What is your plan for next week?
Tuesday, March 10, 2026
CST489/499 - Week 9
What project milestones did you accomplish this week? If you're working in a team, please list what you personally contributed, not the project status overall.
I've decided to use my weather service website that I previously created in CST336. It makes API calls to fetch the local weather based on the user's zip code.
What is your plan for next week?
I plan to schedule my AWS exam for about a week from now, so I hope to have my AWS certification around March 20th if everything goes according to plan. I did have scheduling issues previously, so I hope that won’t be a problem this time.
What challenges, if any, are you currently facing in project development? Do you need instructor assistance?
I am not currently facing any issues with project development. Last week I finished my Scrum project, and I have an overview of what my AWS project will be.
What is your plan for next week?
Wednesday, March 4, 2026
CST489/499 - Week 8
In the final week of CST489 before we transition to the capstone class CST499, I spent some time reviewing a few more AWS topics in preparation for my exam. Then, I spent some time creating my Mini Project for my Scrum certificate, which I finished last week, and you can read about here
Final Project Scenario
"Your team has been tasked with developing the back-end product catalog for an e-commerce website. Stakeholders require the ability to create, retrieve, update, and delete products from the catalog, along with features like indicating product likes and hosting on a cloud environment with automated deployments."
For this project, I played the roles of a product owner, scrum master, and developer. As the product owner, I create user stories for my team and organize them into the product backlog. As the scrum master, I create a sprint and ensure a subset of the stories is ready for the upcoming sprint plan. As a developer, I create the sprint backlog and complete the stories by moving them across the Kanban board in a simulated sprint.
Click the 3 vertical dots on the slideshow to enter full-screen mode.
Completed Project Overview
CST489/499 - Week 7
This week, I completed IBM's Introduction to Agile Development and Scrum course through Coursera.
Link to view completed certificate
The course covered Scrum roles such as the Scrum Master, Product Owner, and Development Team, as well as Kanban and other Agile planning tools. I also learned how to set up and manage a Kanban board in GitHub and how to write effective user stories, though I was already familiar with this from CST438.
A few other topics included sprint planning and how to conduct a "daily stand-up," where each team member briefly reports on their progress. I learned about burndown charts and how they can be used in GitHub projects to track sprint progress.
The course explained the difference between a Sprint Review and a Sprint Retrospective. A Sprint Review involves a live demonstration for all stakeholders that shows what was accomplished during the sprint. In contrast, a Sprint Retrospective is typically attended only by the Scrum Master and the Development Team so that team members feel comfortable speaking openly about what went well and what could be improved.
There were many additional topics related to Agile development and Scrum principles, but these were the main hands-on concepts covered in the course.
The course covered Scrum roles such as the Scrum Master, Product Owner, and Development Team, as well as Kanban and other Agile planning tools. I also learned how to set up and manage a Kanban board in GitHub and how to write effective user stories, though I was already familiar with this from CST438.
A few other topics included sprint planning and how to conduct a "daily stand-up," where each team member briefly reports on their progress. I learned about burndown charts and how they can be used in GitHub projects to track sprint progress.
The course explained the difference between a Sprint Review and a Sprint Retrospective. A Sprint Review involves a live demonstration for all stakeholders that shows what was accomplished during the sprint. In contrast, a Sprint Retrospective is typically attended only by the Scrum Master and the Development Team so that team members feel comfortable speaking openly about what went well and what could be improved.
There were many additional topics related to Agile development and Scrum principles, but these were the main hands-on concepts covered in the course.
I did not spend much time studying for my AWS certification this week, so I will need to focus on that along with finishing my Scrum project next week.
Thursday, February 19, 2026
CST489/499 - Week 6
This week, I completed the AWS CLF-C02 Cloud Practitioner course from freeCodeCamp's YouTube channel. While reviewing the material, I scheduled the Cloud Practitioner exam for February 15th after discovering a promotion called AWS Retake 2026, which offered a free retake and 25% off my first attempt.
Unfortunately, on test day, I was placed in a queue and had to reschedule the exam. In hindsight, it may have worked out for the best, as I wasn't feeling fully confident. I had only started taking practice exams the night before and was scoring around 55–65%.
I plan to reschedule the exam within the next week or two once I feel fully prepared. In the meantime, I will also begin working on my Scrum certification.
Unfortunately, on test day, I was placed in a queue and had to reschedule the exam. In hindsight, it may have worked out for the best, as I wasn't feeling fully confident. I had only started taking practice exams the night before and was scoring around 55–65%.
I plan to reschedule the exam within the next week or two once I feel fully prepared. In the meantime, I will also begin working on my Scrum certification.
