During this past week my group crafted our project plan for our citizen science educational project, which we have named Science Sleuths (catchy, I know). During this phase I began to realize that I need to shift my entire mindset, as I have been focused on academia for over a decade. The capstone project at OSU is a no holds barred, professional level project built in the same fashion as if we were part of an actual professional team. Gone are the familiar restrictions of libraries, methods and other bottlenecks that prior course assignments utilized to focus attention on a particular set of learning outcomes.

I feel like a rehabilitated animal being introduced to the wild. The freedom is equal parts refreshing and intimidating. The narrow paths that previous courses led me down are gone and I have free roam over how I approach my part of this project. I still found myself reaching for past course assignments, specifically Mobile Development, as a starting point to begin coding the mobile app. While it is efficient to avoid reinventing the wheel, and reuse similar code and structure, I also realized I need to go outside my comfort zone, spread my wings, and fly.

I have been very busy during my OSU journey, sticking closely to the 2 year roadmap I setup for myself, while juggling full time work and family responsibilities. This has prevented me from dedicating much time to refining my coding skills, interview prep and adapting my viewpoint towards that of a professional software engineer. I have been so focused on the sphere of academia, striving for a 4.0 GPA, and adhering to the assignment requirements, that I haven’t spent much time on personal projects and development. This project has exposed a weakness that I once mistook as a strength. Succeeding at OSU has significant value, but I may have sacrificed my professional development too much in the process, by focusing to heavily on grades and assignments and GPA. Thankfully, I see this capstone project as a chance to push my limits and craft, alongside my team, a final product that goes beyond assignment requirements, but also serves as a showcase of my potential to prospective employers.