With the grading system in University of Caloocan City here are the group grade of the projects that I have led.
- Software Engineering I. Creating a software product with the intention of profiting - 1.0
- Software Engineering II. Continuation of Software Engineering I - around 1.25
- Web Systems. Integrating IoT devices with Web Technologies - 1.25
- System Fundamentals. Client Based project where we have to develop a custom software for a local business - 1.0
I would like to share my experiences and also my realizations being a project manager of group projects in the University of Caloocan City, I'm grateful and proud to say that I have been consistently leading groups that ends up receiving good-to-exceptionally good grades in our University.
First of all, I want to say that it has been FUN but also the most STRESSFUL thing that I have done in our University. Most of the time I have volunteered myself for the position of the project manager but sometimes I also get appointed by our Professor.
What I liked
I would like to start with the FUN part about leading a development team. When I was learning on how to develop programs and to code through Harvard's CS50, Sir David J. Malan have always taught us to 'write code for other people' I think I really took it to heart and is finally able to collaborate with other students.
It was fun learning version control such as Git with actual students/developers in the group. I have finally got a hands-on experience on how version control works, how pull requests work, and how code-reviews work. I have also implemented a rule to include the name tech/and what is being worked on, for example backend/cors-configuration to ensure that it is easier to read and navigate.
We have also extensively used GitHub especially GitHub actions on writing tests for our code and also discuss 'issues'. Everything felt like it was operational and it felt to me that I was some sort of corporate tech-leader on how things are functioning.
I have also liked the fact that I'm able to conduct meetings and be able to control the flow of information in the group. I also really liked the fact that everybody was so on-board about it too, I have really appreciated my groupmates for being formal in meetings and in progress reports.
After so many projects, I have realized that I really liked managing people in development team. Based on my peer's comments I can confidently say that they have a sense of trust when I'm leading the group because I understood what tech stacks are to be used, what to search for in the internet and be able to guide them step by step in frontend, backend and even in database.
I was really happy because I was finally able to showcase the things that I have learned throughout the years and be able to apply it on a real development team.
Challenges
I have volunteered as the leader in many development projects because I thought my ability to adapt to new technologies quickly was enough, I believe that I understood the difference of frontend and backend better hence that's why I have attempted to lead groups. I obviously didn't boast this thinking and was actively taking suggestions from other people, which resulted in a lot of ideas being backlogged because a lot of my peers would want to develop some really complex system but due to the time constraints it's not feasible hence most of the time I would be the one to shut down the idea. It has gotten to a point where the team is so overflowing of ideas to the point that our proposal paper for our professor has gotten out of hand and so out of scope which made the project way too big.
I have also realized the importance of the team's morale in the group. I have realized that too much mercy would negatively affect the group and being way too empathetic to other people who couldn't help themselves would negatively affect the other guy.
It was really tough for me to impose punishments because I couldn't stomach it. I always try to think that if the situation were reversed that I would want to also get out of the scene unharmed, which resulted in the group drop of morale.
I have also had group members who are not the leaders that try and attempt to be ''one''. For me it was really annoying because these people would be the one to suggest a lot of ideas which makes the project proposals way too big and not feasible due to time constraints. It has gotten to a point where I have to directly confront the whole team and tell them that these ideas can negatively affect the group.
New Beginning
Understanding and learning new technologies are already a challenge but I was not really prepared to learn that I need to consider so much more in leading groups. I have realized that I need to 'learn' more about the human psychology instead of learning how to properly center a div. It was really stressful because I was the type of guy who would rather learn how to center a div.
I say was, because I have gotten used to it. I really liked the challenge that it faced, the drama that it have caused and I believe that I grew with my groupmates along the way.
I also believe that the fire of competition has re-ignited on me. Every time that I lead a group, I make the group feel the need to be the number 1.
I will continue on improving. I just feel like that this is just the beginning and one day I would be able to lead projects that would surely change the world.