Week 4

 Part 1: Set Your Educational Goals

 My first goal, something I want to prioritize as part of my free time between my coursework and my career is learning additional programming languages and becomes more comfortable with how large programs and application development works. Right now I feel like I have a giant gap in my knowledge compared to other people in the class, and I'm fearful of being left behind.

 

My plan is to do independent research on Youtube, since there are many different channels that can fill these gaps at my own pace. Last week I finished my last lower-division course, which should give me a lot more free time for this sort of extra curricular activity. I believe the next course is in Java, which I haven't learned yet, so I think that will be a good place to start.

 

I have ideas for a few simple applications that I believe I can use as an exercise to learn Java, or perhaps Python down the road.

 

Within the CS program, I feel that my naiveté really shows here--I don't exactly know what it is I need to learn to be a successful software engineer, but I am trusting that the program will get me there, and since it is tailored for people in my position and that it will be the right pace.

Part 2: Set Your Career Goals

Next week I'm interviewing a software engineering manage at my current employer. This is someone I already work with on a professional basis, and is someone I hope to work under once I complete my degree. His team for the most parts develops software for the new hardware going into our products, which seems like a larger team effort. There are other groups that develop software tools independent of hardware, which also seem like they could be fun to work on, but without having worked on either end myself, it is hard for me to say which type of software product I'd enjoy working on more. Perhaps my assumption is wrong, and the smaller software tools teams are more for me.

Part 3: Take a Wild Guess at Your Percentile of the ETS Computer Science Test

If I had to take that test now, I fear I would do worse than what would be expected of me at this point. Reading through the criteria of the test worried me, so I think that is another area I would like to invest some individual study time. I realize that the test is meant for people who have completed a degree program in computer science, but seeing the test played into my existing fears that I'm starting from behind.

 

Part 4: Keep Up With Your Learning Journal

This week was particularly interesting for me. As an English major, I've had to write a lot of essays, but never had to write an Ethics paper. I think I'm going to have a lot of fun writing the essay, but will have to be careful not to show my bias.

 

Additionally, regarding the goals topics, I have never been one to write out my goals and make sub-goals as a means of working towards them. I have had a similar issue in the past with task management, where I didn't find it necessary to track tasks and schedules, I was just always able to get things done. However, when my schedule became to hectic, I would struggle to keep up with everything, and didn't already have a strong task management system in place to help me get through it.

 

I have become better at this, but could still use some work at it. I believe the same thing applies for goals. Using the 7 Career Goals strategy might be a good place to start getting it down on paper and actively working towards them as a practice, and keeping a journal to regularly reflect on my progress.