Major ProSeminar: Journal 3

Education Goals

Goals come in all shapes and sizes, some are big some are small. One thing that I have always acknowledge is how life tends to work upon systems; those systems can be then broken up into even smaller systems. Goals are the same thing, you can have a big picture goal and you can have a smaller picture goal. In terms of my educational goals, ultimately, my goal is to finish my computer science degree at California State University Monterey Bay. I am grateful to be able to be doing this program all online. That being said, achieving that ultimate goal of being granted the first bachelors degree in my family has to be built on smaller goals. I am currently taking the first of a few classes in the CS Online program at Monterey Bay. My short term–small goal–is, at the very minimum get a B in the class. I currently have an A, and I plan on doing everything I can to keep that A. School is not a just a letter grade, however, I specially want to to soak in as much information as I can from some of the courses that are in the program; I want to be a well rounded engineering. Ultimately, everything is a process built on smaller goals, and things take time to mature.

Career Goals

My biggest career goal like many other is to reach a level where I have a financial freedom and help other around me with whatever they require. However, reaching that goal of financial freedom is not a straight line path, and I acknowledge that. After completing my computer science degree, I plan looking for employment in the field of software engineering so I can start building experience. I do ambition to one day work at a big tech company, like Facebook or Google, but I think that is more because of the name. I want to have something that I can call my own, and something that I build. So, in conclusion, my career goal is financial freedom, and I hope to accomplish that by ultimately building a business in the software field.

ETS Computer Science Test

After looking at the ETS document page, in 18 months, I think I should be prepared. There is some stuff that I saw on there that I think I may need some reviewed, but I think I should do pretty good. I think in 18 months, everything in the test should be covered. Currently, I think I maybe have about 60% of the stuff there. It is mostly the algorithms, operating systems, and networking aspect of the test that I still have no knowledge of. I think I should be able to comfortably achieve at least an 80% in 18 months.

This Week

Through the week the class has been mostly focused on the second major assignment for this course: the ethics paper. In our class discussion, as a class we discussed different ethical frameworks through the use of scenarios. We also worked on an outline for the ethics paper. Lastly we also look at a preview of the ETS Computer Science test and self evaluated if we would be prepared or not in 18 months. Overall, not a busy week like previous, but plenty of valuable information. 

Major ProSeminar: Journal 2

Part 1: Learning Strategy

I like to start with the bad first. I never really thought about what I do when I'm reading or watching a certain topic; I mostly just let my mind soak in all the information. In the article we were assigned to read there is a section that talks about thinking of questions as you read; I have never done this, thus I would say I am bad at it. Further, I also tend to always be working around noisy environments like my living room. This is something I can improve by going to a private quiet place, to help me concentrate and study in a more efficient manner. Lastly, I am really bad at blocking out a specific time to get things done. I tend to just work whenever, and this is definitely something I am going to improve.

Now, on to the things I think I am good at. I really enjoy reading, in fact, when I have a purpose for reading something, and actually putting it to use, I tend to learn really fast and effectively. Second, somewhat in relation to reading, I do tend to be able to pick up the main idea of the authors without loosing the detail. I, essentially, can see the entire forest, and also the trees. Lastly, the last thing I noticed I already do is research notes. I always have the terminal on my computer opened with VIM editor taking notes about whatever I think is important.

Part 2: Time Management Skills

Part 3: Project Management Basics

The best way I can describe projects is automating human behavior to accomplish a task. There is end goals, and then there is temporary projects. However, projects, and having a project manager that is able to manage a project effectively is key to achieve long term end goals. Some ways a good project manager can do this is by the break down of larger task into smaller tasks. "People skills" are also extremely important since a project manager is essentially the orchestrator of the automation of human behavior. Lastly, a chart like the Gantt chart can be implemented to better organize and solve around a given projects' obstacles.

Part 4: Previous Capstones

The first project that caught my attention was the Oceanside Public Library system. This system in summary helped librarians pick up books for check out. I thought this project was interesting because a similar system like the one developed by the students is most likely used for big corporations like Amazon. The only thing I would add is a UI that is more intuitive or easier on the eyes.

The next project that I really enjoyed was EZDashboard. EZDashboard takes raw data and then converts it to visualizations, for example, pie charts. This project was great there was a lot of visualization, and I really like the data–how it was drawn out. This project was also using a lot of new technologies that are definitely being used in the industry today. One thing I think that can improve is to have a way to do something with the data, or perhaps being able to use the visual data somewhere else, for example, on a personal website.

Lastly, the Like A Camera project especially caught my eye. I recently started looking into getting in photography. Unfortunately, I'm fairly new, and still learning; this project seems perfect for me, I could learn a lot from a service like this. Perhaps they can add tier a list for paid content.

Part 5: Summary

Overall, this week was really busy, I had to write a rough draft on the outline I wrote last week. We also learned quite a lot about proper academic writing in APA format. I'm also excited to see what my team mates comments were for my rough draft. This was a demanding week, but I feel like I got a lot done, and learned a bunch of new things.

Major ProSeminar: Journal 1

 The next 100 weeks are going to be easy... is what I keep telling myself. 

In all honestly though, this week, I finally got a feel for what this online Computer Science program will be like. It definitely caught me off guard; I feel like this week was the first week that I got a feel for what the pace of this program will be like, and it definitely feels, well, fast pace. All in all though, it's not too too bad.

This week in module one we went over the graduation requirements for this Computer Science program. I also found that the brief introduction to APA style format through the use of a Google slides presentation handy; I have never used APA style for my writing. Additionally, we also learned a brief history of the school, and became familiar with some of the staff in the School of Computing & Design. Lastly, we also worked on an essay outline for an industry analysis.

Over all, not too bad of a week, just feels like a lot of "busy work."