Last week we looked through all the available projects for this course and picked the top ten we would like to work on.  Even though there were multiple that I really liked and I would have been equally happy to work on, I started getting pretty stressed in the ranking process; this is something I will be working on for the next nine months after all. I wanted to make sure my ranking was just right so I wouldn’t end up with something I didn’t actually want to work on for nearly a year.  Finally, after waiting anxiously for a whopping FOUR days, I found out yesterday that I will be working on a team to update the very project portal that we all used to look at the projects!

Now, this project was not my first pick, and I admit I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get one of my higher ranked, much more interesting sounding projects, but after thinking about it I’m actually really excited I got this project. 

One of the main reasons is that it deals with fixing a problem I experienced first hand.  The first time I went to the portal page I noticed it was not as good as it could be.  Even before I saw that this was an available project, I remember thinking, “man, they really need to update this portal.”  The fact that I had that exact thought and now I get to fix that problem makes this project feel more like a real world scenario of identifying a problem and designing and implementing a solution.

Another reason I am so happy with updating the portal is that my group and I have the opportunity to leave something better for future students that will be in the same place we are next year.  While making a game or similar “for fun” topic for this project would be cool, I think I’m more excited to be doing something that will be useful for the school and will be used by so many students and instructors alike.

Lastly, I’m mostly excited because I meet the most important qualification…