CS373 Spring 2021: Joseph Graham
- Where did you grow up?
Here in Austin! Well technically just west of here in good ol’ Dripping Strings Texas. It’s a super friendly town and is currently exploding in population with people moving there en masse.
2. What high school did you attend?
Dripping Springs High School.
3. What was your favorite extracurricular activity in high school?
I played football for the first half of high school then switched to golf in the second half. Golf was definitely more fun to me. As frustrating as it can be to miss putts and drives, there’s something relaxing about hitting the greens and hanging out with friends for a good round of golf.
4. Why did you come to UT?
I was a born and raised Texan, and living in Austin gave me the privilege of living by UT, and getting to experience the amazing football games and college culture. UT having an amazing Computer Science program sealed the deal.
5. Why are you majoring in CS?
I’ve always been super interested in computers. I’ve been playing computer/video games since I was in diapers, and always liked being able to learn more about them. I built my first computer in middle school and even started a computer club at my high school. I took AP Computer Science my senior year of high school and loved how satisfying it was to build a program. It’s like solving a puzzle and seeing the satisfying results when you’re done is a feeling like no other.
6. Why are you in this class?
Software Engineering is a huge part of many computer science fields. There seems to be no shortage of SWE jobs today, and from what I read on reviews of this class, students seem to think that what they learn here, helps immensely for their future careers. I also needed a writing flag and didn’t want to take an essay or other English writing course.
7. What are your expectations of this class?
From reading the syllabus and student reviews, I expect it to be a good amount of work. I expect there to be a large disconnect from lectures and projects, which sounds difficult, but I understand it is that way on purpose to help facilitate self-learning. I hope to get a lot out of this class, and I’m excited to learn much more about Software Engineering from it!
8. How much Javascript/Python/SQL/Web programming do you already know?
I don’t know a ton about Javascript, Python, or SQL other than the basics. I know a bit about web programming, such as RESTful web development (which I saw we will be doing in this course), because of my SWE internship last summer where I helped build a RESTful API in Java Spring Boot. We used MongoDB though instead of SQL.
9. How did you like the two lectures?
They seemed great so far! Lots of discussion and invitation for questions. With everything being online, it can be hard for lectures to feel engaging, but so far this course has felt interactive and informative.
10. How did you feel about the cold calling?
Cold calling can be intimidating for me. Again, with everything being online, it can be hard to pay attention 100% of the time with the many distractions that come at being at home, as opposed to a classroom setting where I am way more engaged. Professor Downing seems to be very accommodating for this though and stated that it is OK if we don’t always know the answer. This takes some pressure off, as for previous classes I have been terrified of being called on and not understanding the topic.
11. What made you happy this week?
What made me happy this week was getting to cook and eat great food. One thing that will never fail to make me happy is eating a great meal you spent time making with others.
12. What’s your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?
My personal pick-of-the-week is to try Mandola’s if you like Italian food. Their focaccia bread is the stuff dreams are made of.