What I Got out of IT101x

The Romanian project was an interesting idea to teach business students a few things about the business world. When I get a job doing something related to business, conferences with people across the world will be vital. The technical aspects are not important. Skype is easy to use. Emailing and instant messaging are simple. The hard parts were scheduling a meeting and conversing with our Romanian counterparts. Actually, talking with them was not especially hard. My cross-world group members spoke very good English and were very easy-going. However, scheduling a meeting was difficult due to our different schedules and, of course, the time difference. Either we would have to wake up very early to discuss our project, or they would have to sacrifice their social life one night to work on it. They volunteered, and no conflict ensued. I assume that it will not be as easy in the business world to balance schedules, but now I have experience. Now, I know it is not impossible to make international conferences work.

Aside from some of the valuable information I learned, this class has taught me two more things. First, I was able to relate my newly gained knowledge of the Internet, how it works and other things, to other classes, namely cyber psychology. I learned a lot about Web 2.0, which, I know, can be tested. However, how it related to almost every one of my other classes in some nature cannot be tested. And that knowledge is invaluable. Second, taking this class made me realize that I have a passion for computers. I have a blueprint, which can be changed very easily, for my intended major and minor and LSM now. I believe that I am going to major in CS. Even if my plan does change, I will have gained the experience of taking a CS class and knowing what I do not want to major in.

I have learned lessons from this class that cannot be tested. These lessons may have shaped my future.

"Technology is Our Business" pt. 2

I wanted to put these in two posts so that no one would get bored reading a really long post.

Carol Vallone says that the number of people 55+ is increasing to 20%, the number of students graduating high school is decreasing, and there is a huge gap in math and technical skills. Technically competent people with a business background are the people who will change the world. Vallone created the first e-learning system and sold it to Blackboard two years ago.

Lisa Hoffman is a Bentley graduate in 1986! She is the CTO (Chief Technology Officer) and Vice President of Software Development at Synapse Group. IT is not programming (w00t, programming sucks)! "The future for IT is leadership."

Brian Heemsoth works for Aetna and graduated from Bentley last May!!! Go Falcons! He has not typed a line of programming in his job yet (good for him)! He says that CS240 and CS440 helped him with development, and GB201 and GB301 helped him with the business aspect (thanks, Brandon, for letting me read your screen to get that info). "If you don't major in CIS, minor in it" (that's not his quote, but one of his superiors).

Josh Marine graduated in 2003 with a degree in CIS. He worked for John Hancock (so, he probably graduated from Bentley), and then went to Fidelity. Some of the IT skills that he learned that he uses: programming (booooooo!), management. These skills help him solve some of the problems that seem to arise in the economy or other places in the job world.

Question and answer session (not verbatim):

Q: Do women have an advantage in getting a tech job?
A: Yes, because there are fewer women, and people pay more attention to technologically advanced women. Also, there is a different perspective. Women ask different, not necessarily better, questions.

Q: If you could do things differently, what would you do? (asked by Mr. Guarin)
A: Get internships! Volunteer your time. Get experience; it is more important than getting money. Everyone stressed internships. Get an internship! Josh says to take more communication courses. He says that communicating over the phone or anyway is extremely important. Also, he says to get a mentor. Third, he emphasizes networking. Take a course on presentations: how to present yourself and your ideas. Edwin says to bridge the gap between technology and soft skills.

Q: What minor would you recommend to a CIS major?
A: Finance. A lot of projects are based upon numbers, and understanding the financial aspects is extremely important.

Q: For a technology company, to go into marketing, should you major in marketing and minor in CIS or vice-versa?
A: Carol says marketing major, CIS minor. She says that it is important to have a marketing knowledge, and the CIS minor differentiates yourself. Lisa says CIS major, marketing minor. She says that there are so many marketing majors that it is very hard to get a job.

That's all. Prizes now! Ten of Tom's books were given out, and they are all signed by him. Five XBOX360 games. Another book by Tom: "The Innovation Zone." It is not published yet, but it will be soon!

I think I am going to blog about the Steelers game tonight. The presentation was fun. See you soon.