CST489/499 - Week 5
This week, I started the Getting Started with Cloud Computing modules in AWS Educate. I have completed the Introduction to the AWS Console, Introduction to Cloud 101, Getting Started with Storage, Getting Started with Compute, and Getting Started with Networking.
There are four additional modules covering Databases, Cloud Operations, Security, and Serverless that I decided not to go over because I found a YouTube course that also covers these topics.
I may go back to those modules above to further review the content, because there are a lot of AWS services, and it can be a bit confusing on each one's functionality, especially when they have similar names.
Tuesday, February 3, 2026
CST489/499 - Week 4
As part of my Capstone, I have chosen to participate in the certificate track instead of the project track. The certificate track involves selecting 3-4 certificates that interest me and will benefit my future career. The two main certificates I have decided on are AWS Cloud Practitioner and Google's Cybersecurity.
As part of the Certificate Track, we are required to create a proposal that outlines the rationale for each certificate, the learning objectives, a general timeline, and an evaluation of potential risks along with mitigation strategies.
This week, I decided to start the AWS Cloud Practitioner course to prepare for the exam. I found the AWS website a bit convoluted to navigate, and spent some time researching before finally creating my AWS Educate and Skillbuilder accounts. Unfortunately, I fell behind on the modules because I misunderstood that I could begin the process before being graded on my Certificate Track Proposal. I will need to dedicate extra time to make up for the lost time and stay on track to take the exam.
As part of the Certificate Track, we are required to create a proposal that outlines the rationale for each certificate, the learning objectives, a general timeline, and an evaluation of potential risks along with mitigation strategies.
This week, I decided to start the AWS Cloud Practitioner course to prepare for the exam. I found the AWS website a bit convoluted to navigate, and spent some time researching before finally creating my AWS Educate and Skillbuilder accounts. Unfortunately, I fell behind on the modules because I misunderstood that I could begin the process before being graded on my Certificate Track Proposal. I will need to dedicate extra time to make up for the lost time and stay on track to take the exam.
Saturday, December 20, 2025
CST438 - Week 8
With week 8 coming to a close and the holidays just around the corner, my time in this Software Engineering class is also coming to an end. Throughout the course, there were several topics that I found particularly important.
A crucial part of any development stage is, of course, testing. Interestingly, you often spend more time writing tests for your code than you do writing the code itself. This highlights the importance of testing and ensuring that there are no critical bugs in the application.
Another aspect I've learned in this class is collaborating with a group on a GitHub project using the Agile process. Collaboration is an essential part of working in the industry, and experiencing the Agile process, rather than the traditional plan-and-document Waterfall process I was more accustomed to, was a valuable learning experience.
Building off my previous point, one of the most crucial parts of the development process is the code review stage. This aspect, I feel, is often overlooked; however, during peer reviews, I identified several code issues that did not meet requirements and needed to be rewritten or updated to address problems that were not immediately apparent to my peer.
One portion of the class that I am glad we covered extensively was the use of Git. I was already familiar with GitHub from personal projects and previous classes, but this course went into more detail about Git and GitHub, including how to better organize a project and how important Git commands interact with one another.
Lastly, I want to mention the introduction to Amazon Web Services (AWS). Before this class, I had never needed to use AWS, and when I had hosted projects in the past, I used a different service. Since AWS is widely used in the industry, having at least a basic understanding of it is important. While I would likely still need to refer to documentation to set everything up, due to the number of available services, this exposure helped reduce how overwhelming the platform initially feels.
A crucial part of any development stage is, of course, testing. Interestingly, you often spend more time writing tests for your code than you do writing the code itself. This highlights the importance of testing and ensuring that there are no critical bugs in the application.
Another aspect I've learned in this class is collaborating with a group on a GitHub project using the Agile process. Collaboration is an essential part of working in the industry, and experiencing the Agile process, rather than the traditional plan-and-document Waterfall process I was more accustomed to, was a valuable learning experience.
Building off my previous point, one of the most crucial parts of the development process is the code review stage. This aspect, I feel, is often overlooked; however, during peer reviews, I identified several code issues that did not meet requirements and needed to be rewritten or updated to address problems that were not immediately apparent to my peer.
One portion of the class that I am glad we covered extensively was the use of Git. I was already familiar with GitHub from personal projects and previous classes, but this course went into more detail about Git and GitHub, including how to better organize a project and how important Git commands interact with one another.
Lastly, I want to mention the introduction to Amazon Web Services (AWS). Before this class, I had never needed to use AWS, and when I had hosted projects in the past, I used a different service. Since AWS is widely used in the industry, having at least a basic understanding of it is important. While I would likely still need to refer to documentation to set everything up, due to the number of available services, this exposure helped reduce how overwhelming the platform initially feels.
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