Let's Create a Project with Canvas Functionality!
Long before the first stage was about to end, I already had a rough idea of what direction my personal project would take. However, I never thought about starting ahead of time, because I always felt that each stage has its own experiences to go through, and I wanted to properly remember these feelings. So like most of my classmates, I started together with everyone in the third stage.
When planning the theme for my personal project, I considered my personal interests and professional expertise, and carefully thought about the overall technical complexity. Within the limited development time, with 'completeness' as the primary consideration, I appropriately set development boundaries for the project, and ultimately completed my personal project with some close calls along the way.
The Day-and-Night Personal Project Begins!
Before officially starting, everyone had to first familiarize themselves with the new development environment and do minimal testing for their projects. About a week into the project, I hit a serious technical wall (Ugh! That really hurt!). I'm very grateful to teaching assistants Feng-Lin and Zheng-Yi for their timely rescue, and for sharing their actual work development experience, which prevented me from being stuck in the technical swamp for too long! Starting in the second week, I finally became more accepting of the red warnings that appeared from time to time, and gradually appreciated their advantages.
After sorting out the development environment, the next challenges were 'development architecture' and 'style design'. Since there was no carefully designed 'specification document' or 'design style' at this stage, a lot of trial-and-error time was needed before achieving even a little progress, and then through time and refinement, gradually optimizing these items.
I quickly drew up the initial design draft, and after rapid prototyping, began the day-and-night feature development. During this time, after completing one feature, there were still many more features tightly queued up to be completed, so there wasn't much joy in my heart. I had to constantly race against time, assess the overall development status, and decisively abandon parts that were absolutely impossible to complete in time.
I'm Willing to Walk a Few More Steps into the Unknown
The personal project is your own and is unique. Only you know what happened, and only you can control the future direction of the entire project. 'Keep doing it and do it deeply' was the development principle I set for my personal project.
To be honest, I never expected my project would use so many technical keywords. Much of the content came from just one or two sentences exchanged with teachers, classmates, and teaching assistants, and because I was willing to walk a few more steps into the unknown, the final result far exceeded my initial imagination.
Sometimes when I see cute drawings left by test accounts, I feel very happy. I'm grateful to the teachers and classmates who helped test the website during development, and I also thank teaching assistants Zheng-Yi and A-Jie, who both gave me a lot of substantial feedback and suggestions after reviewing my project.
React Online Book Club
For the third stage book club, I redid the statistics system and added new features. I originally thought we would have more time for various activities, but I didn't expect the actual situation to be completely opposite to my imagination, because everyone put most of their energy into their personal projects.
Besides completing the minimum required reading, we only held 2 meetings and 3 internal practice sessions for the personal project presentations. Although the activity level wasn't as high as the previous stage's book club, I think this arrangement was the most appropriate for our group's situation at the time, and also more suitable in terms of psychological burden. I'm happy we all made it to the end together.
Peng Peng: 'Helping Everyone Live a Better Life'
In the third stage, each milestone report was a major checkpoint, and the results of the reports were highly related to whether we could graduate. However, two days before the final report, such a large group of people were willing to rush over from all directions and gather together for a special activity. What was it for?
I think it's because everyone yearns for a better life, and WeHelp is that opportunity for change. We seize opportunities, overcome difficulties, and work hard to move forward, all the way to the final stage. We thank WeHelp for giving us the opportunity to gather together, and we thank WeHelp for being about to change our lives. Those who have walked this path before are also willing to lend us a hand. This feeling of being mutually supported might be the true essence of WeHelp!
Facing the Complete Unknown, We Are All Brave
Looking back on this journey, it feels incredible. I believe all encounters are the most beautiful opportunities, and all choices are the most suitable arrangements. During these six months at WeHelp, no one forced you to do anything. Everything was in your own hands, with mutual support. Having the greatest freedom of choice, I used all my strength to realize everything I wanted to achieve. I'm proud to be part of WeHelp, and I wish everyone smooth sailing on their career transition journey!