Exploring my Academic Program
Orion Jones
First Term Experience & Tutoring Services, University of Maryland Global Campus
PACE 111: Program and Career Exploration
Krista Tomaselli
Date 10/17/23
Exploring my Academic Program
My research into the Software Development field led to the following answers to these questions:
• Why did you select an academic program in the Software field? Consider both internal and
external influences.
I chose an academic program in the software development field due to my love/hate
relationship with writing, when I was younger I loved making stories especially ones I'd draw pictures in
like diary of a whimpy kid, these books were so interesting and I wanted to replicate it, but not just that I
wanted to make stories for my family and my mom loved my stories, but from another standpoint I'd like
to do software development for better pay so I can have a better lifestyle, with writing as a hobby. I was
introduced to programming by seemingly myself if I remember correctly I was on "Khan Academy" and
saw games and group projects all written in python so it was my first exposure to actually programming,
as I remixed games and made games myself.
• What industry certifications are related to your career field? Are there any which you are
interested in pursuing?
I've wanted a certification in software development of all things, I'd love to be able to create an
application worth using, so I'd like to get the The Certified Software Development Professional (CSDP)
Exam from the IEEE which would be a great thing on my resume.
• What internships or apprenticeships are related to your major? Do any of them interest you?
Consider the potential titles, companies, and things you might learn.
Upon searching on indeed I've found multiple internships in my states for places like NPower,
Motorola and GEICO. I'll have to see if any of them interest me but so far I'm not on the caliber that
they're searching for but I'd definitely gain some hard experience, hopefully not just working with
numbers all the time.
• What kinds of career opportunities are there in your field? Consider the potential titles and
companies for whom you may work. Which do you find most interesting?
There are many career oppertunities for me when I searched on indeed, I'm most interested in GEICO
because they're the most known brand and have a great reputation, motorola is second with better pay
than I expected.
• What have you discovered about your academic program that you didn't know before?
I've discovered that most developers know about 4-6 different programming languages, which am
close to with just Python and HTML. I want to be the best I can be so I'll extend far past it.
