The Right to My Left Brain

One of the first questions I was asked in my first programming interview was, "Do you play an instrument?" I told him I had played piano before and he seemed pleased. It seems like an odd question to ask someone dealing with computers, right? Surprisingly, the two are more related than they appear. Written music closely resembles computer code. They are both a set of instructions with a format that informs the user how to read them. Computer code is typically read top to bottom, often with spaces and key terms to separate functions, much like music is read left to right and has bars to separate measures. Furthermore, music and computer code are firmly rooted in math. Coding is more obviously related; binary code is read in the computer as a series as one's and zero's that the computer converts to values on a base 2 system. At first glance, it's not as easy to tell that music heavily depends on math, but it does! Key signatures and note lengths are all written in fractions of time. It's easy to see from an analytical perspective how being able to keep time in music and transpose music can make someone a better mathematician, and therefore, a coder.

I think there is another crucial, common element that connects these two skills that is often overlooked - creativity. While creativity comes more easily to some, I think it is also a skill that can become stronger with practice. I don't consider myself to be a person that is naturally very creative; I'm more of a checklist type of girl. However, practicing creativity helps me be a better scientist. Problem solving, that annoying buzzword that every college and employer drools over, is a fancy term for applied creativity. It is very easy to get stuck in a problem, whether it be a math problem or a problem in real life. I think having the ability to think of the situation in a new way and come up with a complete out-of-the-box solution is a powerful skill. This skill can be practiced and harnessed the in same way as learning to play the piano.

This is what this blog is to me - a way to flex my creative muscle and stretch my right brain. In recalling my experiences, I can view my life in a new light while also getting a chance to be creative by writing them in my own style. I hope that maybe my experiences might give someone else the ability to see their life from a new perspective. If not, I hope that my stories are at least entertaining. Welcome to my journey as a modern woman and scientist.