Extra Blog: }

It was pretty fast I would say. Mandatory school. School that students need to complete before starting into society and can make their own decisions of what they want to do. All these years, 15 of them, went by like a blink of an eye. And high school was only a faction of that blink. It's crazy to think that this is over, but we must move on with life.

High school has been fun and stressful at the same time and I have changed my mindset regarding the world. I see it as a place with possibility and people. But despite high school ending, I want to enjoy the rest of it to its fullest. I aim to spend time with the people I've been with for the last four years in the next week to the fullest since, for some of them, I may never see again.

Regardless, I am glad that I am almost stress-free, the last thing I need to consider is my college classes and finals. I am glad I've had the experiences I see a bright future ahead, regardless of where I go. I wish everyone the same as well. It's sad honestly.

Also, we are now a part of history, and, like so many other years, are graduating high school. I have confidence in this class that they will make a change to this world we live in. There are some great people in this class. Kind and happy people, leaders, and creators. If any class can do something to this world, regardless of whether they are good or bad, I believe that this class has the power to do that. To be more than just a statistic in history, but rather, a driving force for a new tomorrow.

Senior Project Reflection

1. Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your block presentation and/or your senior project? Why?

Time management with the amount of information I had. I had more than 70 slides and I was able to us up all the time and include everything. I was worried I wouldn't have enough time, but I used it all efficiently. Also, I was able to speak energetically throughout the presentation without

(2) Questions to Consider

a. What assessment would you give yourself on your block presentation (self-assessment)?

          AE/P

b. What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project (self-assessment)?

          AE/P

(3) What worked for you in your senior project?

Having actual experience in programming and creating applications as well has having solid evidence for my answers. Each were very direct the answers were clear and made sense logically. There was a lot of information and I was able to communicate them well, despite the large amount of content.

(4) (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your senior project if you could go back in time?

I would have cut some slides from the powerpoint as some were not as needed. Also, I would prepare better organization of distributing the activity forms as they was disorganized. I would also rehears more so I wouldn't stutter.

(5) Finding Value

How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors? Be specific and use examples.

I was able to understand what it really takes to be a software developer and a programmer in general. I was able to learn things that people wouldn't learn until they start working, therefore giving me ample experience in programming. I will have a large amount of background experience going into the major of computer science as well as understanding what exactly is possible with technology.

Blog 22: Mentorship

Literal

Log of specific hours with a total and a description of your duties updated on the right hand side of your blog.

Done.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pk06m750zrh1IsLXwaHWU21neVqb5LkzlIeC5KYTGr0/edit#gid=0

Contact Name and Mentorship Place

Lily Wu.

Our house at her computer desk.

Interpretive
What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?

The most important things that I have learned from mentorship are various programming skills and information as well as how to actually applying that knowledge that could be used in a practical way. This includes not only teaching me a large amount of code that helped me later on in my independent component and having me research parts and create a computer from scratch, but also showing me the code and contents of example programs that she had worked on previously in the workplace. These elements helped me to understand what it really means to be a programmer and what I would need to generally prepare for when I enter this field in the near future.

Applied
How has what you've done helped you to answer your EQ? Please explain.
During mentorship, I told my mentor about my essential question and asked about her thoughts on it. She immediately said that the most important aspect is the understanding of the business side of the application, meaning to understand all the external aspects of the developing application other than programming itself. This would include communication with team members, understand customers' needs, and knowing how the application will be used. I was able to experience how important this was by doing work assignment she had me do including creating a computer and installing software such as the Oracle database into the computer. I had to understand what exactly she wanted and needed to cater my actions towards that need. Doing this helped me to develop my 2nd answer to my EQ and ended up becoming my best answer.

Extra Blog: Generating Reports in PDF Format

As an addition to the development of JIIS, I allowed for users to have a way to generate a report of the existing user records in a PDF format that could be downloaded, saved, and printed. On the report, it contained the title "JIIS User Profiles Report," the report generation date, the report page number, and the table of all the current user records in the JIIS_User_Profiles database table. My mentor helped to guide me through this process by directing me to which sample programs to review, as well as what I should replicate in the JIIS programs.

Also, in addition to implementing the ability to generate user profile reports, I changed the font color and size of the alert messages in the add and update forms so that they could be more noticeable. I changed the font color to be red and made the font almost the same size as the titles of those forms.

Exit Interview

Content:

(1) What is your essential question, and what are your answers? 

EQ: How can a software developer create applications that best meet customers' needs?

Answer 1: A software developer can create applications that best meet customers' need by having a solid foundation in fundamental knowledge.

Answer 2: A software developer can create applications that best me customers' needs by understanding the business side of the application.
Answer 3: A software developer can create application that best meet customer's needs by actively keeping up to date with technology and continually learning new technological subjects.

What is your best answer and why?

My best answer is my second answer, due to the fact that it involves the developer of the understanding of the customer, the people who will use the application, and how it will be used. In a sense, it is basically the understanding of the application's main purpose to fulfill. A solid foundation, as stated in answer one, can be helpful and will certainly make the process of creating the application easier, but this does not mean that the application will directly be in line with customers' needs, much less met them at all. Also, as stated in answer 3, learning new subjects is also helpful and it allows the developer to be be flexible if addressed with a task they have never done before, but this is not present in every request. In fact, it rarely happens that the developer would need to learn something new. Also, learning new things can help to meet a customer's needs by doing something they requested, but it will not ensure that it can be completed as successfully as possible as having an understanding of the business side of the application. Therefore, due to these reasons, answer 2 is my best answer.

(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

I wanted to research what is at the core of programming an application and wanted to single out what was really important. I found that the only reason why applications exist is due to the end goal, as everything is worked towards and developed to complete it. I found that this goal is the customers' needs on the business side of the application, mixed in with other work and date that needs to be researched. My mentor even said that the business side is most important as well as it allows the programmer to not only understand how the system works, but also understand the request, or end goal, as well. I was able to see how this relate directly to both it's success as an application, but also its relativity to the essential question itself.

(3) What problems did you face? How did you resolve them?

One problem I ran into was defining who the customer is. Throughout my research, I found that applications were for both customers that came directly to the developer with request (as in the case of my mentorship and independent component), as well as the customer as a general target audience in the market. To make sure I could accurately represent who the customer is, I had to define the customer as two different types - a direct customer and a target audience. I also had to define the differences in knowing what their needs are since direct customers would write request layout all the needed items explicitly and target audiences would be unknown, therefore requiring research into what problems they need solving.

(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?
Stating that the business side is extremely important.

Mentorship and interview with Lily Wu.

Why understanding customer is important.

Interview #3 with Jorge Huerta.

Identified how much change is causes depending on the target audience.

Katie Klumb's article "How to Design Websites for a Target Audience."

Link that the target audience is a customer also.
Diane Vigil's article "Web Design, Ad Copy and Targeting your Target Audience."

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Huerta, Jorge. Personal Interview. Feb. 13, 2015.

Klumb, Katie. "How to Design Websites for a Target Audience." Web Ascender. Michigan Website Design and Development, July 1, 2014. Web. Jan. 23, 2015.<http://www.webascender.com/Blog/ID/565/How-to-Design-Websites-for-a-Target-Audience#.VMJZTivF-VM>

Vigil, Diane. "Web Design, Ad Copy and Targeting your Target Audience." Web Design Help. DianeV Web Design Studio, n.d. Web. Jan. 23, 2015. <http://dianev.com/web-design-help/web_design_basics/target_audience.html>

Wu, Lily. Personal Interview. Oct. 24, 2014.