My OJT Journey at StraStan Solutions Corp

  OJT Weekly Narrative – Week 7 July 21 – July 25, 2025 Christian M. Lagarde – 3rd Year Computer Science Student Enhancing User Experience: Frontend Improvements and Admin Panel Creation Week 7 was dedicated to improving the Jewelry E-Commerce project’s frontend, focusing on both user-facing features and administrative tools. I concentrated on fixing issues in the products section and refining the add-to-cart functionality to ensure a smoother shopping experience. Collaborating closely with a team member, I also designed and developed the admin panel frontend , laying out an intuitive interface for product and order management. This panel will serve as the control center for admins to efficiently oversee store operations. Through these tasks, I deepened my understanding of frontend frameworks and strengthened my teamwork skills, balancing design considerations with functional requirements. Reflection: Frontend Functionality Meets User and Admin Needs This week reminded m...

  OJT Weekly Narrative – Week 6 July 14 – July 18, 2025 Christian M. Lagarde – 3rd Year Computer Science Student New Horizons: Transition to Jewelry E-Commerce Project Week 6 marked a transition from LodgingFlow to a new challenge: the Jewelry E-Commerce project. This shift introduced me to a fresh codebase, different business logic, and a collaborative team environment focused on delivering a polished online shopping experience. Learning the Landscape My primary task was to familiarize myself thoroughly with the project architecture, existing features, and code quality . I reviewed frontend and backend components, understood workflows for product display, shopping cart, and checkout processes, and identified areas where improvements could be made. Collaborating for Improvement Beyond self-study, I actively supported team members by sharing insights, troubleshooting issues, and brainstorming solutions to optimize user experience and performance. Whether it was debugging U...

  OJT Weekly Narrative – Week 4 July 1 – July 5, 2025 Christian M. Lagarde – 3rd Year Computer Science Student Securing New Functions: LodgingFlow Expansion Week 4 centered on extending the backend functionality of the LodgingFlow project while maintaining strict adherence to our security and architecture standards. With the core authentication and encryption systems already in place, I focused on adding new API functions and database collections , each designed with CORS policies, AES encryption/decryption, and Firebase authentication baked into their logic. The goal was not just expansion—it was secure scalability . Every new function I created had to validate authenticated requests, properly decrypt incoming payloads, and return encrypted responses when applicable. I also ensured that new routes were CORS-compliant , allowing controlled frontend access from verified origins. Function by Function: Growing the API Each day brought a new collection or function. I added end...

  OJT Weekly Narrative – Week 5 July 7 – July 11, 2025 Christian M. Lagarde – 3rd Year Computer Science Student Growing with Precision: Enhancing LodgingFlow with Pagination Week 5 was a continuation of expanding the LodgingFlow backend, but with a new focus on improving data retrieval efficiency . Building on the secure foundation from previous weeks, I added additional functions and database collections while implementing pagination on all GET endpoints to handle larger datasets gracefully. Structured Expansion Each new function introduced supported the core operational needs of LodgingFlow, with authentication and encryption integrated as before. The database collections grew to accommodate more granular data, all designed to fit the existing schema securely. Pagination for Performance Adding pagination was crucial for scaling. I refactored every GET endpoint to accept page and limit parameters, allowing clients to request manageable chunks of data instead of loading...

  June 23–27, 2025 Christian M. Lagarde – 3rd Year Computer Science Student Bicol University  Securing the Flow: First Steps into GCP and Firebase Integration Week 3 marked a shift from setup to system-building. After two weeks of AWS-based backend development and server setup, I was introduced to another critical cloud platform in modern development— Google Cloud Platform (GCP) . While the environment and terminology differed from AWS, the underlying architecture felt familiar: serverless functions, secure access, and scalable deployments. At the center of this learning curve was Google Cloud Functions —a serverless solution that lets developers run backend logic without managing infrastructure. I spent the first half of the week exploring how these functions are deployed, triggered, and monitored in production environments. It was my first real exposure to GCP, and I took time to understand not just the tools, but the philosophy behind Google’s approach to cloud service...

  June 16–20, 2025 Christian M. Lagarde – 3rd Year Computer Science Student Bicol University  From Local Logic to Cloud Literacy: The AWS Transition The second week of my internship at StraStan Solutions Corp. brought with it a shift in both environment and expectation. Where the first week had grounded me in local backend development using Express.js and Node, this week pulled me into something far larger— the cloud . It started with an AWS setup tutorial that would lay the foundation for everything we were about to build. The transition from developing purely on my machine to understanding infrastructure-as-code was disorienting at first. AWS CDK was no longer just a buzzword—it was the bridge between code and scalable deployment. Node.js Conversion: Building on Familiar Ground While I explored the AWS ecosystem, I was also tasked with converting the Project Task Manager API —originally built in Week 1 using Express.js—into a more modular and cloud-ready Node.js vers...

  June 9–13, 2025 Christian M. Lagarde – 3rd Year Computer Science Student Bicol University The Digital Threshold Monday marked the start of a new chapter—not just another academic requirement, but the real-world application of everything I’d been studying for the past three years. As I joined the virtual orientation hosted by Mr. Mohammad Ali Fereydouni, our OJT manager at StraStan Solutions Corp., I was acutely aware of the transition that was taking place. We weren’t just students anymore. We were contributors. The meeting was brisk and purposeful. Mr. Fereydouni introduced StraStan not just as a company, but as a training ground where we would be treated like junior developers, not observers. Expectations were made clear. The workload would be real. And we would be held accountable. I welcomed the challenge. Infrastructure of Independence By Tuesday, we were setting up access to tools and resources. The remote desktop configuration, Chrome work profile setup, and environ...