Well, here I am at my last term in Oregon State’s online postbaccalaureate computer science program. I took my first class, CS 161 in the Spring term of 2021, so when all is said and done it will have been a 2-year journey when I graduate. Glad to be almost there!
Throughout the past two years, I’ve also been dealing with physical rehab from an injury, and the combination of the two has really changed my goals and where I see myself in the next 5 years.
I’m sure most people who go into Computer Science have in the back of their minds an idea about the big bucks they can make at XYZ big tech company. Many are also simply interested in tech or making a difference as well, of course, but there is no doubt that tech jobs typically pay better than a lot of other fields. I was no exception at first.
Here at the end of my journey, though, I find myself more interested in simply having flexibility with whatever work I find after I graduate – flexibility in location, hours, and hopefully even what I get to work on. What I’d really like is something that augments my life rather than adding stress and exacerbating my situation.
To that end, I’m considering trying out freelance work for a little while and seeing where it takes me. However, the world has also changed a lot in the last two years, so I feel like many of us new graduates are likely to end up needing to roll with the punches initially. That all may sound like a bit of a downer, but to me, it’s exciting to have a bunch of possibilities opened up to me despite not having the physical prowess I once did.
So, I guess what I’m trying to say is, I’m really grateful for being able to attend OSU and this program, and the opportunities that it will afford me. I’d really like to finish this term out strong and end on a high note.
As far as the capstone class goes (the reason for which I started this blog), I mentioned this in my introduction to the class as well, but a lot of the projects look complicated but interesting. I suppose I should back up a bit and explain what the class is about. The Online Capstone Project class is basically all about what the name describes – the entire term is comprised of working in a group of three on a software project of our choosing. There is freedom to do whatever project we want to, but there is also a list of project ideas for us to choose from. I ended up going with the latter. I was especially interested in the text adventure project, since I’ve always loved reading books. Crossing my fingers in the hope that I’ll get put on a team for it! Speaking of which, it looks like we’ll get our project assignments in just a couple days here.
I expect to focus the rest of my blog posts on ideas, thoughts, and progress relating to my project work, but if other topics come up in the meantime, I may stray away from that.
Until next time.
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