Thoughts about OSD600 and OSD700:

OSD600 and OSD700 are AMAZING!!!

Out of all the courses that I have taken, I think that the ones that taught me the most about real life developer work experience, were OSD600 and OSD700.

MeaningFULL

YES, some days I really felt like giving up because I couldn't land a PR on time, I was not in a mood to write a blog, I didn't know what I was doing with git, I had no idea how to implement something, or debug something. It was frustrating. But honestly, everything I was doing was a contribution to a real open source project. It felt like each PR had a meaning. It wasn't just a stupid meaningless assignment. The features and the bug fixes were all useful to the project. It was not just a zip file of a visual studio solution. IT IS THE ACTUAL FEATURE IMPLEMENTATION AND BUG FIX.

Respect + How to Be a True Developer

What's also good about this course is that everyone respects your hard work. We all know how hard we all work and we don't judge or neglect anyone's effort. We review, we help implement, we discuss, we sheriff, we encourage. Even the people that aren't close to you, they still help you. I didn't know people at college can be like that. Because from my experience, no one wants to help. Everyone is just busy with their business. Feels like we live in a cold world sometimes. But OSD600 and OSD700 are making me feel like this world has still some hope hahaha. Really. It makes me think that people at work and school can be like a family, a supportive community, in a way, too. This alone, is what makes these two courses feel like a coop like experience + it teaches you how to be a developer and help other developers.

Freedom, not Slavery

You get to decide what to work on (what feature, technology, development area, etc.). And no one expects you to know how to implement something from scratch. You can start with 0 knowledge and make a draft PR. And people are going to support you from day 1. If you get stuck, they gonna unstuck you. You can freely break stuff and try stuff. Just fix it afterwards :) or someone can jump on a call with you and work on it together.

Also, there are other contributors, like Seneca College alumni, PROFESSOR, and other experienced developers that you can work together with. This is the only course that has this cool side to it:DDDD Feels like you are in the same team as your professor and many other talented people. It is not just a school stuff kinda vibe.

Furthermore,

I believe that everything comes from a family or people that surround you. And I think that it is so true when it comes to this course. Everyone is super passionate about what they are doing. Everyone cares. It makes you wanna care, too. It is amazing. And the professor, is like a father, in a way. He knows your struggles and he tries his best to help you in any way he can. He can be flexible, strict, understanding, encouraging, supportive, and easily approachable. I only know two professors like that, including him. And I have had experience studying in 3 different countries, and to find these kind of people that care about their students or just in general about other people, is super hard. They are rare.

Conclusion

It is super hard, but the whole vibe is really nice. It makes you feel passionate and caring and encouraged. Taking this course makes you wanna improve yourself, weaken your weaknesses - even the most fearful ones.