I am Judite Nunes and I have just finished the first specialization on Software Development – SWitCH, on ISEP-IPP. At the present moment, I am looking forward for the nine-month trainee period, and to be able to adapt and apply all the knowledge acquired.
My application for this course came at a time when I was unemployed, after 15 years dedicated to Forensic Science, primarily guided by quality standards. In Portugal, the opportunities to stable integrate a team in that area are scarce. So, after a suggested presentation on SWitCH program I decided to apply.
These last few months were demanding, tough, and many times stressing. Several issues were taught and all of them entirely novel to me. Sometimes I felt completely lost and doubt if I had made the right decision on integration this specialization. I know that various of my colleagues felt the same. However, I know now that those feelings where a reflexion on my commitment and desired to apprehend all the concepts and knowledge being taught.
The course is focused not only in individual performance, but on teamwork performance as well. That is, in addition to all the theoretical principles taught in the seven course units, and that each student is required to learn, it is very important to coordinate teamwork in order to accomplish each sprint’s goals and learning to organize work in a 9-element group has (many times) some inherent challenges.
More than definitive learnings, the course opened my view of an entire new world. I learned some principles and best practices, but I learned that most important is to keep learning, and don’t stop to be curious, and to be incisive in finding an answer to a problem.