About Me

My (Longish) Biography

I'm Jimmy Jia, a sophomore student at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.

I'm currently studying Electrical Engineering with a focus on Computer Science.

Who I Am

I'm a sophomore in electrical engineering who discovered a passion for technology at a young age. While the last generation grew up with the television, I, like many of my classmates, grew up with video games and computers. I got my first computer, a Windows 95 machine that we picked off a curb when I was in elementary school. I had no idea how to use it, besides playing one preinstalled game. Soon, my parents bought a Windows 98 machine, and at a friend's house I discovered the internet, and what I saw amazed me. I begged my parents to sign up for the internet, and soon we had NetZero (is that even around still?), which I used to play NeoPets every day after school. At around this age I started wondering how these marvelous machines actually worked. Were they magic? Were they some alien technology so advanced it takes Bill Gates to understand? I didn't know, and to be honest, I still don't know for a fact. As the years progressed, I went through more computers, to XP, Vista, and 7. By this time I was a fully fledged gamer, Diablo and League of Legends being my staples. I went through high school without learning how to code. Sure I went on Codecademny and checked out the Python and HTML/CSS course for a little bit, but never long enough to remember anything. It wasn't until coming to the University of Illinois that I discovered my love of programming and web design. Through my courses and own time, I started to learn more and more about programming, leaning towards web design because I love to see what I make come to life in front of me. I strike to one day be one of the best, and if I can keep up my pace of learning, my goal will be in sight.

Why Electrical Engineering if you're a Web Developer?

I actually get this question a lot, and the answer is quite simple - my high school physics class. I honestly had no idea what I wanted to do in college, besides not anything medical. One day, in junior year, my physics teacher had an electrical engineer come in and give a short talk and a demo (of a basic DC generator). I found it interesting and decided I'd try out electrical engineering. Sadly I have now discovered I much prefer programming over circuit design. In the end, I may switch to computer engineering or get a minor in computer science, but whats certain is I plan to traverse down the road of an aspiring front end developer.