My Educational Experience - Report Example

The reasons of my choice of a career in computer science are to increase my career choices in this specialist field, expand my knowledge and to improve my social network and interactions. This course in Graduate development has installed various skills which are precious and relevant for my every day life application. I have a great admiration to individuals who have higher qualifications and the ability to play multiple roles in the society. To do effectively this, skills in time management is necessary. In this course, we had to form a group discussion. The time in our possession was limited since we had to research on the various aspects of the course. It is from these discussions that my knowledge of the essentials of time management and the vital role team work plays in solving problems was enhanced. Together with my colleagues, we assigned ourselves various roles and laid down a specific time interval for completion of various individual tasks at hand. The first task was to identifying the various professional careers available for computer science graduates. My group came up with the following careers (Burns, 2002, p23), and it was my responsibility to identify them. A career as a network engineer. A Web Developer. A career in a computer programming. I explained to my group what these careers entail and their importance in computer science. From this discussion, the impact of my contribution was positive. The following are the reasons, My colleagues were able to know the various careers available for them upon graduation. My colleagues were able to know the roles of the mentioned official in the field of computer science. My colleagues were motivated by my advice concerning these fields and promised to work hard in class to achieve better grades and compete for these jobs. My contribution regarding this issue was good, and this opened my eyes to know the level of confidence in my possession. My next presentation will be by use of power-point to emphasize strongly my points and it involved addressing issues and skills that employers look for in graduates of computer science. We identified the following skills, Effective communication skills Problem solving skills Ability to work as a team and under pressure Creative and innovative Flexible Ability to multi-task. My contribution in this task was awesome since my main role was supervisory. Under my leadership, my group came up with various skills employers look for. This was a more significant contribution as compared to my previous contribution. From this task, skills under my possession were identified and thereafter, giving them a score from 1 to 5. I met the requirements of the session and acquired skills in time management and communication. There was an improvement on my team work skills since working with my colleagues was beneficial to me. The discussions with my group enabled me to identify indicators of poor communication skills and thereafter learn on ways of improving on them. Indicators of poor communication skills are numerous (Samova et al, 2010, p28), and the following were identified, Poor body language. Poor use of vocabulary and grammar. Interrupting or jumping into a conclusion when a person communicates with an individual is a sign that an individual posses poor communication skills. Speaking with assumptions. Being unable to follow basic instructions from superiors and colleagues is a sign that an individual has poor communication skills. From these tasks, my communication skills were developed and to make them stronger, the following were necessary, Speaking to people with no assumptions in my mind. Learning proper use of English vocabulary and grammar. Later on, we came up with ways on how to market ourselves to prospective employers and develop Curriculum Vitae that effectively sells our stronger points. We learned that most employers, while reviewing their applicant’s curriculum vitae are concerned with the following information (Rosner et al, 2001, p 37), The relevant work experience the applicant has. Gender of the applicant. Academic and Professional qualification of the applicant. Location of the applicant. The last job the applicant had or has, prior to applying for the current job. These discussions gave me an opportunity to learn on various job opportunities and their requirements and on how to organize my profile to match the skills employers are looking for. What came to my knowledge is that some organisations put an age limit on people they want to employ and therefore, proper screening of the Job requirements needs to be done before application. The most important session to me was when my colleagues helped me on the essential skills on how to write Curriculum Vitae. The following information came to my knowledge, Need to prepare a list of expected questions and try to answer them. Need to prepare my original CV in a high quality paper, designed in an attractive way, as this will make a positive impression to my prospective employers. Need to be presentable and smartly dressed when approaching the interviewing panel. After this, each of us prepared samples of the Curriculum vitae and exchanged with one another to check the mistakes and improve on them. This task was useful to me since it gave me an experience on how to write curriculum vitae, and by correcting mistakes of others, my skills in CV making was enhanced. Interacting with my colleagues made me realize that going for an interview requires courage and confidence since meeting many interviewers in the interview room is imminent. This being part of my future, and my determination to get the job, there was need to develop confidence. During these sessions, my positive attributes came to revelation. As an individual, how can the organization benefit from my services and therefore skills under possession of each member of our group was analyzed. After this analysis, together with my colleagues, we were able to practice a mock interview. We practiced answering various questions an interviewer will ask. For instance, the question put across to colleague by me was, What skills he had to offer if he is recruited by my company? Through his answer, my group learnt on how to handle such a kind of question and therefore leave an impression on the hiring manager. On ethical aspects of my profession, my group was instrumental in shaping my thoughts. I realized that a computers scientist has to observe certain ethics and the followings are the some ethical practices of Computer Science experts, Not using their skills for Criminal activities such as hacking into the computer systems of rival companies. Using their skills for the benefit of the society and themselves. The unethical issues identified are, Using dishonesty to avoid responsibilities. Hacking into the computer systems of organizations. This knowledge is essential to me for my future roles of a computer science expert. Together with my group, and after extensive research, we came up with cases that involve collection and protection of personal data. The following are the cases and my reactions to them, An employee has access to the electronic student record system for a university. A parent rings them and says that they want to know how their son is getting on. What would you advise them to say and why? Regarding sharing information to third parties, I won’t oblige to their request. Permission is needed from the University authorities and the student himself on sharing information regarding him/ her since he/ she is an adult. A researcher is collecting primary data, including demographic data from participants in a survey. How would you advise the researcher to proceed? My advice to the researcher would be to avoid taking personal information from their participants, such as marriage status, address, date of birth. A camera crew is filming an establishing shot with people moving around in the foreground. Is there any data protection issues associated with this? The data protection issues involved in this scenario is to ensure that the camera man does not take photos or videos of people without permission. They should not use such photos for publications or any other commercial usage without authorization of the people involved. These cases opened my mind and made me think of other ethical practices that a professional need to practice and finally, with my colleagues we leant of various rules and policies that are needed to be followed while handling the computers machines, specifically, computers. References Burns, J. K. (2002). Opportunities in computer careers. New York: VGM Career Books. Rosner, B., Halcrow, A., & Levins, A. S. (2001). Interviews. New York: McGraw-Hill. Samovar, L. A., Porter, R. E., & McDaniel, E. R. (2010). Communication between cultures (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning. Read More