meant that I was working with people from different backgrounds, pursuing different programs. It's all fun and games until someone forgets to b...

2017-2019: They Don't Teach You This In School Five years ago, if you asked me about my desired career path, I would have confidently answered that I wanted to be a Biochemist.   However, this changed after I started working at a bank and saw people with degrees in Biology or Psychology struggling to find jobs in their field. This realization prompted me to research the job market through Caribbean Jobs , where I was surprised to find no job offers for Biochemists.  This made me question my career choice and fueled my desire to pursue a degree that would offer opportunities after graduation. While reading the daily newspaper, I came across an article about "Women in STEM" that sparked my interest.  The article talked about the need for more women to get involved in technical fields such as Computer Science and Engineering in the Caribbean.  Despite never having written a single line of code in my life, I convinced myself to give programming a try.  Even with the...

2010-2017 : The Era of Enlightenment  After taking the Secondary Entrance Assessment, widely known as SEA in Trinidad and Tobago, and being placed at the school of my last choice, I eventually settled down at Waterloo High.  However, during my first three years in the secondary school system, I lost all motivation to study and soon became a slacker, avoiding working and effort. My parents noticed my drop in academic performance and decided that I should transfer to another school, Holy Faith Convent, Couva. Entering the school compound, dressed in a maroon overall and white shirt with a Peter Pan collar, and wearing a badge for St. Ann's (The Yellow House), I can say that attending this school was a unique experience.  I studied Chemistry, Biology and Physics at both the CSEC and CAPE level, with the goal of becoming a doctor like many others.  At the school, I met some of the most diligent students in the region.  Even though the stereotype of dirty white ...