To those interested in following my journey through this computer science capstone project I would first like to thank you. My full name is Adam Ollar and this is my senior year at OSU. I’m a returning student at the age of 33 and moved to the Portland area last year from a small town containing the school I transferred from; Southern Illinois University.
I was not focused on my education upon graduating high school but still entered the SIU engineering program at the age of 19. This led to my exit from the program within a year as I intended to find a decent career without a four-year degree. While that mission was a success in many ways including careers ranging from percussion to appliance repair to property management; many of these fields resulted in reaching a dead-end. I spent much more time focusing on my hobbies like automotive repair and modification, hiking, camping, backpacking, traveling, and spending time with my dog. These activities kept life interesting even when work became mundane or overwhelming.
Computers in general have always piqued my interest beginning with learning DOS at home to play games and using Netscape to “Ask Jeeves” a question on my mom’s office computer at the university. I began to seriously consider programming during my last full-time job that, while rewarding, required me to be on-call 24/7. During that time I began to take free online courses in HTML, CSS, and Javascript. Realizing I was in a better position to apply myself more effectively I quit my job and enrolled in classes full time.
The online courses here at OSU have been a great experience so far and have helped me understand what subjects I may or may not be best suited for. Struggling with more advanced algorithms and excelling at user interface design and user experience research delivered the conclusion that my time is most effectively spent designing intuitive front-end web designs using ReactJS and JavaScript. I do not currently have a job or internship in the field, but have been applying to every opportunity available this fall and will be attending in-person events on campus when possible.
Based on what I’ve learned on the topics in this curriculum and about myself, the following 4 projects, based on some aspect of web design, are likely best for me:
Active Learning and Interactive Engagement in Engineering through a Searchable Repository of Learning Activities
App for Project Management and Reporting: 4-H Record Books 1.0
The Micronutrient Information Center
Working It App: School to Work Transition
I’m excited to continue updating this page both in layout and content as more is revealed regarding the course and projects available.
If you have a question, comment, or idea, feel free to email me at:
ollara@oregonstate.edu
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