A friend once said that I’ve tended to let the world take me where it will. I can’t deny it. Studying philosophy may not seem like the path of least resistance to most but it certainly seemed that way to me. This is not to say that it was easy going; rather, it simply didn’t require me to forge a new route for myself. I could just look to see what the next step was for people in my position. Apply to grad school? Sure. Take work as an adjunct? No problem. Apply out for tenure-track positions? You got it.

It’s years later and I find myself in an enviable position: a tenured professor of philosophy. And yet, I’m restless. I’ve kept my head down, my eyes focused on the trail ahead of me for so long, I’ve lost track of the destination. Until recently, I haven’t dared to consider setting off in another direction entirely.

I entered college prepared to declare a major in computer science. Something dissuaded me, though I don’t quite remember what. I did have a low opinion of my own mathematical and logical skills at the time; perhaps that was it. In any case, I’m preparing to start down that path again. I’m in the process of putting together a course of studies for myself that looks something like this at least to begin with and in very broad outline:

• Fundamentals of programming, including the basics of C++
• Java
• Python

I’m currently working my way through Harvard’s cs50 via edx. Once I’m done with that, I’m hoping to be in a good position to start teaching myself higher-level languages. I don’t know yet if I’ll end up pursuing a formal degree in computer science (this seems a bit contrary to the whole exercise, honestly), going to a coding boot camp, or just trying to make it on my own using the wealth of resources available to me.

The goal of this blog is to record my progress on this journey, along with my reflections about it. When I end up creating things I’m proud of, I’ll post those here, too.