Career Planning

Today in class we had someone come in from the career development center or something of that sort, and discuss career planning. Before she had started her presentation, Dr. Tao had stated that 85% of the enrolled students in the CSU system come to have a good career. He also told us the 4 important things to do while we're here in college getting our degree:

• Learn something
• Do an internship
• Create a Portfolio
• Social Networking

Those are the 4 things that will help us get ahead of the game in our chosen career paths, and help us land a job when we graduate. When we discussed these things, I thought to myself that getting a job after graduating in my career is in my control and it is possible. From what I've seen and with the economy, I have been telling myself that it will be difficult after I graduate. I didn't want to set myself up for failure, but talking about these things lets me know that this is important, and that getting a job after graduating is possible if you do all the necessary things. When the Career Center person was giving her presentation, she made it clear to plan ahead and don't leave looking for a job or building a portfolio after you graduate. It's better if you do it before, since you'll be prepared.

After this lecture, I feel like having a career in this horrible economy is doable.

Class Lecture Oct. 7th

This class we had a pretty interesting lecture. Dr. Tao talked more about group projects and group presentations. We also got put into our groups and discovered what our final presentation was all about. My group consists of 4 different emphasizes: an ISSM Major, a CSIT major with an emphasis in Information Systems, another CSIT major with an emphasis in Software Engineering, and then myself as a CD major with an emphasis in web design. I believe that somehow, our group can all relate to one thing. I believe this will be a difficult task, but that's what life's about, and you just have to learn how to deal with it.

My S.M.A.R.T. Goal

By June 2012, I want to graduate with a degree in Communications Design, emphasizing in Web Design. I want to be able to design and code a visually-pleasing, fully-functional website. I would like to have the knowledge of HTML, CSS, PHP, and possibly Javascript by the time I graduate. I also want to be familiar or at least introduced to creating web applications, since that is where the web is being directed to. I also want to become familiar with Drupal. For my capstone, I'd like to create a web application that is useful to the campus.

Project Management

The last lecture we had we discussed project management. We talked about what was important, what it was, and what was needed for successful project managing. Project management is planning, organizing, and managing resources in order to complete a successful project goal.

Project management is important to me because if I want to be a web designer, I will have many projects that require me to manage my time and resources in order to complete a successful project goal. If I don't manage my time well, then the project goal will be more difficult to reach. This is important because as I take on more projects, I will have to be organized with what I want to do. I need to create deadlines that are in my reach in order to help me succeed as a web designer.

The main key concepts in project management is definition, planning, and control. First, you need to define the project specifically and note what you want the outcome of this project to be. Second, you need to plan what you need to do in order to meet goals for the project. Third, you need to make sure that the project is actually progressing and working towards the goals you make.

Another thing we also learned was to create S.M.A.R.T. goals. Goals need to be specific, measurable, agreed upon, realistic, and time-framed. If all goals meet these specifications, then they will be achievable and in the reach of the group in order to create a successful project.