My Journey

My interest in computers began in the early 2000s when the internet was experimental in nature. I remember that almost any website had a way to customize your profile page with a bit of HTML and CSS. I did not think much of it and went ahead with my life until I was in college. At that time, I was taking an Intro to Statistics course and my professor had us all do our assignments in the programming language R. I was not majoring in Computer Science at the time but I remember how exciting it was to create statistical graphs and charts with just a few lines of code.

A few years later, I had tried learning programming from a variety of online resources but it did not stick. I looked into a few Master degree programs but many of them expected understanding of Computer Science fundamentals. That is when I found OSU’s post-bacc in Computer Science. I was excited and enrolled in the first course, CS 161 – Introduction to Computer Science. At that time, it was taught in C++ and the information was very overwhelming. I was discouraged but I told myself if I am not challenged I am not learning anything. I took that mentality to heart through all the courses in the program leaving me today in my last remaining course, CS 467 – Capstone.

My Career

I was a graphic designer working in print creating banners, signs, and corporate awards. In an interest to transition into technology, I took on a role as an IT support technician. Someday, I hope to be in a role that has an intersection between technology and design. During my time at OSU, I have enjoyed the front-end portion of projects the most. I want to help make software products easier to use as well as pleasing to look at. Working in IT support has made me recognize how important effective user interfaces are for end users.

Capstone Project

I am not sure what I would like to build as my capstone project but I am eager to have dedicated time to build a project over the course of several weeks. I took CodePath’s iOS course where groups have a similar opportunity to build their own full-stack mobile application over six weeks. In that time span, my group built an app that helps people find images under the Creative Commons license. I would be interested in contributing to either a web or mobile project however I am open to learning something totally different. Of the proposed projects, one project that sounds interesting to me is the Citizen Science App for Kids. The idea of creating a cross-platform app that helps teachers and students collaborate sounds like a real-world application I would like to contribute to.

Me

Outside the computer, I have three awesome cats who do not understand why I stare at a screen all day. I enjoy hiking, photography, and baking. I have also recently decided to attempt to learn my family’s mother tongue, Cebuano, a language from the Southern Philippines. I figure if I can learn a programming language it is time to pick up a spoken language.