Week 6: module 6

This is the sixth week of the CSUMB computer science program. 

The first thing we did this week was have a meeting with our teammates, going over capstone ideas and sharing our perspectives on why we chose them. This began with everyone using the capstone ideas created in our journal entry for week five, as we listed them within discord and discussed on what stood out within the capstone ideas. A majority of the ideas listed off AI, automation, and services that can provide users a more efficient method in implementing certain tasks, which everyone within the group found funny, as we essentially used similar patterns to come up with our ideas through leading trends like implementing AI. Furthermore, we discussed what stood out within the capstone ideas and why they caught our attention, thus the ones that caught my attention is as follows:

• Smart navigation system/app for public spaces - This system implements a navigational tool within buildings, such as malls, hospitals, large events, and airports. The tool itself would be similar to Google maps but for indoor areas, which would provide the user an interactive map for the area they are in.
• Smart vehicle traffic management system - This system is used to resolve traffic, as federal or state workers are required to resolve vehicle traffic. Therefore, this system would help resolve traffic through an interface or AI that can help navigate drivers towards their destination.
• An organizational app powered by AI - This application would be similar to creating an excel sheet or project manager; however, this tool will use AI to automatically generate the necessary folders and projects, while assigning documents to their appropriate designations.

The second thing we did was go over the readings and assignments this week, which had major points towards guiding our career, along with creating an ethics argument draft, and making our final preparations for the final presentation project. 

Like always, I started off with the assigned readings, which were the intro, lecture, and writing lab. The intro for this week went over the introduction of key topics like our resume, cover letter, and final presentation project. Other than the resume and cover letter, the final presentation project topic that our team decided on was quantum computing. During the team meeting, we also went over assigning roles and attributing what needs to be done for the presentation, which went over the implementation of transitions, images, information, and who should do what for the project. In the end, we also created an assigned date for when everything should be completed, which is the following:

Wednesday (2/19)

• Have rough drafts for professional slides finished by meeting.
• Finalize professional slides during meeting.
• Record professional slides during meeting.

Monday (2/24)

• Have rough drafts for general slides finished by meeting.
• Finalize general slides during meeting.
• Record general slides during meeting.

Wednesday (2/26)

• Recap + Finalize

The next thing was the lecture, which went over the resume, cover letter and a career guide on what companies are looking for in candidates. We were first given a video going over what companies were looking for in new hires by our professor Eric Tao, which is listed below:

• Dependable - Employers are seeking hires that can both deliver on-time and quality work. 
• Communication - Employers value hires that can clearly convey ideas, issues, and deliver presentations professionally.
• Solve Problems - Employers are looking for hires that can innovate and resolve issues.
• Teamwork - Employers want hires that can work well within a team, while being capable of leading, collaborating, and supporting each other efficiently. 
• Proactive - Employers prefer hires that can actively suggest solutions and contribute to projects whether prompted or not.
• Integrity - Employers value hires that are trustworthy, honest, and transparent with their work.
• Flexibility - Employers seek out hires that can handle a variety of tasks efficiently.
• Confidence - Employers want hires that are confident in their field, along with knowing industry trends, and can adapt new skills or ideas into their work ethic. 
• learn - Employers wish for hires to constantly learn new things, either through practice or in hands on practice.
• Tech Skills - Employers seek out hires that have the required technical experience, along with programming languages, platforms, and tools necessary to accomplish their assigned role.

Furthermore, the lecture went over how a resume and cover letter should be created. The resume needs to be tailored for the particular company, job, or aspect you're looking for when applying towards a particular company, as resumes must follow a strict structure. This structure leads to having the entire resume using only times new romans 12 font, along with using action verbs, and making sure the resume lists off any relevant skills, education, work experience, projects, etc. that can be used within that particular job. As for cover letters, the requirements are for identifying a specific person, position, and company, while also going over three short paragraphs, which the first is to introduce your general background (education, reasons for applying, etc.), along with the second that goes over your skills, qualifications or reasoning on why you should be considered, and the third goes over your interest, while thanking them for their consideration.

After going over the readings, I went over the assignments. The easiest of them were the weekly survey, collaboration lecture, and module 6 quiz, as they all were based on answering questions that were really simple. The assignments that were more involved were the individual learning plan (ILP) portfolio website shell, cover letter & resume, and creating a stakeholder argument using AI.

The ILP portfolio website shell was to create a website that listed off everything we are going to do within the CSUMB program; thus, it only has course information, course outcomes, and a personal bio. The cover letter & resume was an extension on what we learned within the readings, thus applying them to a hypothetical company that included the cover letter and resume. Lastly, the creating a stakeholder argument using AI went over the generation of stakeholder 2's paragraphs, which used our outline as the base and required us to evaluate it within 100 - 200 words.

In the end, this the end of another week and I hope to keep going strong.