Stuff to do over Quarantine
A month ago, we all magically found ourselves inside a mysterious haze of free time that we all asked for at some point in our life. The Monkey’s paw has finally granted our wishes but has left us in a position where we all have the same question in mind “What the four-letter word that rhymes with a bird species that is proudly represented by the Donald Duck do we do?”. We are not going to precisely answer this question so that we don’t drive the Monkey crazy for whichever Monkey’s paw it was (Check the Monkey’s Paw story if you are missing reference), but we can provide you with options and sources! Without further ado, let’s get right into it.
Competitive Programming (CP)
If you loved solving puzzles or math-related problems growing up and enjoy coding, you are going to find solace in CP. This article provides a comprehensive guide on how you should get started. A huge shout out to Prashant Shishodia for majorly authoring this. On a general note, Hackerrank and Codemonk by HackerEarth are perfect places to start and Codeforces is the perfect place to master.
Machine Learning
This is intended for first years as there is a high chance that you’ve already completed this if you aren’t one. One of the co-authors of this piece goes by the motto “As long as you don’t know who Andrew Ng is, your life is peace”. This person runs the Machine Learning Lecture series over Coursera.
ML is the gateway into the field of Artificial intelligence and if this term seems too cliched for you, remember that it is cliched for a reason. Watch this Youtube series Power of AI which is hosted by Robert Downey Jr.
Finance
If you want to foray into or pursue finance, Financial markets by Robert Shiller is a free course on Coursera that gives a basic outline of the topic. It might also be a good idea to start preparing for FRMs and CFAs depending on what your interests are. If these terms are new to you, it’s recommended that you check out this article by Wallstreetmojo.
Try out a new Art Style
If you happen to have a few friends over at Spectra, it is likely that you have seen some incredible piece of art tagged #TryingOutNewArtStyle. And honestly, if you ever plan on sketching or painting out that small wall art, this is the right time to unleash the artist within.
Open Source Programming
Github is where most of the magic happens. It’s generally recommended that you start off by understanding Git mechanics (learn git branching is helpful largely because of all the interactive content over there). We also have an entire 30-minute long podcast on YouTube dedicated to open-source programming to give you a better understanding.
Web Design
If you aren’t familiar with the intricacies of making a website, why not give HTML a go? W3Schools is an excellent place to start. If you are looking for something that’s interactive, you must try out Scrimba. And if you have already done this at some point in time, why not try new frameworks like React.js and Vue js? I loved React.js a lot just because of how elegant it is. At the end of the day, having a website of your own sounds cool, right?
I hate programming, stop with these suggestions already!
Okay. No more on programming. But for a guy who considered programming as his hobby even before college and codes for at least an hour a day, you should know that I hated PDS. And if that’s where your hatred is coming from, you should maybe try Python. Sorry for violating the first statement but let’s just agree that the first guy/girl you meet might not always be the perfect “one”.
Netflix, Prime, DC++
For those on campus and not using DC++, trust me when I say you are going to regret the free flow of movies and everything. For those who aren’t, it might be a good idea to group up and pool in cash. Also since the whole country is under lockdown, it might not be such a bad idea to begin pestering your parents again.
On an embarrassing note “Netflix and Chill” doesn’t exactly have the same literal meaning. You probably knew. If you don’t, go google it before you read further. Done? Okay good. Here’s the embarrassing part. I found this out a month ago and I used to hoard on my ex’s Netflix and every time I told her I am going to “Netflix and Chill”, she would usually reply with “Umm, okay.”. Yup exactly why I used the term “ex”.
Music, Novels, or both.
There is never a limit to the influx of good music at Listen to this KGP. You could also try out new genres (Synthwave is amazing!). This could be paired up with that book that you always wanted to read. TLS’s Instagram also has a lot of book suggestions on their stories and they are all pretty much top quality.
A little gaming can’t hurt
Let’s just agree that we all have a huge list of games that we wanted to play at some point in time. Why not start with now? Use the Google Drive link, team it up with the software “Fitgirl” to break down the download restriction and you’re good to go. Games are all easy? You just haven’t tried DoTA yet.
Well yup, this is a never-ending list and we’ll keep updating as we go along. Let us know if this helped you down in the comments and maybe send in a clap or a two, please!
