Mini's Blog

When I was picking my senior project, I knew I wanted to do something that combined a couple of things I’ve always found interesting, mobile development and navigation systems. I love how mobile apps connect us, especially because I spend so much time on my phone. Honestly, I can’t even remember the last time I opened Pinterest on my laptop just to scroll. Everything is on my phone for me, so naturally, mobile development just felt like the right fit.

But when we started diving into the actual work, I realized not everyone sees things the same way. I knew my teammates were aiming for a native app, and at first, I didn’t think much of it. I thought, “Sure, we’ll get a native app working in three quarters, no big deal.” But as we got into the details, we realized that it was way more time-consuming than we had imagined. And the thing is, I didn’t really share my thoughts with them when I should had. Instead of saying, “Hey, maybe we should start with a mobile app,” I just went with the flow. We ended up starting with a web app.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited about the app and I’m not complaining. I didn’t let them know, and that’s on me. It was easier to let others take the lead than to voice my opinion, even though I felt strongly about it. Looking back, though, that was a wake-up call. It reminded me that just because something makes sense to me, doesn’t mean it makes sense to everyone else. People are drawn to different technologies, and as engineers, we each have our own preferences and interests. This whole process has really shown me how diverse our approaches can be.

With only two weeks left in the quarter, here’s what three months of work has taught me:

Communicate What You Think:
If I don’t share what I think, others won’t know. For example, I felt that the app would work better on mobile, especially with the maps and photos (it just seemed like it would be more intuitive for users). I should’ve said something to the team, and maybe we could’ve worked on a mobile app for our demo instead of a web app. But that’s on me for not sharing my thinking process with them earlier.

People Think Differently, and That’s Totally Fine:
I’ve learned that everyone has a different perspective, and that’s actually a good thing. I’ve seen how Escher has created beautiful designs for our web app, and he’s really stepped up as a leader in guiding the team. It’s been awesome seeing how much he brings to the table, and I’m grateful for his input. It’s taught me that having a variety of ideas can only make the project better.

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work:
What I’ve really enjoyed is working with my teammates. They’re focused, hardworking, and I know I can count on them. It’s not just about the tech, though; it’s about the way we all work together. Even though I’m learning new technologies that I’m not super familiar with, the collaboration and support from my team make it all worth it.

At the end of the day, this project isn’t just about the tech we’re using or what technologies I like. It’s about learning how to communicate better, how to work with people who think differently, and how to focus on the bigger picture which is creating something that works. Sure, there have been some challenges, but I’m excited to keep learning and seeing where this project takes me.

My most favorite technology is definitely C++ and Python. For backend, I will stick with Node.js and Express. My least favorite technology is React. I want to say “I didn’t have much experience with it,” but in reality, I didn’t have any experience with it before I started on this project, so getting started was a bit complicated and overall overwhelming because I don’t enjoy the frontend aspects of websites.

If I could start over, I would use Next.js to combine the frontend and backend to make it more simple. You can still use React on the front end, instead of a separate frontend and backend like we started with for the web app.

One technology I wish had been included in my tech stack is Swift for iOS. I can’t wait to convert this app into a mobile app and work on the designing and process in Swift for iOS users. I feel bad admitting that I’m just not that good with web development and would rather 100% build a mobile app, but that’s okay to accept. I like mobile development more than web development, and I like cybersecurity a lot more than anything else. It’s not like building the web app is impossible, it’s more about understanding how it all works based on the concepts I’ve learned in mobile development

I’d like to start making my code simpler and more consistent, using the same structure so it’s easier to read and understand. One thing I wonder about is how long it takes me to write code after reading so much other code to figure out how it works and how to make my part fit with the rest. Then I go through my drawings, turn that into code, test it, and write my documentation based on everything I just did. While writing the docs, I often realize that some code smells or the logic doesn’t make as much sense. I also remember that phrase we’ve all heard: “If it works, don’t touch it.” In theory, yeah, if it works I shouldn’t touch it. But I need to make sure others understand what’s going on because at the end of the day, whatever’s happening in the code is just a combination of 0s and 1s that make the program do its job. Like Martin says, writing clean code isn’t optional when I think about code life, reusability, and improvement throughout the program’s life. I need to make sure the code is bug-free and clean so it works with others’ programs and doesn’t cause too many bugs. When I started coding, my mindset was just to code and make it work. But when I think about how long it takes me to read and understand other people’s code, I realize how important it is to write code with quality in mind.

