This is my first ever blog post on my first ever blog in one of my last classes in my last quarter at Oregon State. This seems like as good of a time as any to reflect on my nearly 4 year journey. I started this program with one child just a few months old, and now ending the program with two children, one turning four during this quarter and the other nearing two at the end of the quarter.
Before the program I dipped my toes in the waters of computer science with tinkering and building projects with the Raspberry Pi and Arduino. I enjoyed and left Harvard’s online intro to computer science course, CS50, wanting more. That’s when I found out about this program.
My motivation for enrolling in the program was, and still is, mostly due to my current job situation and wanting to switch careers to one that more closely aligns with my life interests and a career with more upward mobility.
I enjoy working with physical devices and designing solutions where technology can be leveraged to enhance our daily lives to be more productive and fun. For those reasons, my favorite courses in the program have been Computer Architecture and Assembly Language, Operating Systems, Intro to Parallel Programming and this class looks like one that I will enjoy as well. The program at times is heavy into web development with many projects focusing on building a web page. I see the value in those skills and I purposely went in that direction when I took Cloud Application Development. I believe that being ‘web focused’ will be the easiest way for me to switch careers with the vast majority of entry-level job openings being in that area.
I’m excited for this course because it allows me the opportunity to work on a project of my choosing and I’m looking forward to breaking away from web for a little bit. I chose projects focused on 3d graphics and gaming because that is something that I have a lot of interest in and have not had the chance to work in that area. I’m excited to learn new technologies and tools to broaden my skill-set.
Working in the skilled-trades area my entire career, I can see the many places where technology and connected devices, i.e. Industrial Internet of Things, can be used to enhance worker efficiency and accomplish business goals. Designing solutions to aid in those goals is my ultimate career ambition.
Another area of interest is blurring the line between our physical reality and a digital one. Creating unique and engaging experiences utilizing virtual reality or augmented reality to completely immerse a user into a whole different dimension is an exciting area to work in.
It has been a long journey, almost 4 years long. Up until last quarter I enrolled in one class a quarter, and now I enroll in two to finish up a little quicker. I still continue working my full-time job but I’m excited to continue my job-search and to showcase to potential employers all that I have accomplished and learned at my time at OSU.
It will be a busy final quarter but an exciting one! I will be juggling a full-time job, grinding Leetcode, applying to and hopefully interviewing with potential employers, completing two classes, and most importantly spending any free time with the family.
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