Monday, October 2, 2023

Introduction

My name is Osbaldo Arellano and I’m a Senior at Oregon State University studying Computer Science. I live in a small farm-working community called Gervais, located in Oregon. II enjoy playing challenging video games in my free time. I’m currently playing Lies of P and Baldur’s Gate 3, both of which are fantastic, but difficult, games. I also enjoy fishing for salmon and trout in Oregon’s scenic rivers.

My interest for computers and software began when I was a kid. My obsession with having a cool MySpace profile when I was in middle school led me to learn how to edit HTML and CSS. It also taught me how to view the source code of various web pages. I recall being amazed that characters on a screen could produce visually appealing websites. It was basically magic to me. Through middle school and high school, I was obsessed with software. I would download all the cool iOS apps and desktop software. Although I didn’t know how any of it worked, I was amazed at what computer can do. After high school, however, I did not pursue a future in software.

I joined a trade as an HVAC technician apprentice for three years before finally deciding to chase of my dreams of studying computer science. Quitting my job to go back to school was a huge leap for me, I was one year away from becoming a licensed journeyman. But I was young, so I took the leap and enrolled in Chemeketa Community College. After finishing my first computer science course, I realized that I truly did have a passion for programming and computer science.

It’s been three years and now I’m a senior at OSU. I have two internships under my belt, one in back-end software development and the other in DevOps engineering. I’ve taken courses in everything from parallel programming to algorithms, and have I completed a ton of projects. I don’t have a favorite technology or framework, but I really enjoy working on .NET/C# projects because of its emphasis on object-oriented programming.

The capstone project that interests me the most is Betchya, a mobile app that brings mobile betting to tribal casinos. There has been a huge increase in mobile betting recently, so I think that getting experience in the virtual betting world could be beneficial to me when I start looking for jobs. It’s also an opportunity to work with Native American people and help them have a piece of the pie in the rise of online betting.