I chose to study computer science because I love solving problems or creating unique things that others did not. Approaching to end of my undergraduate program as a computer science major, I wanted to create a project within my interest and face new challenges that I never faced before. While I was looking for capstones to take, creative computing studio capstone seemed like what I was looking for. As I reflect with beginning and end of semester, taking creative computing studio has been a big challenge but also joy for creating unique creative project and solving new challenges that I did not face before.
Unlike other class, Creative Computing Studio did not have any limit and restriction for our semester long open-ended project that students get to enjoy developing or creating a project with their common interest with their teammates. There were many things I gained from developing our project but one thing I gained the most is teamwork. All our teammates had similar interest that it was easy to pick our project theme/topic. However, everyone had their own unique skills and what they are confident of in development/implement field. Thankfully, we had enough trust to each other that everyone got to work on their confidential part and collaborate at the end. Also, because our team had high motivation to complete the project, we were willing to help each other when they face difficulties. With this team effort, Team Fournicorn could finish our semester-long project as what we expected before. Other than technical skills that I gained from this class, I valued our team effort to achieve goal together through out this semester.
As I graduate from undergraduate and start working as developer with my company’s team, I will be able to use this great team collaboration skills with my teammates. I personally believe that team Fournicorn had the best team collaboration because we cared and encouraged others throughout semester. Encouragement was very helpful to motivate myself and others. Especially, when we come into weekly group meeting, everyone has different mood. When teammate is in not a good mood, small/big encouragement can change their day and motivate them to be more productive.
Unfortunately, it is tough to have only positive words in team working setting. When there is something wrong and instead of calling out someone on their work, we can kindly rebuke them of what they are doing wrong and also show willingness to help. Simply, my biggest lesson I gained form this course is that teamwork begins by building trust and only way to building trust is to overcome our need for invulnerability.
Ultimately, I am very satisfied that I chose this capstone. Working on this kind of project will be rarely happen for me working as a developer for company but skillset that I gained from this course will be used in my daily life. I highly recommend this class to my fellow computer science major student because it allows us to learn what we expected and also what we did not expect.
