Zest was a web app that I developed alongside thirteen other people. This was my first experience programming in a group, so I learned many lessons like the importance of project management, code pipelining, and soft skills. It was also my first look at creating a product that would be used by others. This project opened my eyes to the power of programming and how it can affect the world.

Due to the fact that it was my first time with backend development, I was initially shocked by how much information API's had. Since I was a newbie, I focused more on the decision making of what data we kept from the API, but the coding aspect of it was always intriguing. This is the moment I realized I wanted to become a Full Stack Developer. Front-end devopment was always fun since HTML and CSS are so responsive, and I wanted to add functionality to my sites with back-end development.

Our group wanted to ensure that our site was accessible and responsive. This was an eye-opening experience because I've always worked in my own environment without thinking about the abilities and devices of others. I had to learn about practices like making sites screen-reader-friendly and changing CSS based on screen size and type. It was amazing to know that technology has upgraded to the point where programming can provide anyone with any device to interact with our creations, which further inspired me to dive deeper into web dev.

Auto Jober was a group project I did with three other people that focused on automating job applications. We explored Python and its ability to webscrape websites through their HTML file. This topic was new to me, so it was awesome to see the ever-improving abilities of programming.

Running the program creates a GUI prompt that asks for your LinkedIn profile credentials and typical resume questions. The program then starts to scrape for "Easy Apply" jobs and matching corresponding input fields from the GUI to the application. It was cool to see the program instantaneously perform all these functions, which opened my eyes to the capabilities of Python.

This would be an example of how LinkedIn would look like after running the program where the prompts are automatically filled in. At the end of the day, we still had multiple improvements like hiding the LinkedIn credentials on the GUI and extending the function to job apps that aren't "Easy Apply". Nowadays, the Mozilla Developer Tools Browser hide the "Easy Apply" jobs as well, so we learned a lesson about the importance of constantly updating your code to keep its functionality.

Swimming has always been a part of my life, and it has always taught me lessons that can be brought into software engineering. Similar to how one can always work on their swim technique, one can also infinitely work on their programming skills as the efficiency of how they work can always improve. Now that I work as a lifeguard, swimming has also taught me that soft skills are just as important as skills because a continuous stream between coworkers and customers has to be present for a proper service/product.

Gaming has also always been a part of me, and this picture represents my nine favorite games that inspired me to hop into computer science. I initially wanted to learn how to program to develop video games that brought people as much joy as it has always brought to me. As I learned more about programming, I realized that there were other fields that provided this joy as well and that creating games can always be a fun hobby. Naturally, this led me to seeking jobs in fields like web development and back-end development.