David Oakes Learning Journal

 Here at the end of week 8, on a Saturday. I already hope that the 'due at 5 pm' thing is only for this first, already cut short week, for, as such, this post is overdue as an assignment. The video project roster, when I last checked, didn't have the videos that I was tasked with reviewing. That fact basically defeated this week's prompt altogether. Not that I particularly mind, I was never particularly great when it came to reviewing.  In any case, the orientation for the Software Engineering course that'll be occupying the next 8 weeks of the program went very well. I already feel as if I'm going to get along with Dr. C. Though I am concerned with whether or not my Java skills are too rusty to get things going. It has been years since I last sat down and wrote any sort of code for any sort of reason. And the fact that we aren't using the same program as I did when I was studying Java code at Gavilan, granted while not wholly unexpected, is a little dauntin...

With the passing of week 7, I'm now officially wrapping up my first two courses at CSUMB. This went by leagues faster than I expected it to. The last major project to consider is a research video project. Both the videos' links will be part of next week's post. Honestly, I didn't expect the whole process to go as smoothly as it did. With a large portion of the research being handled by my teammates and video editing, my contribution to the project was mostly in the form of providing the voiceover work for the videos. For the longest time, I had always had the idea of trying my hand at voice work. More or less for the fact that I had often been complimented in middle and high school for my voice. When you're told that your narrating voice compared to that of Morgan Freeman, of course the idea is going to start sticking around in your skull. I'm still working out whether or not I was surprised when the project's video editor messaged me on our discord server s...

 Week 6? Already? I knew they said it would go by quick, but I didn't think this quick. In any case, the week's work was fairly straightforward enough. The most difficult thing about it was the mock resume and cover letter that had to be set up. It was a theoretical, taken with some seriousness, but it was nevertheless a challenge. Primarily on the account of the fact I have difficulty with long-term planning due to a bad overthinking habit. I wish I had more time to go over it before having to turn it in, but I suppose that's how these things go.  I was able to have at least a little bit of a brainstorm regarding capstone ideas with my team. The computer game idea was somewhat well received, having been verified as a valid project type in the initial assignment prompt. The idea of a game mod saw a bit more conversation. The conversation there turned to perhaps coding a mod that integrates some degree of machine learning into the game's mechanics. This would allow the g...

With the conclusion of the fifth week, I now find myself past the halfway point in the first 2 classes of the program. It really did go by a lot quicker than I thought it would. This week's module put further emphasis on the use of AI in our writing assignments. I'll admit, I'm still very much on the fence as to how much I'm willing to lean on AI as a tool to assist in my assignments. Don't get me wrong, I very much appreciate its help, but I am left with the sneaking sensation that perhaps AI is making it too easy. Of course, this is my first time using it to the extent that I am. So maybe it's just a sort of knee-jerk fear of the unfamiliar. Not sure yet.  Speaking of new things, this week I finally got a more in-depth explanation as to what the capstone project is about and was about. The short version is that the capstone is a demonstration of everything that's been learned through the program. The capstone project is a software engineering project that ...

 Here we are at the end of week 4. The Ethics essay topic has been submitted and approved. Its framework and sources have been assembled, ready for the full write next week. My main goal for the next academic week is to get said essay written by Saturday. Speaking of goals, the prompt for this weeks focuses on setting long-term goals for both my education and career path. I'll admit, setting long-term goals isn't the easiest thing in the world for me. I always try to keep myself within the realms of possibility and end up either over doing so, or otherwise panicking myself over potential risks. To the result of either having a goal that is simply too vague or underwhelming. Nevertheless, I will at least try to do so here.  For the educational goal, I would just say something along the lines of 'Get through to the end of the program and get my Bachelor's degree', but that is too boring. To tell the truth, I would be more interested in learning the many and varying tr...

First time using a title on this thing, feels like I missed something. On the matter of missing things, when the assignment prompt for this mentioned "Inserting this into the learning Journal", I wasn't completely sure as to whether this is meant to be a part of this weeks weekly post, or its own separate thing. I've already made a note to myself to mention this post in that post when I write it.  As for the Interview itself, the prompt in question was to get in touch with someone in an industry of or relating to computer science. Having had some difficulty figuring out networking in general, I didn't have a particularly great time getting in touch with an expert, outside of my father. Turning to family isn't ideal, given the networking aspect intended, but I didn't have much other options that I could reasonably count on.  Mark, an engineering manager at Atlona Inc., began our conversation on his career path with his start as an equipment designer. Specif...

So week three is now coming to a close. My first essay of the program is finished and turned in, and  most of the rest of the non-essay busy-work of the week was spent studying ethics in preparation for an Ethics Argument essay. I've submitted a topic for evaluation, and am waiting to hear back and hoping for approval. All truths told, I wasn't expecting to be so enthralled by the topic of how ethics arguments were set up. I was expect things to be fairly nebulous going in, with most matters being context dependent. I was correct in the latter, but the former was unexpected.  Short answer: Context matters. The longer one looks more like "questions and debates regarding the ethics involved in a given field are to remain bound to that field and the frameworks within." Just because the logic of an argument is correct in one place, doesn't necessarily mean its correct everywhere. If that is an obvious fact of debating ethics, then it just goes to show how seldomly I a...