Post STePS

And STePS is over!

Look at how happy we look. Also, T-Shirts!

Standing around for three hours pretty much nonstop talking about our app was pretty tiring, but also pretty interesting. I got to refine and really perfect my pitch of the app, and we did get quite a few downloads afterwards so…yay!

We didn’t win, but we didn’t really expect to anyway, hahah. There’s always CS3217, and many more opportunities after that. What matters was how much we learned in the process. Also, no need to submit final report! AWESOME (mostly because I have more things due on Sunday ><)

Focust Retrospective

It’s easy to blame a lot of things on our External sponsor. In a way, Focust is a long shot from what we promised and had been promised, and that’s partially our fault: we couldn’t learn and iterate fast enough, and we were bogged down in a ton of other modules and commitments (Derek and I tutored for CS1101S, Van was a tutor for CS2010).

Perhaps it would be better if we had taken CS3217 first (and thus could very comfortably make an iOS app), or if Chi Thanh and I didn’t take CS2103 concurrently (and thus didn’t have to tryhard for 2 module project simultaneously). Maybe it would’ve been better if Bjorn hadn’t basically disowned us and left us with an orphaned project.

But in the end, I think, we still managed to make it our own. I personally got to refine my UI/UX sensibilities a lot (with lots of credit going to Su Yuen. Thank you!). How else can I help turn

into

Without a designer, I had to step up to the plate and I find that I quite like it. I had thought there wasn’t a creative bone in my body, but it turns out that I may have a few, having designed pretty much all of the graphical materials and doing plenty of polishing on the UI to make it presentable. There’s still plenty to be done but, hey, there always is.

If I had to name a regret, I would say that I regret not working on my Assignment 1 project for the final. I think that one had real potential (that was somewhat squandered in Assignment 1), and that ShareStuff.Online did solve a real pain for a lot of people. I know everyone steps into CS3216 wanting to build the next NUSMods or NUSWhispers, and not everyone can succeed simply for logistical reasons. I know I did, and I regret that I didn’t get to, by virtue of the quality of my ideas and execution.

What I don’t regret, however, is the incredible people that I’ve worked with. Yichen, Zhi An, Varun (Assignment 1), Hanming, Louie, Zhu Liang (Assignment 2), Derek, Van and Chi Thanh (Assignment 3 and Final Project), you all made my CS3216 experience amazing, and I’ve learned tons from and with each of you, so thank you.

It’s been a blast. See you in CS3217! Yuchuan out.