The road to the finish line
10 May 2024
Introduction
Software Engineering II (ICS 414) is an elective class in the BS Computer Science program at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. This Spring 2024 semester, it only has one class offered and it gets filled out quickly. I was able to register on this course on the first day of classes since one of the previously registered students dropped the class. I still need one elective to graduate this semester and I chose this class. This course is a continuation of the things that I learned from Software Engineering I (ICS 314). It deals with project management, quality, and productivity control, testing and validation, and team management.
Lessons learned in my Software Engineering II class
On the first week of class, we were informed about how the class will be done. We were given a client, that wants to have a website regarding volunteering opportunities. She gave her idea and instructions on how the website will look like and how it functions. We were group in teams according to the professor’s discretion. It is hard to work in teams where you do not know each other well. We made a contract as a group that deals with responsibilities and conflict management.
As the weeks progressed, we made our repository and created the application that the clients intended it to be. We have weekly review codes that I think was a great help for us as students. Those weekly review codes determined what went wrong in our codes and we planned as a team on how to fix it. We had customer milestone every month to check in with our client and showcase our work. The client gave feedback which we used to improve our application. We also graded our fellow team members during every milestone accordingly.
As the semester ends, there are struggles that were encountered. Some team members stop working in the project. There was less communication that happened. Our final presentation was a success. I feel like there was not enough time for the duration of the project. However, I know that in the real world, time is also a factor, and this serves as a challenge for us.
Generalization
In conclusion, it was a great learning opportunity. I will always bring and apply the lessons that I have learned in the course as I progress in the real world after graduation.
Congratulations to all my fellow graduating seniors of Class 2024!