Sofwatre Engineering Part II
10 May 2024
Introduction
ICS 414 was one of the most interesting classes I took at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. This software engineering course gave me a taste of working with a group of people on a long-term project in web development.
Takeaway
One of the main takeaways from this course was how to navigate working with a group of people on a project. In ICS 314, the course project was only a month, while this project was over the entire semester. It was tricky at first. Working with 8 people on a project was rough, where in the beginning, we had problems stepping on each other’s toes as we had instances where people would work on the same thing. It was also challenging for us to all get on the same page, as we all had various opinions on how we should implement concepts into the website, especially between those who worked on the same part of the project. From this experience, I was able to learn how to communicate my opinions well within the group and learn how to compromise to settle with a concept that we all agreed upon.
This class relied heavily on being self-directed. Each milestone acted like a deadline for the website’s progress, as every 2 weeks, we needed to improve the website’s functionality. Because of this deadline being every 2 weeks, it relied heavily on making sure that I made progress throughout the 2 weeks instead of cramming at the end. So although it was great having this set deadline, it was also a challenge for me. This gave me first-hand experience of being self-directed, as although the deadline was set, I had to make sure that I gradually made progress within those deadlines. This can also be reflected in group work. Some people’s tasks relied on the completion of other people’s tasks, so making sure that I completed dependent tasks was crucial in ensuring that I was not preventing someone from not being able to complete their work.
Conclusion
Overall, this class has provided me the opportunity to explore software development in more depth, and I am glad I have taken this course. It has allowed me to develop not only my technical skills in using JavaScript with React, but also my soft skills such as communication, problem-solving, and working with others. This course is very helpful as I navigate what I want to do after college.