Week 4 Journal

 Part One: Set Your Educational Goals

My main academic objective at CSU Monterey Bay is to graduate with two full-stack apps designed and delivered, one individually and one jointly. These applications should have continuous deployment pipelines, automated testing suites, and version control. My goal is to obtain two industry-recognized certifications concurrently with my degree program: the CompTIA Security+ certification by December and the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner by August. In addition to enrolling in a Security+ bootcamp and completing at least 85 percent of the practice tests and AWS modules every two weeks, I'll be keeping a strict timetable to track my progress. I will know I have accomplished this goal when I can confidently demonstrate an application that implements best-practice security measures and allocates cloud resources on AWS without consulting my notes.

Part Two: Extended Career Goals

To get practical experience and expand my professional network, I want to land two competitive internships in the near future, one in cybersecurity and one in cloud infrastructure. My next goal, utilizing the abilities and contacts I've made, is to secure a full-time position as a Cloud Security Engineer in the military industry, working on projects that require close coordination with cleared teams, adherence to stringent security standards, and thorough threat modeling.I intend to obtain a TS/SCI clearance during my first 18 months of employment and contribute significantly to at least two classified projects. In the future, I hope to start my own cybersecurity consulting business with a focus on DevSecOps solutions for government and defense clients after gaining five years of defense-industry experience and obtaining the required clearances. Within two years of starting the business, I hope to grow to a team of experts.

Part Three: Wild Guess at My ETS Computer Science Test Percentile

My understanding of data structures and algorithm implementation has been strengthened by my practical projects, but I still need to strengthen my theoretical underpinnings in proofs, complexity analysis, and discrete mathematics under timed conditions, after looking over the ETS Computer Science Test description and sample questions. Over the course of the next 18 months, I will engage in peer-review sessions with classmates to improve the rigor and clarity of my written explanations, conduct a full-length simulated exam each month to develop test stamina, and devote two weekly 90-minute sessions to ETS-style theoretical drills. Based on this routine, I predict that I will score in the 70th percentile on test day, which reflects my good practical skills, which have been strengthened by methodical theoretical study and consistently improved performance on simulated exams.

Part Four: Learning Journal Update

The readings for this week made me think about my growth and learning styles. I was reminded to halt in group conversations and question my presumptions by the biased argumentation piece, which emphasized how personal motivations can affect thinking. Since the Salary.com article focused on converting aspirational goals into quantifiable actions, I have established specific goals: finishing AWS modules every two weeks, achieving 85%+ on Security+ practice tests, and going to two security conferences by the end of the year. My confidence in practical data structures and algorithms has been humbled by the ETS sample test; nonetheless, I still need to improve my ability to build proofs and analyze complexity under time limits. I'll combine weekly structured theory drills, frequent practice sessions, monthly simulated tests, and project-based learning to get ready.

Comments

  1. SavannahJune 3, 2025 at 2:08 PM

    Hi Xavier!
    You've got a great list of goals to accomplish here. Getting some full stack applications built that you can throw onto your github or portoflio site are huge and I know how hard it is to get the CompTIA certs, especially Security+ but those will go a long way in making your a better candidate after school! Just don't let them lapse!

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  2. IsaiahJune 3, 2025 at 9:02 PM

    Xavier, your educational goals are both ambitious and well–structured: aiming to graduate with two full-stack applications—one solo and one collaborative—each featuring continuous deployment pipelines, automated testing suites, and version control, alongside earning CompTIA Security+ by December and AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner by August. To make these targets even more attainable, consider embedding security and cloud concepts directly into your app projects: for instance, design one application with a secure authentication flow and encrypted data storage so you can apply Security+ principles in practice, and deploy aspects of your apps on AWS—perhaps setting up a simple EC2 instance or an S3-backed service—so that each biweekly AWS module aligns with hands-on experience. Keeping a visual dashboard or Kanban board to log completed AWS modules and practice-test scores will help you spot areas that need extra review—whether that’s network security, encryption standards, or shared-responsibility models—before your exam dates. Moreover, forming a small study group or explaining key AWS concepts to a classmate will reinforce your understanding and ensure you can allocate cloud resources confidently without relying on notes by graduation. By weaving your certification prep into your application development work and maintaining the disciplined schedule you’ve outlined, you’ll not only meet your certification deadlines but also graduate with a portfolio that clearly demonstrates best-practice security measures and real-world AWS deployments.

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