Ryan Kinnard CS 467 Blog

Project:

Our web application is starting to make more progress as the weeks progress. I feel we are a little behind, but once we get some of the back-end and front-end pieces more connected, things should come together quickly.

Non-Project:

As the end of the term approaches, it is starting to feel real. I started this program in June 2019, and it has really flown by. I think the pandemic has definitely accelerated how fast time has gone in my mind. Last year was a complete blur.

One positive about last year is that since our program was already online, we did not face any major disruptions. Additionally, it seems the tech industry continues to grow as more and more companies pivot in to something in that space. I have heard it is difficult to get and entry level job, but once you have more experience things begin to open up.

Project:

Our team has started getting into the groove with our project. Things are going well and it’s starting to come together.

Non-Project:

I am an avid gym goer and I find it an enjoyable activity after a day of coding. There are many parallels between programming and working out. Being consistent and having a routine are two key aspects in both of these activities. Improving a small amount every day adds up over time.

Progress is not linear and there are times when coding and working out can be frustrated. However, sticking to a process and an established plan are critical for improvement.

I am currently taking CS344 this quarter in addition to this class. CS344 is one of the more challenging courses and as a result I have been thinking about different types of learning.

When I first started at OSU, I struggled learning the material. I wanted to improve my study habits and I eventually found a course to help. The course is called “Learning How to “Learn. Here is a link: https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn

This course taught various techniques on how to learn and retain information effectively. One of these techniques is the pomodoro technique in which you work for set amount of time, take a short break and then repeat the process.

The most useful thing this course taught me was the power of taking a break. Many times I have been stuck on a problem and instead of trying to power through, I now take a break and do something relaxing like taking walk. More often than not, when I come back, I am able to solve the problem or at least make progress.

Project:

This week on the project, I focused mainly on learning React. I have learned quite a bit, however, I still don’t feel confident in my abilities yet. I have started building some of pages for the project in React but I’m sure my confidence will grow as I continue to work with it.

Outside school:

I am a full time student and this is my last quarter here at OSU. Next year, I will start working. Being a full time student has it perks especially in this online setting. For example, I go to the gym frequently and can go whenever I want so I am able to avoid when it is crowded. I am a big sports fan and went to Boston Red Sox playoff game the other day. Last year, I was able to go snowboarding during the week which was fantastic.

My time with this flexible schedule will be coming to an end in a few months, so I am trying to take advantage of it whenever possible. One of the main selling points of OSU is that it is flexible and I definitely appreciated that aspect of the program. When I start working it will be more difficult to do things during the week.

This week we started to get more in depth on the project. We have decided on a framework and have begun to diagram various portions of the application. At least at the beginning, I will be working mainly on the front end. I don’t have a ton of front end experience but am excited to learn.

For the front-end, our group decided to use React. However, none of us know React so that could present a few bumps in the road. React seems like it is quite popular in the industry which is the reason we chose to use it.

So far I have done some of the mock ups for the pages on the site. A new tool I have been using is called Figma. This tool is also fairly popular in the industry so I figured it would solid for creating layouts. However, the free version only allows for the creation of three pages. I only realized this after I created the third page. The mock up of the landing page can be seen below.

I am also taking CS344 this semester, which has been going well so far.

That’s all for now, thanks for reading!

This week we got our group assignments for the project that we will be working on over the course of the term. My group will be working on the Job Tracker project.

This project involves building an application where a user can track jobs that they have applied to. I think this application is useful, especially for computer science majors, in that many of us have applied to a tremendous amount of jobs/internships. For me personally, I applied to over 200 internships last year. A website that allows for tracking of applications would have been a useful tool in that process. There were a few times were I would fill out an application, only to to discover that I already applied to the position.

Our group is planing to use React, Express and Node.js. We have not finalized the database portion but will most likely use some sort of relational database. I haven’t used these technologies/frameworks in about a year so I will definitely need to brush up on details. My was internship this past summer was mainly back end work using Java and Spring Boot.

Outside of school, a few of my favorite sports teams are ramping up. I am a fan of Boston sports, with hockey being my favorite sport. The Bruins are about to start and the baseball team, the Red Sox, are currently in the playoffs.

That’s all for now, thanks for reading!

My name is Ryan Kinnard, this is my last semester at OSU as I will be graduating this December. After graduation, I will be working as a software developer starting in January.

I am always interested in other people’s career paths so I figure I should share mine. I originally graduated from UMass Amherst with a degree in kinesiology with the hopes of becoming a physical therapist. After working in a physical therapy office, I realized this was not a career that I wanted to pursue. While I enjoyed the science behind physical therapy, certain aspects of the career turned me off. Some of these included the amount of patients that have to seen, dealing with insurance companies and low pay to student debt ratio.

This lead me to pursue a CS degree from OSU. I have always been interested in computers and technology but never fully dove into any topics in depth. I came into the program with very limited programming experience. I was actually surprised how much more work some of these classes involved compared to classes during my first undergraduate degree. Most of my previous classes involved regurgitating information learned in class on a test. Whereas, CS courses really challenge your problem solving skills.

Some of my hobbies including listening to music and going to concerts. My two favorite genres are pop punk and rap. Other hobbies that I like are watching and playing hockey as well as snowboarding.

I am excited to get this class started.

Thank you for reading.

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