Adam Seals

Who am I?

I am currently a Computer Science student at Missouri S&T. I'm particularly interested in embedded systems and computer network applications, but I like to learn new and different technologies. I have also done cross-platform desktop development, Android app development, and some light web development. I am currently looking for a full time job for when I graduate this Spring. Please check out my Portfolio and Resume.

My Story

A Long Time Ago

I have been interested in computers for a very long time. In middle school I built my first desktop PC. Before I had loved playing Minecraft on the family computer, but now I was able to play much more exciting games and a much greater variety of them. I always wanted to know how things worked. I was particularly interested in software and electronics. These things always felt so magical to me, but it always seemed like there was nowhere to learn about that stuff.

I had heard that C++ was an important language for all kinds of things, and at one point I had attempted to learn it. I had some success; I learned basic loops and conditionals, terminal input and output, but it felt like anything that was interesting to me at the time was miles above anything I could have hoped to build. Here I was stuck writing useless little toys, and what I really wanted was to put something cool on the screen, so I quit.

Where it Really Starts

In my family the expectation is that you go to college, and most of us do some kind of engineering. My older brother and my dad were always talking about cars. I was never as interested in cars as they were, so I figured that I might want to do something different. I didn't know what I wanted to do, and I didn't want to waste too much money with that uncertainty, so I decided to go to community college.

During the summer before my first classes I started a new hobby. I thought Linux was awesome. I had never used anything other than Windows for my entire life, and now you're telling me there's a whole other OS that's just FREE?! It was something completely new, and there were so many flavors to try.

This, along with some research on the job prospects of my current major, chemistry, was enough for me to make up my mind. I want to study Computer Science.

I could go on about Linux, but in hindsight the important part was that I learned something fully on my own, probably for the first time. Which is an important skill, especially if you're working with computers.

Moving Out for Real

Community college had just felt like a continuation of high school. But I had completed all of the gen-ed classes that I could, and it was finally time to move on. I decided to go to Missouri S&T, the same school that my parents and my older brother had graduated from. S&T felt much different from my community college. This, in combination with being away from my parents, gave me a chance for a fresh start. I began to have a more positive attitude towards school, and a greater drive to succeed on my own.

I was still lacking a bit of direction. I knew what I was generally interested in, but the only Computer Science class I had taken at community college was Python, and I was feeling a little bit useless. Luckily from now on I will primarily be taking Computer Science courses.

I feel like the speed at which I began to learn and improve my skills accelerated drastically after beginning my Computer Science courses. It always feels like the first steps are the hardest, and if I had not had some of those classes to get me started, I would not be where I am today. The learning done through lectures and homeworks provided new avenues for exploration in my free time.

During my second semester at S&T I took an "Intro to Microcontrollers and Embedded Systems" class taught by Dr. Stanley. With all due respect to Dr. Stanley, the lectures were a bit dry. However, I found it fascinating to learn how things worked at such a low level. As a result, I decided to pursue a minor in Computer Engineering, and to do a significant embedded systems project over the summer. Check out my portfolio if you want to read more about that.

That project was very important for my professional development. I attribute my internship at Stauder Technologies directly to that project. It also introduced me to network programming, which is another of my main interests today.

Theta Xi

I was going to leave this part out for not being relevant, but I cannot possibly tell a story of this period of my life without talking about Theta Xi, my fraternity.

Before my first semester at Missouri S&T, I was not sure if I wanted to join a fraternity. But S&T is notoriously full of introverts, and I knew that if I lived in a dorm, I would not be happy, so I joined. I have not regretted it for a minute.

I have grown so much as a person thanks to that decision. I owe a great debt to Theta Xi, and I look forward to returning in the future to support the house and continue the Theta Xi tradition. When I am old and my hair has long since turned grey, I know that I will look back in nostalgia on the memories created here.

My time at Theta Xi was not only about the fun memories, but also about responsibility, hard work, and leadership. During my time there I decided to run for the scholarship chair position on our executive board. This experience reshaped how I see the world. I now appreciate much more the qualities required to be a good and effective leader. Leadership is an impossible balancing act; a leader must weigh professional goals against member satisfaction, and weigh accountability against maintaining relationships. It's harder than it looks. I have written more about this experience in my portfolio.