Hey all, my name is Zach, and I live in the Portland, Oregon area. I am one term away from graduating and am very excited to break into the working work of Computer Science. This will be a complete career change as I currently work in the insurance industry. I am both excited and nervous to start a new career.

From a young age, I loved being on the computer, trying different things, and making new discoveries. I always knew that I should study computers, however, instead, I took a few different routes through college, studying this and that. I finally graduated with a business degree, and started doing plain old business type things, nothing too exciting.

My brother and I joined this program together. Actually, he joined it first, then told me that it was something he thought that I would be perfect for. He later discovered  that it was not right for him. I have made it just about to the end of the program while working full time, parenting 3 small children, and even coaching a sport here and there. As weird as it is to say, the pandemic actually made the program a little easier for me.

I have really enjoyed the programming courses in this program. I enjoyed learning Python, which was learned in multiple course, and I really enjoyed learning Flutter, which was learned last term in the elective CS 492.  I have recently purchased a new computer (it’s on its way, which should make programming in flutter, and having an Android Emulator running much quicker. That was a bit of a struggle. I really enjoyed programming in Flutter/Dart, and could see myself targeting that for a career.

As for this course, I really like a lot of the projects that are available, and look forward to being assigned one. I chose a few that interested me, but I am curious to see how popular they are. We shall see. I’m excited to get going on the project and the class and get some real life programming experience going. Here’s to the future.