Self-Evaluation

some guides:

http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Self-Evaluation

http://www.evergreen.edu/washcenter/resources/acl/e3.html

my self eval:

This is a 3 credit hour class, and I have been treating it like a 6 credit hour class. I believe I have been going above and beyond what is expected of me by the professor. Part of my doing this has been because of my missing the first three weeks of class. The other part has been because I continually strive to perform at the top of my abilities. Sometime, I strive too hard, but I feel the need to do what it takes not only to get an A or A+, but also to learn the most that I can to prepare me for future things.

Examples of efforts I have made include catching up on all the class assignments from the first three weeks. I reviewed one proposal completely, one partially, and I read all 29 proposals thoroughly, giving a brief review and rating. I managed to turn in my proposal in time to give a 2 minute presentation. I also had my proposal reviewed, and edited my proposal in response.

I also have actively maintained a blog, researching and taking my time to output valuable comments that I can later use. Of the 4 1/2 weeks I have actually been in this class, I have given over 20 blog posts, 17 of which are very lengthy, researched, and detailed. I have thus exceeded expectations for blog posts per week that I've had this class, and have slowly but surely been catching up on the 9 posts for the weeks I missed. I have eliminated fluff from most of my posts, thus not always blogging on the topic the teacher suggested if my research in that area returned sparse results, and I had a replacement topic for the day.

I have hustled to learn techniques for success in programming on a team and to think of a viable project for our time frame and that would actually have economic benefits. I also learned voting techniques and Roberts' Rules. I've learned new web programming and interaction techniques, and shared them actively with my team. I have gone the extra mile in working with people from the school of management, and learned how to start a company and seek funding for our team. I am working on getting us connected with several different venture capitalists, including the Angels. I will be trying to see if a representative will come and speak to our class.

I've expected to learn from this class, in broad sense, everything that it takes to run my own startup successfully. I figure the best way to learn is to actually do it, and this class has been the perfect springboard. My expectations have included the objectives from the class webpage: to "gain experience in project development begin[n]ing with concept proposal, specification, implementation, and maint[e]nance in a team setting".

I have learned a tremendous amount each week since I've been in the class, both through my own research, and through participation in class and on my team. I have sought to share what I learn with others so we can all learn together.

As a leader, I have sought not only to be productive and make my team productive, but I have sought to balance the leadership roles and give everyone the chance to learn and grow. I try to follow Dale Carnegie's principles in How To Win Friends and Influence People, though I've stumbled a bit there. I do review my behavior and seek to change for the better.

My greatest weaknesses include my tendency to take too much work upon myself, and get burned-out thereby, not relying enough on my team members. They also include my tendency to stray from established schedules, to not stay on task, and to not follow up with others on my team or ask for help enough. I also am a huge procrastinator, though not always on purpose. It's more of a time-management thing, where I budget too little time for some tasks, and take too long in others, and then end up rushing and behind in a lot of things. I do evaluate myself on these things and seek to improve.

Self-ranking based on above discussion (with somewhat arbitrarily chosen metrics):

Participation (in class and in team): 5 / 5

Learning: 5 / 5

Self-direction (initiative, motivation): 5 / 5

Follow-through with responsibilities: 3 / 5

Completion of Assignments: 4 / 5

Progress towards course objectives: 5 / 5

Thus, my total self-evaluated ranking, giving the above criteria equal weight, would be about a 27/30. This equates to a 90%, which based on what I've observed in our class, should put me in the top 5 students, with a well-deserved A.

points in my favor:

- I created the Farmville bot idea

- I fought hard to get my idea to the top five and keep it there

- I researched Scrum and taught it to my team

- I have dedicated many hours to solving the "hard" details to get our project to work

- I have put our team in touch with the Anderson School of Management, and through our contact, the Angels investment group and other investors

- I have maintained a focus on what it will take to actually build a successful company from scratch, and am committed to seeing our idea through to the finish

- I maintain focused on making our entire team focused, motivated, and efficient at what we are undertaking

- Our team has been among the most "hit-the-ground-running" types

- We focus every week on improving ourselves and improving our process and communication

- I have been learning a ton about managing a successful team, and also I have been learning a ton about internet protocols and web applications

class goals:

- we have the goal to learn what it takes to be successful in the "real world"

- our goal is to learn to handle all the facets of a real software development cycle

- we have to learn how to work efficiently on a team and with a strict time budget

my weaknesses:

- taking too much work on myself rather than relying on teammates

- not maintaining my blog with everything going on in class, preferring instead to only write down what I think I personally need to remember or keep

- I don't follow up with people often enough, and don't follow a schedule well either