Tuesday, February 27, 2024
Biggest Success
Throughout the course, there have been several opportunities to grow as a computer science and software engineering professional. I’ve been able to learn more about OAuth, programming in JavaScript with React, working on a team of devs, planning a project, using Git much more comfortably, making HTTP requests, and working with databases. It is very nice to build something much more comprehensive than anything built in other classes. Additionally, it has been great to work with other talented folks and learn skills that I never knew much about, such as Firebase authentication. I’m grateful for the opportunity to improve my skills as a computer science professional.
I’ve always appreciated the visual aspect of computer programming, which is evidenced by my TA roles in CS352 Usability Engineering and my favorite class being CS450 Computer Graphics. With this in mind, I wanted to develop my skills as a front end developer, working closely with React/JavaScript to build components of our “opinionated project management website” project for the course. Every day, there are things I am learning about web development that I had not even considered. I’ve learned a tremendous amount about authentication, JSON Web Tokens, and interacting with the Firebox developer console, particularly with the networks tab.
SWOT Analysis on Capstone Course
Strengths: The greatest strength of this course is that it forces students to learn new skills they might be uncomfortable with, which is extremely beneficial for learning and personal growth. I’ve learned a lot working with one particularly skilled SWE on my team, which has let me learn more about the concepts detailed above.
Weaknesses: The primary weakness of this course is that you might not receive a tremendous amount of direct feedback. Our first mentor was quite busy with personal matters so we did not hear much in the beginning stages of the project. As a current TA, I completely empathize though and understand the size of online course sections which prevents a great degree of personal mentorship. I also appreciate that the Professors are accessible and have responded to emails and included links for scheduling meetings. With that in mind, I don’t think it’s fair to be extremely critical so I hope this is taken lightly.
Opportunities: One opportunity for course improvement might be providing a resource for students to review Git – especially with switching between branches, pulling, committing, pushing commits, and making PR’s. One of our teammates was quite unfamiliar so perhaps a initial onboarding quiz that students must receive a 100% on to advance would be beneficial. Portions of this quiz could include typing the right Git commands to achieve specific tasks.
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