From this course, I gained so many valuable skills I can take away for future jobs. I was lucky enough to work with a Fortune 100 Company helping them with creating a framework for their IT team to decide what robotic automation bots to automate. Ultimately, I learned how to be a better problem solver, utilize my resources to find answers, and to think outside the box.
The previous semester, I saw this practice being offered and I applied for this course right away because I wanted to have some real-world knowledge during my time in college. During the first day of the course we were told the expectations for us and many students dropped the course. I was scared of the workload that was demanded of us but I knew that was too good of an opportunity to pass up because I knew this course would allow me to learn. Even though I had some doubts, I stuck with it.
The day we first got the prompt, I had no idea what the client the proposed for us question even meant. I really wondered if a college junior could do this project with limited knowledge from my previous IS/IT courses. However, deep down I wanted to learn, and even though it might be a rougher semester; I was willing to put in the work.
I had to self learn a lot of things required for this semester. There was a lot of research and digging around involved to find some solutions to the problem. There were also a lot of failures and iterations as well. The framework that we presented to our client during our midpoint deliverables turned out to be completely different from our deliverables. That time from our midpoint presentation to our final presentation we finally understood what was needed out of us. We researched a lot more to find out industry best practices and collaborated to formulate our final presentation and I ended up creating a second deliverable to go above what our clients expected out of us. Looking back on the semester, I’m really proud of what my team and I accomplished.
Over the semester, thanks to my group members and our weekly contact, they really help me with this project. Since this class is purely project-based, you have to spend a lot of time with your group every week. Over the course of the semester I think that our teamwork has gotten a lot stronger because we transitioned from strangers to become friends. COVID-19 has made it harder for everyone and we too had to adjust to Microsoft Team and Zoom for our weekly meetings and client meetings.
As someone who has a lot of self-doubt, I think this project made me realize what I could do. In the beginning and starting out the course, I really wanted to do this project but wasn’t sure if I had the capacity to do it. Through this course I realized that if I trust in myself I will be able to deliver high quality and valuable work.