Assignment 1

What will I be 10 years from now?

Just thinking about it is hard, and thinking about it in the future is very stressful. But if you think of it thoroughly it’s your future at stake. Would you be having a very bright future or your life would be the same as what it is right now? There is one thing that I’m sure 10 years from now that I will be a graduate of my own University which is the University of Southeastern Philippines with a degree of Bachelor of Science in Information Technology. After making sure that I am already a college graduate, maybe 10 years from now I would have my own family. Maybe I have my own children to rise. Or maybe I would be very successful 10 years from now; we don’t know what will our future up ahead. We can’t tell what will our future will be but one thing for sure I think we can do something about it.

10 years from now, I want to be a successful and what they call “worthy” IT professional. I would be the boss for myself. Or a boss of my own company, IT company. These are only some of my dreams in life to be the boss for myself or a boss of an IT company. Talking about dreams, I will share some of my childhood experiences. To start, when I was a boy I really dream about someday I would be rich. That was really the first dream I wanted in my life to be very rich. But that was a dream so everyone can dream to be rich. As years goes by and I am getting older and having thoughts of my own from one dream it became dreams because my dreams multiplied or shall we say “added” from wanting to be rich and to become the computer master. That was the next dream I want to be when I grow up. I really don’t know why I thought of a thing in my mind that I want to be the master of computers. Maybe I thought of that because of the many influence by that time, such as temptations such as computer gaming. This was the time when online gaming was on the rise. Everyday I spend much time playing online games. After class I play online games or sometimes because of temptations I cut class just to play online games. By that time I also heard of the word IT or Information Technology. That word stuck in my mind as I finish my high school days. I thought that the course Information Technology is some related to computer gaming or just having knowledge about how to use a computer. By that time my mind had made a decision and the decision is to take up IT or Information Technology when I reach college. So these were initially why I wanted to take up IT or Information Technology. It was initially the reason why I took up Information Technology. But these things changed when I reach the college level. It was all shock from what I expected when I was in my high school days. I came unprepared to take up college with the course of Information Technology because of the initial thought about the word Information Technology. After able to adjust about the life on an Information Technology student and what is really the main description or shall we say the main role of Information Technology in reality. I soon realized that this is really what I want to become, to become an IT professional someday not just IT professional but a worthy IT professional. So in order to attain my goal of becoming a successful yet worthy IT professional these are the things that is needed to be done.

To graduate

In order to become a successful and worthy IT professional I really need to graduate to the course that I took up which is Bachelor of Science in Information Technology. We all know that we don’t need to graduate in order for us to be successful but I think from the word being “worthy” having a diploma is giving you a proof of being a “worthy” professional because it gives you a plus in all aspects and giving a proof that you have done all the required things in the Information Technology field. So it’s really a plus on your part if you can graduate from a course, not just IT but all other degrees. But what are the required things that you need to do in order to graduate? These are the things that you mind to list in your mind. First, is you need to study, study hard, and study well. You don’t need just study and you also don’t need just to study hard but you need all these aspects in order to have a good foundation. Just studying doesn’t count as worthy but you all need those aspects. Next is being a positive thinker. You study hard but you lack of motivations still you cant bare a good fruit from it so when you study you also need to be a positive thinker. It gives you a boost emotionally that you need when you are loosing hope in studying. So you need to be study but partner it with being a positive thinker. After securing it, the next thing you should do is what will be your forte or priorities?

Priorities

What will you are focusing at when you graduate and go to the real world? These are some things that you could be when you graduate in Information Technology.

· IT Consultant
· Software Engineer
· Programmer
· System Analysts
· Database Administrator
· Web Developer

These are some forte that you can choose from in setting up priorities. But I’m not saying that you only focus on one forte but what I really mean is that you identify your own strength. Are you good at programming, or are you a good web developer, and etc., these are just some way of identifying your strengths. So after identifying it, you can also identify where are your weaknesses are so by that you could work on your weakness in order to make it as a strength. So what I really mean is being flexible in all aspects. That can be considering a “worthy” IT professional. But all of these won’t work if you have a bad personality. If you don’t know how to collaborate with others even your good at something still you can’t be called worthy because you lack in Good Moral and Right Conduct. Having a good personality in this field is also important in being a worthy IT professional.

So I would explain more about them one by one from IT consultant until Web Developer.

IT Consultant - An IT consultant works in partnership with clients, advising them how to use information technology in order to meet their business objectives or overcome problems. Consultants work to improve the structure and efficiency and of an organization's IT systems. IT consultants may be involved in a variety of activities, including marketing, project management, client relationship management and systems development. They may also be responsible for user training and feedback. In many companies, these tasks will be carried out by an IT project team. IT consultants are increasingly involved in sales and business development, as well as technical duties.

