Evaluate!

I feel that this semester has been quite a packed one. The amount of work we have had t get through has been immense, for both assignments. They have both also been very rewarding in the amount of experience and skills learned.

A major downside was that I have to re take my presentation. I guess that this was due to feeling uncomfortable rushing to find solutions quickly and using my Grandma's laptop over the reading week. This was because my PC broke at home, which created a lot of stress for me. I look back and can see that I had limited myself by using her laptop as I had to spend valuable time downloading and installing the software that I needed. It is also slow and cannot handle many programs running at once. She also lives quite a distance from me as well.

Next time (which I hope will never happen again) my computer breaks I shouldn't panic as much as I did. I should think about who has the most ideal computer and get in touch with them first. I know it is relying on other people, which I dislike to do, but it is an option out of a very tight situation.

The team assignment has gone well and I am now glad that I was chosen as the developer, because the CSS websites and working to a specific brief was fun and experience was valuable. We have had a few hard points where areas of the site were not validating, or having to learn some basic php script. I feel that the php area was hard work. Next time I would look into how it works and get the basic principle instead of digging straight in and hardly knowing what I was doing.

I am glad that both the clients are happy but I am displeased with the amount of effort the Crazy Firehouse staff put into our evaluation. They clearly weren't interested in our experience. We had to nag constantly for them to complete it.

I feel that experience with a more knowledgeable client would have been more beneficial but I guess we were lucky not to have a client that would mess us around. The project has ran pretty smooth and nothing major has crept up and got the better of us.

I have enjoyed working with Rich and Ben. I feel that they make an excellent team even if I disagree about some of the actions that took place within our project. I would certainly change some things but I feel that everyone would make changes if they were to take the task again.

The artistic assignment I have had mixed feelings about. It has been the most fun, and yet hardest assignments we have faced. Now that the 3 week art work and the 2 week production is almost over I am beginning to feel the amount of work that still needs completing for this assignment. We still have to digitalise our final piece including 45 degree angles of the piece. We then have to create a webpage to advertise our product. An evaluation is also requires, obviously. I still have some work to do on my presentation as well!

I feel that my final product isn't the best it could have been, although I do like it. The cards also look quite professional and suite the piece well. I have also began to think about the website to advertise this product on. I was thinking a 3 page site with just the image changing on the different pages. I will need to investigate into some more design ideas first but I reckon my first website idea will be the best.

If we were to take this task again then I would have definitely changed it around and have 2 week creative artwork and 3 week developing. One thing I have learned is that I need to get things right first time so they don't get in the way later.

The lessons with John have taken a rather unexpected turn. We are now going through job applications and interview techniques, which I never thought would have happened. They have certainly cleared some uncertainty I had towards job interviews. The techniques he has learned me are valuable.

One thing John did mention which I would have thought was pointless was applying for jobs that require you to have a degree or higher grade than the one we are currently achieving. He states that even if you don't have a better grade, as long as you have the rest of the requited skills then they will consider you. I certainly see his view on things now.

He mensioned that we should go through the SWOT analysis again to find out your strengths and weaknesses. Telling the truth on the CV is also essential. Don't say your a bubbly, driven, CSS guru if your not, because it will clearly be shown in your interview.

Another thing he suggested which I didn't think would be allowed was to take templates of web designs etc. just in case you are faced with a publication to show how good you are. The work you are given can be placed into your template quickly so you will have more time fixing bugs and making the *task* accessible and professional. It shows that you have taken the initiative and prepared for something like this to happen.