Journal Entry - Week 4

 Part One: Set Your Education Goals


My education goal that I envision myself achieving is to turn in all my assignments by Monday, midnight. This goal signifies a lot as it would mean that I would have a ‘day off’ essentially on Tuesday when all assignments are due for CST 300 and CST 349. I feel driven to achieve this goal as it would reduce my stress and give me a day off on a weekday. In terms of attaining it, I would say that I am close. Last week, I submitted my essay for CST 300 at around noon on Tuesday. I had completed all my assignments except the essay before Tuesday. Overall, I think this goal is easy to attain and impactful.


Part Two: Set Your Career Goals


My career goal is to become a senior software engineer at a technology company. I think that this goal is vivid as it is tangible – an official title given by an employer. I feel excited to achieve this as it’ll allow me to make a bigger impact in producing high quality software and work with a team of skilled engineers and developers.


Part Three: Take a wild guess of your percentile of the ETS Computer Science test


I feel confident about taking the test in 18 months. I have been coding for a long time and scored well in previous exams in CS courses. I believe that I will be in the top 80th percentile. I say this because I code outside of school such as in my job, hobbies, and instruction to others. However, much of my coding skills are niche to specific domains so I might be challenged in some aspects during the ETS Computer Science test.


Part Four: Keep Up With Your Learning Journal


This week, I learned the importance of proper references in APA formatting and how to make opposing arguments in my argumentative essay. I also learned the importance of constructive criticism in regards to the journal entries. 

Comments

  1. AnthonyOctober 2, 2025 at 10:43 AM

    I hadn’t really thought of educational goals as short-term steps at first, but I can see the wisdom in breaking them down that way, just like we discussed in CST 349. Setting smaller, realistic weekly goals, like the one you mentioned, makes the work feel more manageable and even gives you the reward of a day off once it’s complete. That kind of structure can definitely lead to success in the two courses we’re taking now, while also building momentum toward finishing the Bachelor’s at the end of this program. I’m curious if you have other educational goals in mind, like learning additional programming languages or maybe even grad school. In my blog post, I focused more on long-term goals: two years to earn my Bachelor’s in CS, then another 2-3 years to earn a Master’s. Looking back, I realize I should have included shorter-term goals too, because those smaller steps are just as important. They’re what make the big milestones possible.

    I also admire that you already know the exact career role you’re aiming for. I’m still figuring that out and hoping to gain clarity as we move through the program. What I do know for sure is that I want to work remotely from anywhere. The idea of commuting, sitting in traffic, dealing with parking, feels so outdated in today’s tech-driven world, especially when most of the work can be done from a computer. Remote work just makes more sense, and it offers the kind of flexibility I want for my future.

    ReplyDelete
  2. elunaOctober 3, 2025 at 7:53 PM

    I like how you've set an efficient short-term goal with your assignment deadlines; it's similar to how I'm focusing on finishing college while preparing for a career in front-end dev. Your vision of becoming a software engineer is inspiring and shows great ambition. My advice is to continue to break down that big goal into milestones as you've been doing. I would say you're setting yourself up for long-term success, keep at it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. ChadOctober 7, 2025 at 9:22 PM

    Hi Jack, I really liked how specific and actionable your short-term education goal is... Submitting assignments by Monday is smart because it not only reduces stress by allowing more time for activities on the weekends but also builds great time management habits. Your career goal of becoming a senior software engineer is good, it really shows that you have a lot of ambition and a clear focus on what you want to do. From my observation, you may want to add something what kind of projects or technologies you’d love to work on in the long term, like gaming software or web applications for example. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  4. VincentOctober 11, 2025 at 2:03 AM

    Hi, Jack!

    That is a great and specific educational goal that you have-- to finish your homework by Monday nights. Having a day off is a great idea. Not having as much stress is very good.

    I like your goal for your career, as well. It involves doing what you want and being promoted to the senior level.

    Hope you're doing well.
    Vinnie

    ReplyDelete
  5. MurtazaOctober 13, 2025 at 10:34 PM

    Hey Jack,
    In your educational goals section, I love how you focused on the now portion rather than your future goals. I never thought about it that way and now that I do think about it, I realize that the discipline that you are talking about is a fundamental skill to have to achieve any future goals.

    ReplyDelete

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