So, I’m juggling a full-time job, full-time classes, and now—an internship interview I didn’t even apply for. A friend connected me, and now I’m faced with the tough decision of cutting back on either work or school to take this opportunity. It’s exciting, but honestly, it’s overwhelming.

And here’s the kicker—> social media is messing with my head. A while ago, I saw all these posts saying that CS was “cooked,” AI was taking over (we know that’s not true, but still), and that the job market in tech was in a bad spot. I started to doubt myself, thinking I was wasting my time, especially since even the “best” people couldn’t land an internship. But then this opportunity came up, and I realized how much that fear driven content was affecting me.

Want to be a mobile developer, but lowkey hate my phone addiction.

I want to be a mobile developer, but my phone is mostly filled with social media apps like Instagram and TikTok. Sure, I use my phone for things like GPS and music, and my bank account here and there, but how can I be a mobile dev when my phone’s main use is scrolling through distractions?

So here’s what I’m doing to fix it:

Curating My Feed: I’m unfollowing the negativity and following accounts that help me learn about tech and development.

Cutting the Scroll: Setting limits on social media to 1 hour daily (yes, that includes watching Youtube videos while I eat at lunch)

Using My Phone for Learning: Watching tutorials and reading articles about coding during free time, instead of just mindlessly scrolling.

Finding balance is tough, but I’m learning to use my phone for personal growth instead of distraction. It’s all about staying focused and not letting the noise of social media mess with my goals. Not anymore.

My friend, who’s always been there for me through so many ups and downs, the person who got me into computer science in the first place, once told me, “Get comfortable not knowing how to do something. Just get your hands dirty. But do it now.” And that advice has stuck with me, especially while working on my Travel Planner app.

This friend of mine became a mobile engineer after graduating from UCLA, and when I asked him how he did it, he said, “I didn’t have a teacher. I just sat down, studied, and figured it out. I got my hands dirty.”

When I got assigned the recommendation engine for our app, my first thought was, “I have no idea how to do this.” And my instinct was to reach out to him and ask, “How do I even start?” But then I remembered what he’d said “Just get your hands dirty. If you need help, I’m here.” So, I decided to try to figure it out myself.

I knew enough about databases, and once I stopped freaking out about them, I realized they’re not that complicated, they just take time. I also knew the basics of algorithms, so I found one that might work and watched a bunch of YouTube videos to understand it better. Then I just made a plan: here’s what the algorithm needs to do, these are the stages it’ll go through, and this is the result I want.

Do I know how to use all the technologies I’m supposed to? Not at all. Have I ever worked with Pandas? Nope. Have I ever taken a machine learning class? Not yet. But I’m learning. I’m getting my hands dirty, and I’m lucky to have mentors, professors, and peers who are there to help when I get stuck.

I’m getting more used to that feeling of not knowing what I’m doing at first, but just figuring it out as I go. I’m excited and a little bit scared to actually do this, but I won’t stop until it’s done.

Hola a todos! This is Michelle, and I’m from Colombia. I live in Lake Elsinore, California. I’m glad I have the chance to talk about what got me into software because it was all a mix of trying and failing at everything I thought I was good at, and I ended up doing something I thought I couldn’t do but discovered I was capable of.

This might not be typical because most people in the industry are obsessed with technology and computers, but I wasn’t. I was passionate about painting, dancing, and hiking with my dad on the weekends. He always said to me, “Try everything you can until you find something that will bring you happiness,” so I did. I tried a lot of different things, but I never truly enjoyed any of them until I came to America and started taking coding classes to fulfill my science prerequisites. I would rather take C++ than any biology class!

I switched my degree from history to computer science, and now I’m excited to say that I would like to be a mobile engineer and build apps that help others. One app I would love to work on is a LiDAR to 3D Sound App for the Visually Impaired because it has a social aspect, would be a mobile app, and includes principles of GIS, such as 3D mapping of surfaces. It seems very challenging, but I think it’s a fantastic idea that checks all the boxes for something I would feel passionate about.

I enjoy software engineering, and what better way to use my skills than to build something that improves people’s lives? I know this might sound naive, but my optimistic view of the world led me to this new country, and it continues to guide me to places where I feel proud to work and be. So, that’s a little bit about me. How about you? Do you know what you’re passionate about and what skills you could use to explore that?

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