I’m studying design here at Olin, but for this project, my emphasis shifted to learning more about software. My responsibilities for Lazer Maze were scoped to the development of our web app and website.
I’m pretty new to software. And by pretty new, I mean super new. I had never worked with Python, Flask, or JavaScript before this semester, and I only started doing webdev and working with HTML and CSS around a year ago. During this project, while trying to learn software design, I’ve gained some insight on my learning style regarding software.
I’ve found that I haven’t been learning as effectively as possible with regard to Python, Flask, and JavaScript during this project, whereas I feel I’ve learned more with regard to HTML and CSS. I think the distinction lies with the fact that I knew more HTML and CSS coming into this project, and therefore had a higher level of confidence and knowledge of the terminology. With the newer material, I often found myself frustrated when I couldn’t explain my goals and issues with the necessary jargon to summon the aid of the good people of Olin and Google.
I’m a bit disappointed that I couldn’t achieve more with regard to my learning goals. While I did learn a lot about version control with git (see Katie's blog post for a detailed history of our merge conflict frustrations), and definitely feel more confident maintaining a website and managing content, my software endeavors were not as successful as they could have been. In retrospect, I'm not sure if POE was the appropriate setting for me to learn the fundamentals of a new field based on my learning style. I sometimes wish that I had either advocated for a more design-oriented project during which I could develop my creative skills, or joined a team that had more design-oriented learning goals in general. Regardless, I am still interested in continuing my learning in the software field. In the future, I think I would appreciate a more structured progression through concepts… Good thing I’m enrolled in Software Design next semester!