CS373 Fall 2018: Joseph Distler
What did you do this past week?
My name is Joseph Distler and I’m a senior at UT-Austin. This past week was the beginning of my final semester of college! As always, this time of year is extremely hectic as I prepare for classes and work out my schedule. This last week was especially busy since I’m juggling a part-time job as a Software Engineer while finishing up this last semester for my degree. So on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I’m in classes while on Tuesdays and Thursdays I’m in the office. With a light school load this shouldn’t become too big of a problem!
What’s in your way?
At school, I’m blocked on starting my assignments since syllabus week is followed by labor day. What this means is that I won’t get the specifications for homework until my next class day, which is Wednesday. In one of my classes my professor was out this first week, so that has also held me back from getting assignments done early. At work, I’m blocked on getting some pull requests approved so I can merge into master and continue with deployments to production. There’s not much else in my way moving forward fortunately.
What will you do next week?
Next week will be a continuation of schoolwork and “real” work as I go to classes and head into the office. I look forward to getting started on more substantial material in my classes as I get my bearings in this new semester. At work I’ll continue on tickets carried over from the past week on squashing bugs and developing new features.
What are your expectations of the class?
I’m keeping an open mind about this current course, so my expectations are small. I expect to start diving into new and exciting topics, in addition to getting the first programming assignment. In general my expectations for this class are to cover practical applications of computer science in broad strokes, while deep diving into specific areas through class projects.
What’s your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?
My pick-of-the-week is the website https://www.sharelatex.com. As I brush up my resume, this site is extremely useful in creating a custom design in LaTeX. I’ve used it to come up with a unique resume design for which I have much more granular control than with a template or a microsoft word document. The LaTeX language is not too complex and a skill I’d recomend my peers to pick up. I hope it can help my fellow classmates as they begin the interviewing season!
Here is my current headshot:

