CST300 Week 5

Support and Comment on Teammates' Goals
Aerin: I understand the difficulty finding the General Education requirements at a Junior College (or even harder finding them online). Luckily I have taken most of my classes beyond this (all but 4). You may want to talk to Claudia Carter about locating any missing classes (she found my needed OS class online for me). I agree that setting detailed long term goals is a waste of time (**it happens). That being said, as you move forward I would continue to set these detailed goals as short term goals. Good luck and talk to you soon.
Lady Mozzarella: I'm a little jealous you get to focus on this class (withdrawal from Philosophy). Investing in a home is a noble cause and a solid investment. I would start looking for dream jobs that interest you now. They will not be available by the time you graduate, but they will show what you need to be qualified for them. I call it window shopping for jobs. Good luck and talk to you soon.

Possible Capstone Ideas

• Open Source Electronic Lab Notebook (could be useful at my work)
• Custom Android OS build required
• Using intranet facing database
• Requires extensive audit trail (21 CFR Part 11 compliance)
• Restaurant Menu/Ordering System (like Ziosk but for small restaurants)
• Custom Android OS build required (possible custom hardware)
• Integrated system to not just take orders, but to also show them to kitchen
• Using intranet facing database
• Security Guard Reporting App (actually have a client that might pay for this)
• Android User Interface
• Using web facing database
• Requires use of GPS, voice recognition, phone integration
• Custom In-Store Ordering App (for Mobile Living)
• Android User Interface
• Using intranet facing database
• Open Source Textbooks (not completely CS)
• Tired of seeing book publishers ripping off schools and students?
• Non-Profit (501(c)(3))
• Cost of books would be means based (for both schools and students)
• Does require qualified authors
• Difficult to get past corrupt textbook selection committees
• This is most likely too large of a project for a capstone (requires a large team)

Keep Up With Your Learning Journal
I found the researching of Masters Programs quite interesting. I spoke with some of my PhD and MS colleagues and they agreed that the drawbacks of a Post-Graduate degree are very burdensome. The biggest problems are overspecialization and being overqualified. But they had to admit that if they had to do over again, they would. I am not interested in working in research or academia, so will most likely not pursue this. As far as internships, this is a definate possibility. A friend of mine (Zishan) just finished a summer internship with Intel and they hired him this fall. They were so impressed by him that they paid to relocate him and even flew him on a private jet to start his new job. I already have 20 years experience in Information Technology and am also a little old for an internship.

CST300 Week 4

My educational goals are simple. I am looking to graduate from CSUMB with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science in 23 months. Shortly after graduation I am planning to obtain my PMP certification. This should lead nicely into my career goals.

For my career goals I am looking for a job similar to my existing job, but with a larger company like Genentech. This will provide stability and allow me to continue to save for my childrens college and my early retirement (I am still hoping to retire in another 15 years).

"Lady Mozzarella": As was suggested to me, I would plan more specific items to work on during your study periods (I like that idea). I would also try to allocate personal time so that it doesn't overflow into your study time.

"Aerin": I couldn't find your calendar on your blog.

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Goals should be:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Relevant
• Time-Bound

My goal score is a 54. "Although you meet some of your goals – which may be those that are most connected to your values and long-term plans – you sometimes fall short on others. Do you find that you get overwhelmed by other commitments as you progress towards a goal, do you struggle with self-discipline, or, do you find it hard to form new habits when working towards your goals?"

According to Locke and Latham, there are five goal setting principles that can improve our chances of success:

• Clarity
• Challenge
• Commitment
• Feedback
• Task complexity

CST300 Week 3

Jot down one best time block you can study. How long is it? What makes for a good break for you? Can you control the activity and return to your studies?

The best time is in the evening after the kids go to bed. I get a few hours to study and personal time. The kids are the biggest distraction as they want my time. It is open ended until I go to bed.

What is the best study space you can think of? What is another?

My dining room is a good place to study as there is no television, phone or other distractions. My backup is the Starbucks down the road.

What is the best time in a week you can review?

Just before the class works best for me so that the information is fresh.

What subject has always caused you problems?

Generally Mathematics has proven difficult.

What is a first step you can identify for an assignment to get yourself started?
Read the instructions and create an outline.

What is one distraction that causes you to stop studying?
Television

Write down three examples for that difficult subject above? Be as specific as possible.
Calculus I, Calculus II and Calculus III. In particular the large amounts of time and effort necessary for een a single problem.

What is one example of applying free time to your studies?
Listening to lectures while driving. Practicing what you learn in day-to-day situations. In my case this includes using Spanish whenever reasonable.

The first 24 hours are critical. Forgetting is greatest within 24 hours without review! How would you do this? Is there free time you can use?

I don't review after class (anymore). I will try to make time directly after class (such as on way home) to review key concepts.

CST300 Week 2

Review and Reflect Learning Strategy
I am very good at scheduling, rescheduling and making sure I study in a conducive environment. On the other hand I am very rusty on Thinking Skills, which I need to practice. I had never heard of the SQ3R (Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review) method but am very interested and willing to try this out. I have never used the highlighting method either (denounced in other reading assignments this week), but my wife swore by this in Nursing School.

Preview Time Management Skills
Activity Log for 08-Sep-2015 (My work involves a constant changing of activities (immediate response is required). So I focused on non-work time.)

Project Management Basics
Project Life Cycle = Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Control Process, & Closing.Why manage? 1/4 projects make it to market, 31% IT projects cancelled, & only 42% of original features make it into end product."Work Breakdown Structure is deliverable oriented heirarchical decomposition of the work to be executed by the team to accomplish the project objectives and create the required deliverables." Long way of saying dividing up the work into manageable chunks to be performed by the people most qualified to do each part.Gantt charts are very handy way to break down project components across multiple teams. Expected time = (O + 4M + P) / 6 where O is optimistic estimate, M is normal estimate and P is pessimistic estimate.

Check Out Previous Capstones
#3 - Language Screener - iOS app to work with autistic children (I imagine it could work with any age though) and allow them to learn and improve communication. For their demo they showed a video of it in use rather than actually using it, this would imply there are known problems they wanted to avoid during their demo.
#2 - Ceres - open source small business management software. Bad recording but good sounding product. While the demo was pre-recorded it used a lot of screenshots and they seemed to really understand the product well. I see a large market potential for this product and like the choice of making it Open Source.
#1 - Steebly - Cloud, browser based IDE w/compiler in multiple programming languages. Very similar to CodeAcademy with potentially lower bandwidth overhead. They also take it to the next level by allowing collaboration with an instructor or tutor. Very ambitious and seems stable based on their short demo despite the apparent Herculean task.