Setting a Clear Direction

For my educational goals, I want to not only complete my classes, but also finish them with strong grades. I worked hard to achieve a high GPA in community college, and I want to maintain that same level of effort now that I am in a bachelor’s program. Since computer science builds on itself so much, I want to focus on truly understanding the material instead of just getting assignments done. A simple version of my goal is to graduate from this program with strong grades, stronger technical confidence, and a portfolio that shows my growth. I also want to use winter break to earn an industry certification so that by the time I complete my degree, I am even more aligned with the job market.

For my career goals, I have my sights set on becoming a software engineer for a B2B SaaS company. That goal feels realistic and exciting because it connects with my past software engineering experience and the kind of work I enjoy. I like the idea of building practical software that helps businesses work more efficiently, especially as AI becomes a bigger part of the workplace. Long term, I want to become an AI-literate software engineer who can build useful, ethical, and reliable tools. My bigger dream is still to grow into a strong enough candidate for a major technology company, but my main focus right now is building the skills, projects, and consistency to get back into software engineering.

This week in CST 349, I focused on goal setting and reflected on how important it is to make goals specific enough to actually guide my actions. The goal-setting reading explained that clear goals help turn effort into purpose, which stood out to me because it is easy to stay busy without always feeling like I am moving in a clear direction. In CST 300, I did research and wrote the outline for my ethics in technology essay. I chose to focus on the question of whether companies should be allowed to pay ransomware demands when hackers threaten to leak private customer data or disrupt important services, inspired by the recent Canvas hack. Working on the outline helped me break a complicated issue into stakeholders, ethical frameworks, claims, and a clear argument question. Even though this week felt overwhelming at times, breaking the work into smaller sections helped me keep moving forward.