A New Adventure...

Tuesday was the annual CS Alumni Symposium.  There were about 9 alum present who told us a little about their current jobs/projects, gave us some advice for preparing for jobs, and answered questions.  The most helpful thing I came away with was that it is very important to be working on some project(s) outside of school. 

I was a little discouraged because I haven't done any outside projects.  I haven't even had an internship.  At first, I thought maybe I could get more involved in the Sugar Labs project.  Then I remembered that a friend of mine asked (a while ago) if I would be interested in working on a website that he and his clients could use for his business.  At the time, I felt a little overwhelmed and didn't see how I could possibly accomplish the task.  Now, I do have some more time (since I'm not working this semester), and feel like I have learned enough since then that it would be possible.  I contacted him yesterday and asked if he would be interested in an Android app (and maybe a similar website later).  I have more interest in learning how to develop an Android app and think it would be less of an undertaking.  He thought that was a great idea and we plan to meet to discuss his requirements within the next week.

In the meantime, I have installed all the necessary tools to develop an app, and I'm working on the tutorials on the Android Developers' site.  So far, I've written the "Hello, Android" app.  It took a while to get the Android Emulator working, but I finally have my "Hello, Android" app running!

In this project, I'm hoping to use the design skills I'm using in my Software Architecture and Design course, get some more Java experience, and have a better understanding of a software project from start to finish.  I'm also thinking we'll need to have some sort of database involved for what he wants.  Though I've worked with databases and sequel statements before, it will be good to learn how to integrate a database into the program.

Thinking about this application for my friend has also given me an idea for a Sugar Labs activity.  I think it's something that could be simple enough to implement and release before the end of the semester, and then we could add functionality later on if we'd like to continue with it.  I'm going to present the idea to my team next time we meet.