The End

Software Engineering:
This software engineering class has been one the hardest and most time consuming classes I've had. I have also learned a lot and gained many experiences that make me feel more prepared going out in the real world. I had been unsure of my programming ability before taking this class, but I now feel like I have the practice and the tools I need to overcome any obstacle.

Some of the things I think could have been improved in this course is the presentation of Wicket. I felt overwhelmed when given a book towards the end of the semester and having to learn something from scratch in a short period of time. It would have been less stressful if we learned about it earlier and more gradually. I also think the lectures given online could have been spread out more evenly as well. Having to watch three lectures in one day for one class was a little tedious.

Valuable Lessons:
I think the most valuable lesson I learned from this software engineering course was teamwork. Throughout my college classes it has always been about yourself. You and only you are responsible for the outcome of your assignments and your grade. You rely on yourself to complete your work and you do it in your way. However, this is not the case in the real world. There is always interaction with other people and most likely you will work in a team. This was my first real experience working on teams and it has been a great learning experience. Learning how to communicate effectively, the importance of doing your part, and helping each other out has been valuable lessons learned.

Learning More:
I will be taking the continuation of the course next semester and I look forward to the experiences that will come. I am interested in a career in software engineering and this class is a great way to get a head start. I recently did an internship and many of my coworkers said this was one of the classes they learned the most from. I hope to continue working in Java because it is my language of choice but I also would like to use other languages as well.