College so far - Part 3

So after the summer holidays, we started on some big project which would last 8 to 9 weeks. I think this will be a huge wall of text as usual, and I'm really lazy at the moment so this time I'm keeping it as short as possible.

The project was more-or-less a 'simulation' about how programmers would function in a company, and it involved things like customers, project managers, and all. I was in a 5-man group and it started off very slowly; I think we barely knew each other anyway.

Anyway we had to build this gigantic site which was set up in such a way that it was impossible to finish within 8 weeks with our current skills, so we were tested on how we would deal with this situation. We also had to build a database behind it, along with a 'database management application'; basically a GUI Interface to track someone's IP address to manage the database more easily. Of course, this was in MS Access. "Fuuuuuuuuuuck" was my thought. "This project is going to be a tough one".

Anyway, so we had to write some boring document first. It was supposed to be done in the 1st week but it was eventually done 3 weeks later. Oh well, seeing we were a group a bunch of people worked on the document, and the rest worked on what needed to be done.

After what it felt like decades, we finally started working on the site itself. I was the only decent programmer in the group, so guess who did the most work. Anyway, in the end the instructors were impressed and that's all what matters.

Luckily I was the PHP guy and not the MS Access guy. I would've shot myself if I forcefully ever had to touch MS Access and VB once again.

Eventually, the site's source code became an unreadable mess. But hey, it worked!

With this project I've also learned how to (properly) hold a meeting. First meeting was horrible because I was assigned to be a chairman on-the-spot and I literally had no idea what to do. It was a very very awkward moment.

Our group was having lots of trouble though, for example we made a bad overview of the situation, planned things badly, didn't report things to the project manager in time, forgot essential emails, etc, etc.

Aaaaaaaand on the seventh week, I realized I have underestimated the final document I had to write. I ended up with... I dunno, 30 pages? I forgot, but it was a shitload. I was proud of my work though. My family purchased a printer during this time, because my sis had to write a document as well, and we thought having a printer always available was a good thing.

Finally, during the assessment I've been told that I underwent a gigantic growth and learned a lot of things, so I got an 8 out of 10 for this project. Awesomesauce.

MEANWHILE I asked my personal mentor a question about one of the classes I failed (Product Quality, it never went well) through email. He invited me to discuss this matter, and as I walked into his room he mentioned that my Dutch grammar isn't smooth and great. Nice welcome! I decided to take a Dutch course on writing, because if I try to survive writing reports with this grammar in college, I'll have a problem. Apparently they refuse to read documents once 3 errors occur within a page. I could abuse a loophole and put 2 words per page, but I'm not sure if that's a good idea. Anyway, about product quality, I'll start re-doing it from next week on. So not looking forward to it. But hey, shogafuckinai! Since 2011! No softies!

Finally, I got to know my class a whole lot more now. I respect those who respect me, and I'm neutral towards the rest. When I told them that my assessment went well, they became glad, which in turn made me glad as well. They actually cared, heh.

Now I will have the next classes: Create a game + "ICT-Infrastructuur". Looking forward to the latter the most, because I don't want to imagine me creating a full-fledged game within eight weeks. Oh, and Product Quality.