Contact
E-Mail: ryan.kroening@snc.edu
Social Networking: LinkedIn Profile
Professional Documentation: Resume (Word Format also Available)

Career Path
After weighing several options with regards to my future, law school being the most prominent, I have decided to leave the academic world for the time being and enter the world of work after graduation. I originally planned on attending law school beginning in Fall 2009; however, after much thought I decided that I did not like law enough to dedicate three years and over $200,000 to it. Working on this capstone as well as my internship experience with Enzymatic Therapy over the past year has made me realize I really do love Information Technology, and would like to pursue this line of work for at least a couple years. Currently, I am not sure if I will be continuing with my current employer on a full time basis, but I will remain in the industry for a few years, after which I may decide to pursue an MBA, MS, or JD. Regardless, I plan on traveling and seeing a bit of the world, basically waiting to see where life takes me before I put roots down in any one place.

Computer Science Philosophy
I started in the CS discipline because I needed to take one more class during my senior year of high school. While always interested in computers, technology, etc, I stayed away from formal programming because I thought of CS as an intimidating field, something you needed to have been studying since birth in order to do well. After one CS course led to another, though, I realized that I did not need to create the next Facebook or Google to be successful in computer science. Over the past five years, I have developed my own philosophy of programming and the industry in general, which can be summarized as follows:

• Have confidence! The guy who brags about the number of programming languages he/she knows probably knows nothing about good design. You are light-years ahead of him/her.
• There is a tremendous difference between programming in the classroom and programming in a business setting.
• Listen to the wisdom of your elders
• Keep up with the latest advances in the field, the computer science industry punishes the stagnant.
• Ten minutes at a whiteboard with a marker is worth sixty minutes at the keyboard.
• End-Users may seem stupid, but tolerate them, you are in your position for a reason, and so are they.
• There is more to computer science than web design.
• Guinness and a night programming go together rather well.

Required Reading

Moneyball
by Michael Lewis

The Mythical Man-Month
by Fred Brooks