Our senior design project, from my perspective, is the culmination of all of the skills that we have obtained over the course of our college career. It is the application of all that we have learned in order to create something that not only showcases those skills, but is also something that we can be proud of and enjoy creating. However, this project is more than just a way to display our skills: it is a learning experience in ifself. With our project, we will be utilizing the basic foundational skills that we have learned through our classes as well as learning new skills for the specific API and framework that we will be using. We will also have to learn some user interface design principles in order to make our project look professional and clean. Our senior design project simultaneously marks the end of our college career and the beginning of our working career, so we want to make something great.
The skills that I have learned from my classwork at UC devise the backbone of my computer science knowledge. From theory-based classes to hands-on development classes, the classes that I have taken provided me with a solid foundation upon which to further build my skills. Classes like Linear Algebra (MATH 2076), Design and Analysis of Algorithms (CS 4071), and Discrete Structures (CS 2071) give me the knowledge of the theories and mathematics that make computer programs work. Having this knowledge allows me to apply their principles to other aspects of computer science and makes me a more well-rounded and thoughtful developer. Moving beyond these courses, I have also learned quite a bit from the more development-oriented courses. For example, Python Programming (CS 2021), Computer Science (CS 1021C), and Database Design and Development (CS 4092) have given me knowledge on Python, C++, and SQL (respectively), which are widely used languages in the field. Moving even further than that, classes like Software Engineering (EECE 3093C) and Technical Writing (ENGL 4092) have given me the skills to not only organize my development strategies but to also document them for others to follow.
My co-op experiences have given me a different perspective of software development in the workforce. Working at London Computer Systems (LCS), I took on the roles of Quality Assurance Tester and Software Developer Co-op. During my time on QA, I was able to see just how many things are overlooked in the software development process. From edge-case bugs to poor formatting, I learned that mistakes happen, and it is the responsibility of not only the developer but of the entire team to put out a product that can be easily utilized by the consumer without issues. Working as a software developer, I learned the ins and outs of how different pieces of code interact with each other. I learned how to effectively split the code into layers that each worked on a specific set of tasks in order to create code that is more easily maintained. I also learned the importance of source control and how necessary it is to communicate with team members so that only the best code is rolled out. My time at Paycor working as a Software Developer Intern taught me a valuable lesson in adaptability. I went into the position thinking that I would be mostly writing code, but instead I was ushered into a role that involved a lot of communication and technical support. Although this was not what I initially had planned on doing, I adapted and was able to put out good work. I think this adaptability, as well as the other skills I have gathered over my co-op experiences, will prove the be immensely valuable in working on our senior design project.
Our Meetify project is exciting to me because of the music aspect. Music has been a huge part of my life for a long time, and being able to apply that interest to my career field is something that I have always wanted to do. Having worked a little with the Spotify API before, I know how powerful it can be and how many tools we can have at our disposal when working on our project. Our goal is to create an application that matches users together based on their music tastes, using the data from their Spotify accounts. It will be a challenge, especially because we are planning on using a framework that none of us are familiar with, but that will only make the project more interesting. The prospect of creating a service that I would use myself is another motivating factor in my wanting to make this project great. It will be incredibly satisfying to see the project through to the end, and even more satisfying to be able to continue using it well after my college career comes to an end.
This project, however, will not be easy. I think the best way to begin our project would be to outline the primary functionality and how we want it to work. From there, we can discuss the tools that we want to use, like languages and frameworks, and how we should go about designing our solution from a high-end perspective. After that, we can fill in the gaps with specifics as we move along, while checking in with each other to make sure we are consistently on the same page at all times. It's hard to really call a project like this complete--after all, code can be continuously updated to add more features and fix issues that might arise. But I personally will be satisfied when we have a product that works and meets the vision that we lay out at the beginning of the project. I want the application to look and feel good. It should be professional and should be something that people would want to use in real life. It will take a while to get there, but I know my team has the skills and knowledge that is required to make something that we can all be proud of in the end.