Transitioning into a software engineer

                
Pursuing the Art of Code, Weaving the Digital Future
My name is Ting-Hao Wang, and I am an entrepreneur with extensive business experience, passionate about innovation and challenges. Beyond just "making money", I aspire to "make meaning" (Inspired by Guy Takeo Kawasaki, co-founder of Apple Computers).
In the decade following my university graduation:
I designed and founded the chocolate brand "Funky Chocolate." Eating chocolate brings happiness, and happiness is the best meaning in life. I developed top-notch, delicious, and healthy chocolates based on scientific research, while cultivating cocoa trees using natural farming methods for sustainable environmental management. I often visit rural areas to help underprivileged children, offering them free experiences in making and tasting chocolate, hoping to contribute modestly to society.
In my company, I handle everything from business management, product development, sales, to teaching courses. I excel in creating high-quality chocolates, identifying market needs, developing products that meet customer demands, and building strong relationships with customers.
I have successfully applied for various government programs (SBIR, SBTR, etc.), joined the Taitung University Incubation Center, TTMaker Accelerator, and Good Food Good Accelerator, bringing more funds to my company and proving my ability to complete projects independently. My teamwork and leadership skills allow me to effectively organize and manage teams, maintaining stability and calm under pressure. These experiences have taught me how to tackle various challenges.
On my entrepreneurial journey, I learned how to effectively learn new things. I built websites and initially became acquainted with HTML and CSS syntax. However, I realized that many ideal features in e-commerce are not easy to implement. With limited funds and scale, I could no longer see a future for the chocolate business and decided to leave this stable income source behind.
A turning point and the next decade of my life:
The end of one journey sparked a long-dormant interest in software engineering. In junior high, I was already interested in software engineering, participated in web design competitions, and learned my first programming language, C++, in a cram school. Back then, I couldn't fully grasp programming languages, but a seed was planted in my heart.
Twenty years later, at the beginning of 2023, I devoted myself to software engineering, fully learning Python, and the long-buried seed finally sprouted. Initially, I self-taught Python through Harvard's online CS50 series and learned algorithms and data structures through Coursera (by Robert Sedgewick and Kevin Wayne). Then, I completed the "Acer Founders Information Engineer Industry-Academia Special Class" at Lien Cheng Computer in just six months. I quickly mastered programming languages like Python, C#, JavaScript, HTML5, and CSS3. I also obtained certifications in Python, web data extraction, C#, software development knowledge, and big data analysis. My intense passion and interest in software engineering became unstoppable.
In October 2023, I successfully built a travel website integrated with artificial intelligence that can automatically generate travel itineraries. I used frontend and backend programming languages, combining APIs from OpenAI, Google Maps, and OpenWeather to fully set up and deploy the website.
From October to November 2023, I independently developed a blockchain-based fundraising platform in the Web3.0/blockchain domain using Solidity, Vite, React, and Tailwind CSS. This platform not only allows users to create and fund campaings but also implements innovative features using Ether as the transaction currency.
Throughout this process, my pursuit has been more than just applying existing skills. I aim to delve deeper into emerging areas, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Web3, and Blockchain. These fields represent the future trends in software engineering, and I am passionate about learning and applying related technologies.
In the next decade, I believe that as a software engineer, I will bring more innovation and value to the world.