Blog 7 - Second Interview Preparation

- From what my mentor has told me it sounds like he had plenty of potential that went unused and could've been a big name in the computer industry.

1.  Who is your mentor and where do they work?  If their workplace does not reflect their expertise, what makes them an expert?

My mentor is Brian Dlugos and he works at LA County Internal Services Department. The ISD is exactly what is sounds like, anything and everything the county needs will be sourced from there rather than private companies.

2.  What five questions will you ask them about their background? 

      - What influenced you to follow the career path that you did?

      - If you had the chance to go back and change your career path, would you? And what path would you take?

      -Was there a time when you wanted to give up on what you do? How did you deal with it?

      - How long did it take you to get to your position? What were some of the struggles along the way?

      - Could you use your skills for a slightly different job and would you take that path if you had the time?

Blog 6 - Advisory Prep

-Becoming a vampire is how I will cope with the senior project

1. What has worked well for you concerning senior project this year?  What has made it a positive experience for you?  

    

  - Finding a mentor and getting to interview somebody in the field that I'm interested in worked very well. The support the senior team offers makes the entire experience positive and make me want to tear my hair out less.

2. What are you finding difficult concerning senior project?  How can you adapt to make that portion work better for you?  How might the senior team help?

   - It is difficult to find time for the senior project on top of young scholars, a job, and regular classes. I can adapt by sleeping less, so I can use time at night. Other than extending deadlines just a tad, I don't know how the senior team can help.

Blog 5: Interview 1 Reflection

- How I feel on computers after my interview with Benjamin Bracero

1. What is the most important thing I learned from the interview?  Is there anything I would do differently for other interviews?

       - In this interview I learned that only certain questions are useful, and that questions similar to each other can be dropped because it is likely that a good interviewee will talk for minutes and stretch over similar topics. Next time I'd definitely sit and think of all answers that can be brought up so questions don't get repetitive.

2. Did I get additional resources and contacts?  What is the most useful?  Why?

      - I got directions to go for contacts, as well as my name passed around one of the corporate offices at Microsoft. The most useful is the recruiter at Cal Poly, whom I will definitely  try my best to get a hold of.

3. What makes my interviewee qualified to help me? 

      - My interviewee, Benjamin Bracero, is the Senior Dedicated Systems Engineer at Microsoft. His job has him travelling the country setting up applications and software for companies and requires him to be extremely competitive in his craft because of the other software developers that can release a similar product.

Link to Interview 1

- The Interview

The following is the link to the Soundcloud bit:

https://soundcloud.com/j0shua-sanch3z/benjamin-bracero-interview

The following is the link to the transcription:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1W0RhVX8S-q4qnquIrEHPWF6dQ6XuaiRihQZLgpf3OhI/edit

Blog 4 - House Advisory Prep 1

To me, the Senior Project is a tool to help me lay foundations in the career path I want to follow. In college I will need to relearn the skills I will gain throughout the year and I want to be sure that it will not be a heavy burden with the quarter system many colleges follow. From my Senior project, I want to learn about the micro-culture that is upheld by programmers, why people decide to master specific languages over the countless others that exist, and also  what the strongest career path to follow with my gained skills is. I feel that the best way to move on is with understanding, and to do that  I need to understand everything I can about my future.

Blog 3 - First Interview preparation

-Interviews to me always feel just as awkward as any jib interview

1.  Who do you plan to interview?  Why?
     - I plan to interview Bejnamin Bracero. Mr. Bracero is the Senior Dedicated Systems Engineer at Microsoft, making him an expert in his field. Mr. Bracero handles all IT work for companies that use his software and is the one to update, train, and architect the use of programs.

2.  Five questions will be assigned to all seniors to ask.  What additional questions do you plan to ask?  
      - Why do you think it is important for developers to be slightly fluent in languages they may never need to use?
      - What influenced you to follow the career path that you did?
      - If you had the chance to go back and change your career path, would you? And what path would you take?
     - What do you find to be the most rewarding at your job?
     - What is something most people forget to touch up on when following the career path that you did?
     - What are similar career choices to specialize in? And in those career choices, how long does it normally take to complete schooling and training?