I think RadGrad is totally rad. Corny jokes aside I genuinely do think that RadGrad is an invaluable program that should be introduced to all computer science students. Although it does seem a little overwhelming at first that should not be a deterrent from experiencing RadGrad. I thought I knew a good amount as to what is out there for computer science. I learned that there is something called Social Computing, this is an area where they study the interactions of social behavior and computational systems. I did not even know that was a thing until I went on RadGrad.
While going through RadGrad I figured I should check out some Java Script/Html type of things since I am taking a class in that area. Following that line of interest, I happen to stumble upon something called a full stack developer. A full stack developer is someone who is able to handle both the front and back end of a website. I have not learned too much of how the back end of a website works but, since taking ICS314 it has piqued my interest in learning about how to develop web applications as a whole.
While being involved in the back-end development of web applications I happened to come across Linux in RadGrad. I have always heard about Linux but never really investigated it until now. On the opportunity page, I found a section about Linux and how you can learn about it in five days which is not much time at all. Yes, I could have found this if I searched google. What RadGrad offers that google does not is a tailored experience for computer science majors.
An interesting career skill that I found in RadGrad was Microsoft Azure. This is a cloud computing service that provides hosting services for web applications, databases, and other things of that nature. The only reason why I investigated this was because of learning about Linux. It is crazy how some things just tie nicely into each other like this. There are other cloud computing systems like AWS(Amazon Web Service) and GCP(Google Cloud Platform). Each has its own way of doing things but essentially they all have the same function.
I do believe that RadGrad has contributed to helping me have a better degree experience. I was able to learn about a bunch of new and already known fields in career, opportunity, and interest. RadGrad is definitely a tool every computer science major should utilize. The strength in RadGrad comes from the fact that it is able to ease the process of learning what is out there for people like us. Yes, we can google everything but convenience is a product that is attractive to all. Especially when we live in a time where information is a problem because it can be too overwhelming.