TESU portfolio tips

[davewill]

I was asked in another thread how I got PLA credit for CS courses. By the time I wrote an answer I realized it belonged here, so I've posted it here and left a link over there to this post.

*TESU PLA: Software Engineering, Computer Architecture, C++ Programming, Advanced C++, Data Structures (2015)

off topic, but how'd you do PLAs for those ?
did you have a few years working experience as a programmer and used that as the basis for the PLA ?

I can see how it wouldn't be too difficult to demonstrate "expertise" in C++
but I really don't know how to demonstrate sufficient knowledge of Computer Architecture or Data Structures (unless maybe by doing a verified certificate at coursera of edx)

I have about 30 years of experience, which definitely helped. But you want to remember you don't need to demonstrate "expertise." Just that you learned what a college student should have learned by taking the course.

I did a detailed PLA resume that listed all of the main learning objectives from those courses and how I had learned that material. If it was a professional course, I listed it and summarized the syllabus into bullet points as best I could. If it was self-study, I listed the books or other material I'd used. I ended up with a bibliography with about 25 entries. If it was on the job, I listed the projects (from my professional resume which was also in the package) I was working on that facilitated or demonstrated that learning. I ended up creating two narratives, one aimed at the programming and data structures courses, and one aimed at Computer Engineering and Computer Architecture.

The key projects (from my PLA resume) were reviewed in detail in my narratives. For programming, I talked about specific software programs I had designed and written, detailing what techniques I used, and why I chose those implementations over other approaches. For engineering and architecture, I used my experience as an embedded developer, and as a technical lead and reviewed projects that highlighted those activities. Believe me, an embedded developer knows computer architecture inside out. My verification letters were from a colleague and 2 supervisors who could verify that I had served in those capacities in those projects, and could attest to their success. Finally I included my one patent, and a photo of my one big commercial product that I was architect and lead for.

The only one that had me worried was Computer Engineering, but it went through fine. I hindsight, I wish I had used PLA on the Operating Systems and Database Management courses. They probably would have sailed through as easily as the others. I'm not any sort of database guy, but I could have taught that class better than the mentor did. However, Artificial Intelligence turned out to be pretty interesting, and has me decided on doing Computational Perception and Robotics as my specialty for OMSCS.

I hope someone finds this helpful.