CS373 Fall 2018: Kevin Wang (Week 1)

What did you do this past week?
This past week I attended my first classes of the Fall 2018 semester. In class, we were introduced to the overall course structure and what we could expect to get out of the class. On Friday, I learned how to setup Docker along with what it is used for and why we would want to use it for the projects in the class.
What’s in your way?
So far, I the thing that is most significantly in the way of my success in the course is keeping up with Piazza posts and the schedule of the class. I guess I am just not yet ready to accept the fact that school is starting again and that I need to stay up to date with when things like blog posts are due and when I should expect in-class quizzes.
What will you do next week?
Next week, I will be more attentive to Piazza announcements and make sure that I start on the week’s blog post earlier. I also need to buy textbooks for all my classes and in general start to get accustomed to my schedule for the semester. Another thing that I need to start doing more of is applying to internships for Summer 2019 and preparing for technical interviews because recruiting season is upon us once again 🎉🎉🎉.
What are your expectations of the class? (this question will vary, week to week)
In this class, I expect to learn more about web development and become more accustomed to Javascript along with relevant tools and frameworks such as React and RESTful APIs. Another thing I hope to get out of the class is to improve my writing through these weekly blog posts because I have never felt like a particularly strong writer, but I would like to improve in that aspect because I know that it is an essential skill to have in the software engineering industry.
What’s your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?
Know when assignments are due!! This may seem very obvious to others, but I am too firm of a believer in the phrase “ignorance is bliss” and as a result, I did not check when this first blog post was due. Especially in the first few weeks of the semester, you may find it difficult to remember to check the websites for each class or you may just be lazy (like me) and not even bother, but it is hugely beneficial to take less than an hour of your day to just bookmark all the course websites and mark key dates in your calendar/planner so that you do not find yourself in the same stressful situation that I am in right now.