I successfully completed this course in the Spring 2022 term. This is probably one of the more challenging courses you can take in the OMSCS program, and unfortunately, it is not a course that affords its students to produce a novel project that I can share here.

I was extremely excited to take this class, and by its own metrics, I performed well. However, I just didn’t enjoy this class as the teaching staff’s preoccupation with plagiarism and sink-or-swim mindset detracted from their ability to build an inclusive and welcoming learning environment.

The saving grace for this class was the Discord study group I formed, where we were allowed to have whiteboard-level conversations about our independent assignments. It was extremely helpful to bounce ideas off of one another and not feel so isolated in the distance learning program.

Since graduating from CSUMB, I found an amazing job at Okta and started grad school to get my MS in CS!

Human-Computer Interaction (CS 6570)

This course was intensive on reading and writing and really exercised my prior knowledge in psychology and cognition. We focused heavily on user-centered designs in evaluating and improving user interfaces. For my final project, I tackled the Nintendo Switch’s User Data Transfer Interface. My final paper and findings are summarized in the presentation below!

Video Game Design (CS 6457)

I intended to only take one course for my first semester since I also work full-time, but I have been wanting to learn about game design and Unity for quite some time. In this course, we had to complete a few milestone assignments to learn the basics about elements like physics and AI. The bulk of the class was then spent collaborating in teams to create a 3D platform game. My team created Overeaten, a game about a Chef who has come to an island in search of mystical ingredients that grant you super powers. These special abilities help Chef evade the island’s hungry creatures, the Monches, so he can reach the final area.