Beginning of the End!

Hey everyone!  I can’t believe I am almost complete with my B.S. degree in Computer Science.  I took my first computer science class at a community college in 2019 and had to drop out because I could not balance it with my full-time work schedule ( I was working as an air traffic controller at the time).  I tried a couple more times after that but ended up giving up due to scheduling conflicts.  When COVID happened, all the classes moved online and I was luckily able to complete a couple basic programming classes and discrete math.  At that point, I knew I really enjoyed CS and that is what led me to enrolling in OSU.  This is such a great program because it is designed for people who work full-time so you can complete the degree requirements at your own pace and never have to worry about class times or schedules.  I took mostly 1 class a quarter up till this point and will be graduating this August. I have also landed an summer internship as well as a full-time SWE position that starts in the Fall.  I’m very grateful for these opportunities and I look forward to finishing my degree on a strong note with a project I would be proud of showcasing.  I feel that for students or people with limited professional experience, projects are especially important since they give you something to talk about in the interviews and show what you are interested in.

Coming into this capstone class, I thought that we would have to come up with a project that we would work on throughout the quarter.  I was surprised when I saw the large list of projects we could choose from with the requirements already defined.  I actually like that we are given these project ideas because the scope is already set but you can still be as creative as you want with it.  I chose the animal adoption app as my first choice because it seemed like it was a project I could just jump straight into and it seems like a great idea to find more animals permanent homes.  It sounds like an advanced version of our CS340 Databases project.  It requires additional functions like admin accounts, email notifications, etc.  My second choice was the cloud-based stock market trading project.  I will also be taking cloud development this quarter so I thought it would be a good way to apply the knowledge I was learning in a hands-on way.  I am also interested in investing and that project stood out from the rest.

I did not form a team and just filled out the survey so I am curious what project I will be assigned.  I think it will be a good experience either way since the projects cover a wide range of technologies and topics.  I could be pushed out of my comfort zone working with something I haven’t seen before but I think that would be good to grow as a developer.