Software Engineer - A software engineer is a person who applies the principles of software engineering to the design, development, testing, and evaluation of the software and systems that make computers or anything containing software, such as chips, work. Typically these are some of the work activities of a software engineer:

· researching, designing and writing new software programs;
· testing new programs and fault finding;
· developing existing programs by analyzing and identifying areas for modification;
· ‘bolting together’ existing software products and getting incompatible platforms to work together;
· investigating new technologies;
· creating technical specifications and test plans;
· working with computer coding languages;
· writing operational documentation with technical authors;
· maintaining systems by monitoring and correcting software defects;
· working closely with other staff, such as project managers, graphic artists, systems analysts, and sales and marketing professionals;
· consulting clients/colleagues concerning the maintenance and performance of software systems and asking questions to obtain information, clarify details and implement information;
· constantly updating technical knowledge and skills by attending in-house and/or external courses, reading manuals and accessing new applications;
· Problem-solving and thinking laterally as part of a team, or individually, to meet the needs of the project.

Programmer - A programmer is someone who writes computer software. The term computer programmer can refer to a specialist in one area of computer programming or to a generalist who writes code for many kinds of software. One who practices or professes a formal approach to programming may also be known as a programmer analyst. A programmer's primary computer language (Lisp, Java, Delphi, C++, etc.) is often prefixed to the above titles, and those who work in a web environment often prefix their titles with web. The term programmer can be used to refer to a software developer, software engineer, computer scientist, or software analyst. However, members of these professions typically possess other software engineering skills, beyond programming; for this reason, the term programmer is sometimes considered an insulting or derogatory oversimplification of these other professions. This has sparked much debate amongst developers, analysts, computer scientists, programmers, and outsiders who continue to be puzzled at the subtle differences in these occupations.

System Analysts - A systems analyst is responsible for researching, planning, coordinating and recommending software and system choices to meet an organization's business requirements. The systems analyst plays a vital role in the systems development process. A successful systems analyst must acquire four skills: analytical, technical, managerial, and interpersonal. Analytical skills enable systems analysts to understand the organization and its functions, which helps him/her to identify opportunities and to analyze and solve problems. Technical skills help systems analysts understand the potential and the limitations of information technology. The systems analyst must be able to work with various programming languages, operating systems, and computer hardware platforms. Management skills help systems analysts manage projects, resources, risk, and change. Interpersonal skills help systems analysts work with end users as well as with analysts, programmers, and other systems professionals.
Because they must write user requests into technical specifications, the systems analysts are the liaisons between vendors and the IT professionals of the organization they represent. They may be responsible for developing cost analysis, design considerations, and implementation time-lines. They may also be responsible for feasibility studies of a computer system before making recommendations to senior management.

A systems analyst performs the following tasks:
· Interact with the customers to know their requirements
· Interact with designers to convey the possible interface of the software
· Interact/guide the coders/developers to keep track of system development
· Perform system testing with sample/live data with the help of testers
· Implement the new system
· Prepare High quality Documentation

Database Administrator - A database administrator (DBA) is a person responsible for the design, implementation, maintenance and repair of an organization's database. They are also known by the titles Database Coordinator or Database Programmer, and are closely related to the Database Analyst, Database Modeler, Programmer Analyst, and Systems Manager. The role includes the development and design of database strategies, monitoring and improving database performance and capacity, and planning for future expansion requirements. They may also plan, co-ordinate and implement security measures to safeguard the database. Employing organizations may require that a database administrator have a certification or degree for database systems (for example, the Microsoft Certified Database Administrator). The duties of a database administrator vary depending on job description, corporate and Information Technology (IT) policies and the technical features and capabilities of the DBMS being administered. They include disaster recovery (backups and testing of backups), performance analysis and tuning, data dictionary maintenance, and database design.

Web Developer - A web developer is a software developer or software engineer who is specifically engaged in the development of World Wide Web applications, or distributed network applications that are run over the HTTP protocol from a web server to a web browser. Web developers can be found working in all types of organizations, including large corporations and governments, small and medium sized companies, or alone as freelancers. Some web developers work for one organization as a permanent full-time employee, while others may work as independent consultants, or as contractors for an employment agency. Modern web applications often contain three or more tiers, and depending on the size of the team a developer works on, he or she may specialize in one or more of these tiers - or may take a more interdisciplinary role. For example, in a two person team, one developer may focus on the technologies sent to the client such as HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and on the server-side frameworks (such as Perl, Python, Ruby, PHP, Java, .NET) used to deliver content and scripts to the client. Meanwhile the other developer might focus on the interaction between server-side frameworks, the web server, and a database system. Further, depending on the size of their organization, the aforementioned developers might work closely with a web designer, web producer, project manager, software architect, or database administrator - or they may be responsible for such tasks as web design, project management, and database administration themselves.

So these are some description or definition of different forte that you can work in becoming a worthy IT professional. By focusing first on one forte and after mastering at it focus on your weaknesses. And that doesn’t end there you need to read and try to learn new technologies that are available in the market. Because we all know that the world is changing fast and it will become faster in the future so adapt to it and try to fit in so that you won’t be left behind in the ever fast changing environment.

So after attaining all of it the next thing to do is work hard in order to reach your goal. Seek help from the Lord and guidance. If you want to be rich be good at what you’re doing and save money.

So 10 years from now I would become a successful and worthy enough to be called “worthy” IT professional. I’m not sure what will be my future but my focus is to finish my schooling after that we will see.