Reflections

In reflecting on my project, I think that it is important to take a trip back to what started the project, the original motivation if you will. I was being forced to come up with a project for a series of courses I had to take at the university I was attending (SUU). There were many project opportunities, but being the stubborn student that I was, I was very closed off to most of the options. That is when it hit me, if I was going to do a project, I would do a project that I had been thinking a little about doing anyway. A project that could potentially catapult me into opportunities that I may not have had otherwise. A project that could set me up for success in the future. That is where the planning started, and of course simultaneously started to evolve.

The first step in getting the project started was to convince the director that my project was a worthy cause. This of course took a little bit of finagling because it was different than most other projects, but hey, that’s why I chose the creativity track option of the courses right? Once the powers that be were convinced of my project I started down the road of purchasing a domain, customizing a website, and adding content. It took some time to track down the photos and other information that I wanted to put into the site, but I was able to put together a fairly comprehensive product in the end!

Speaking of the end, the end goal was to showcase myself to potential business partners or employers should that need ever arise. Rather than producing a traditional resume that really doesn't cover most important topics, and is impractical in situations such as trying to work with someone in a joint investment opportunity, this site allows for me to easily show people who I am, what experience I have, and hopefully indicate what I am capable of. A few times I have been asked if my goal was achieved, and while I have yet to have any professional feedback for its intended application, I think that the end goal was indeed achieved here!

The outcome of the project was a professional grade website with pages covering my past experiences, projects I have been involved in, service, work history, as well as a traditional resume and way to contact me. It is everything I was hoping to see, and is continually improving.

I was able to use many skills that I had already obtained, such as an eye for placement and design, Knowing what key information to place in order to give enough information but not be overly thorough, and how to direct people to the site. But I was able to also gain many new skills and learn new tasks in the completion of the project. Those include but are not limited to, how to place stake on a new domain, how to create a blog, website creation, embedding items, and linking to external sites.

As mentioned previously, I started this project because of a requirement from a course series required to graduate. Thinking back on the project, I think that the university requires its students to complete a project in order to give students a taste of real life project planning, preparation, and completion, on a broader scale than a class can teach in one semester. Since the project takes place over no less than three semesters, it gives students an opportunity to really put time into a project and hopefully have a lasting impact. The Course series is Called the EDGE program, I believe the EDGE stands for giving students an EDGE over others that have not completed something similar

Now that I am graduating, I am ecstatic to be able to move on in my careers and have put all of this in my past. Having checked this project off my list is exciting to say the least, and I am ready to use the deliverable that I have created to the fullest!