December 11, 2014 Class

Today in class we are going over presentations for our semester long project.

Cloud computing
3 types of computing, software, platform and infrastructure. They are going through all the companies that provide cloud computing in some sort of a way. Talking about the future of the industry and what that may entail. Showing that cloud computing is coming all around us and the majority of computers that we interact with will just be an interface and everything else will be on the cloud. The group should have dressed up, it gave the impression that they did not really care about their presentation.


Virtual reality
Talking about what virtual reality can and is used for. First example was about military training as they can use it for a realistic simulation without the loss of life. The second example is about gaming and the applications that can be used for that industry. There are many different companies that are creating this product and talking about what it is. This field can also use it for medical reasons to get their mind going again.As for the powerpoint, it was very hard to read and understand what was being displayed as the colors made it hard to see and read.

November 20, 2014 Class

Today in class we are having a panel of Alumni coming in to talk to us about their experience and what jobs they have and answering questions about what we have for the panel of alumni. These people are all telling their stories of how they got to where they are now. Quite a few of these people have started their own business and a couple are still in that field but others actually still own their own companies. Two of the people that are here today are a advertising/ website people. The other people are in the tech business and telling their stories. It is kind of crazy to see how quickly people can go from one place to another and get to do what they love doing. We also had a person join our conversation form google and she used a hangout so that we can see her and listen to her story through technology. They are giving us great advice on how important networking is and too keep contacts of all the people that you meet. Anyone that you talk to can be a potential employer so always know that there might be a potential interview even if you are not in an actual official interview location for that to happen.

October 30, 2014 Class

Today in class we are listening to the careers people on campus to help us to better our resumes and cover pages. They have also set up a networking event for us students in the CSIT to go and meet people. We are being advised on that everything that we send to a recruiter can be used against us with if we have a mistake that they will use this as a red flag against us and more than likely will not respond to us. The lady is now going through the cover letter on how we should organize it and what we should be putting in it in order to make a good cover letter. There are some really well laid out resumes that were passed out to help us in how to make a resume and cover letter the correct way in order to get the job. The resume should have enough to get that interview that is the whole point on why we have a resume so that we get the interview. When making a resume and showing the job experiences on where we have worked before, we do not have to put all of them because we only want to put relevant ones. If we do get the job, then they will ask about the experiences then so they will know everything.

October 23, 2014 Class

Today we are talking about how do we graduate. She is going through the steps on when it is time to apply for graduation and what the steps we have to take when it is that time. There is also a link on what we need to fill out for applying for graduation. The people will check to make sure that we have met all the requirements before we can graduate. There is also a process after we think that we graduate, that the graduation people will check to make sure that we finish all the requirements and if we don't, then we will receive an email stating what we need to take to fulfill the requirements. She has showed us where the catalog years are so that when we get even closer, she will look it up to check to see if we meet the catalog for our year that we joined the school. She is now showing an example from a student that volunteered to show his academic requirements to show everyone where to look and what to look for.

October 16, 2014 Class

Today in class we have Jacob Heuser, the principle web developer for linkedin. He is a graduate from CSUMB from about ten years ago. The talk that he is talking about is what will happen after school is over, after we have graduated. The ideas that the he telling us to do is very good. Telling us how important networking is and that everyone that you meet, you should get to know because they are the ones that can help you get that next big job. He also mentioned that in the 400 class that we have to take for capstone, get to know everyone in that class, because we will all be going to work field at the same time. His story about how he got a job at linkedin was about how he met a person on a plane and started talking to him, to find out that he works at linkedin and got his foot in the door for Jacob. So that he directly gave his resume to the person who hires instead of going through a recruiter or just sent into an inbox.

October 9, 2014 Class

Today in class, we talked about the signs of lack of teamwork and decided as a group what were some of the major issues that cause this. Some of the examples were lack of communication, closed minded, and not participating in discussions. The second topic we talked about was for what are the characteristics that make a strong team. Some of these were good communication, having an open mind of other people opinions, showing up to group events when they are planned, and participating. The last one we talked about in our group was how to build a strong team. The thing that the majority of the class talked about was to create a schedule that works for everyone and stick to that schedule for all your members.

The second half of the class, Dr. Tao talked about how to do a presentation and what to do if you are nervous and how to overcome those fears. He also showed us how to handle hostile questions. How many slides should a good presentation be and how much time should be spent on each part of the presentation.

October 2, 2014 Class

Today in class Dr. Tao is talking about project management and how important it is for our specific degree. The first thing that we worked on was our project and getting that assigned to each group so that we know what we will be talking about at the end of the year for presentations. The entire class voted on three options that were offered by each group and as a group the students voted for each groups project.
He has brought up about the field that we are working in that about half of us will be at some point a project leader and how important it is for us to get used to it now because we will be in a group of some way for the rest of our career. The most important thing for us to take away from the presentation is communication. As a group we need to communicate with each other so that we don't waste time on doing something twice or to make sure that the group is working on time and up to par of what they need to be at.
As a project manager, that person has to be on top of everything that is going on. They need to know the budget and time frame and if there is anything wrong going on, the PM needs to work it out either alone or with the rest of the group so that there are not any surprises that happen. Project Management does not happen overnight, it takes time to become a leader with good ethics and have a good agenda and keep to it so that people stay busy.