Week 5: Reflections on Teammates' Goals, Possible Capstone Ideas, Weekly Learning Reflection

 Part One: Support and Comment on Teammates' Goals

Week 4 - Ethan 




Ancora Imparo: CST300: Module 4 (Week 4) - Matthias

 



Part Two: Possible Capstone Ideas

I would like to model my three sample project ideas off of inspirations from three particular Capstone projects. 

Firstly, I appreciated Stuff Ride for its real-world application and potential as an everyday app for the general consumer. If I were to create a project at this level, I would hope to be incorporating a similarly hefty blend of front-end and back-end that went into Stuff Ride and would additionally hope to make it a mobile app as quickly as possible. My app/site for taking on an everyday consumer need by employing another user would revolve around similar principles. What is a service that users can provide to each other? The first that comes to mind is tutoring services as I'm sure just about every other type of exchange is accounted for in the app world. And not simply just academic tutoring, this could apply to all types of hands-on and non-technical focuses as well. There would need to be a vetting/portfolio aspect for potential "tutors" who would be teaching all kinds of things from martial arts to new languages to coding projects. There are plenty of people eager to share their knowledge who either don't have a job that allows them to do that or do not have friends or family in their life who wish to know. Aspiring musicians, carpenters, programmers, tailors, and more could all supplement work by offering teaching/training through this app.

I also absolutely loved Forms Tool and that is absolutely the type of Capstone project I would be proud to complete, another real-world application with massive potential for widespread use in a corporate or government setting. Much in the way that Forms Tool aims to unify the approach to the various forms and data handled in an office, I would love to write software that unifies other platforms (such as documents) within a business. Compliance comes to mind as that is a typical issue for many lines of work and often means many different things. I would love to write software that unifies Compliance requirements by creating checklists and perhaps even is sophisticated enough to verify steps in the checklist, for instance a program that verifies cyber-security compliance or some type of documentation-based compliance.

A third and final Capstone project that I was inspired by was PetRecs as that is another app that has plenty of potential for widespread use that could eventually also be used on the other side of the veterinarian table as well. An invaluable software tool would be one that keeps track of those types of loose documents but additionally allows you to share with the vet beyond just keeping the records for yourself. If this were my app I would love to add a forum where pet owners dealing with similar circumstances could communicate both as support and for advice/community, there could be anything from coping to product recommendations. Mobile deployment would be a must as well.

 

Part Three: Keep Up With Your Learning Journal 

This week has me thinking about a lot as we still discuss ethics, AI, careers, industry experts, and options after a bachelor's degree like internships and graduate school. There is a lot flying through my head and I'm desperate to get down into Operating Systems, Databases, Networks, and as many other relevant classes as the program offers. I need to begin whittling down to the domain I will be specializing in, beyond simply just which industry. This week has shown me like the other weeks that I still have a lot to learn and a lot of ancillary knowledge to learn in order to become a competitive candidate in the modern work landscape this cohort will find themselves in come Fall 2026. I need to pick up books on Linux as soon as possible, I need to find the time to work challenges on LeetCode, I need to pick a language to practice in regularly. While Java comes to mind because it is my best-known language, I also need to learn how to adapt to new languages quickly and understand the underlying landscape of the computer architecture and code structure well enough to make inferences and solve problems. I am feeling overwhelmed but will continue to trust the process as it has worked out so far. For now I am hoping to give my 10 years of managerial work experience, a couple of certifications and my CSUMB degree a chance at finding work and perhaps after a few years of working in industry I could consider grad school. 

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