self-reflection

Human self-reflection is the capacity of humans to exercise introspection and the willingness to learn more about their fundamental nature, purpose and essence
Self-reflection can help you recognize the progress you made in a lesson, whilst simultaneously allowing you to consider improvements that you could make.We learn by experiences and mistakes. But, unless we question ourselves about what our experiences mean and think actively about them, we won’t make any changes. Self-reflection enables you to move from just experiencing, into understanding.

It was with this good reason that we were asked to self reflect on our past since we joined the university. and for me i made a little progress i would say had few short comings and as well had my high moments and learnt equally from both of them

 i joined the university being an introvert had a small circle of friends but to some strange reasons PPD made me a little bit loose and i became friendly with my classmates and i would say it ain't that bad having a bigger circle after all

At the beginning when i joined it was a little difficult for me  to settle on my studies it was my first time ever owning and using a laptop and as expected i was very slow and could not finish my practicals exams or would take more time to complete a simple assignment. it took me as well more time for some concepts to sink in. I knew this was my weakness and as they say birds of the same feather flocks together and do i looked for an accountability partner in my class who helped me with the computer related subjects while i helped on other areas. it was a mutual benefit and this help me progress more faster than i thought i would.

Basketball has been my passion for just a few years back when i started playing and so i joined the basketball team and by grace i happened to be among the key role players in the team. some games we lost others we lost its the nature of competition. Ive learnt from our mistake and have tried to adjust on them and i would strongly believe that my game has moved from level to another.

self reflections helps us to identify our weaknesses our strengths and we can come up with strategies to build up to another level

Trust Walk

Trust Walk Activity

I missed this session but as i was told it was an activity based on trust. one was was to be blind folded and get guidance fro another person

Purpose:

This activity was designed to help you know how you feel when you trust someone else.

During the activity

  The role of the individual as publisher and receiver in the communication process were tested. effective interpersonal communication was at test.

Demonstration and evaluation of effective use of verbal and non-verbal symbols in interpersonal communication.

Students were challenged to distinguish the various communication factors that improve or limit the effectiveness of communication in relational systems.

  Effective listening was one key factor to make the activity successful and evaluate the importance of effectively listening and help from the one you are trusting.

Stairs, where we stopped the curtain with the steps and where they stopped. There were white spots on the street, and if someone stepped on them, they could fall. and for that reason undivided attention to the teacher was required. In the first round they had to follow the path and hit a rock. In the second round they had to hit two stones and concrete.

 In the first round, almost all the students did the piece with the correct instructions. But in the second round, some students forgot what to do. Some forgot to hit the stone after finding concrete blocks. 

 

Procedure was, 

1.This exercise is done in pairs.

Select a friend from the batch to be your partner for this exercise. It should not be someone you know very well.

One person will act as a guide for the other partner, who is blindfolded.

2.The guide’s task is to lead the the blinded partner around the environment, and stimulate as many of his/her senses as possible except sight

3.After about 15 minutes, roles were swapped and the exercise continued

emphasis was made on the following areas

1. During the time you are being a guide, think about what you are doing or saying to communicate to your blinded partner that you can be trusted, and when could assure your partner to trust you
2. During the time you are the blindfolded focus on what your guide is doing or saying to develop trust with you

At the end of the day there was a lesson as usual.the lesson was that as a fact we will have to work with so many many people and some points there are things we will not have knowledge about and are bound to put our trust on other people to guide us through such situations. but we should be vigilante and always be aware of our environment and people we are putting our trust in.

Curriculum Vitae

It is a short account of one's career and qualifications prepared typically by an applicant for a position  in other words, a resume.even though to some extent a CV and a resume deffer they are share most characteristics and do the same work. Curriculum vitae is abbreviated CV, and is pluralized as curricula vitae.
we were privileged to have a session with our PPD lecture from where we learnt how to write a professional CV.first we were given an opportunity to write to the CV based on our knowledge and then we later had a session from which she discussed steps by step point out the strong areas and noting the mistakes we had made writing our CV, at the end of the day we had a good professional CV. thanks to our lecturer.

importance of having a well written CV

Your CV is the first chance you get to make a good impression on a potential employer. A top-quality CV will considerably boost your chance of getting a face-to-face interview, so it is worth spending time and effort on the content and presentation. It will make all the difference in obtaining the position you want. You must therefore highlight your skills, expertise and value.we were challenged to always be truthful in our CV and don't give a false statement for it embarrass us and give a bad impression of ourselves. On the CV session the lecturer made emphasis on several CV parts and gave out how to write the CV. 
First and for most she talked about  making  sure that your CV is  concise and accurate.and should not, generally, be longer than two pages, depending on the Job you are applying for. include the skills, qualifications and experience which are most suited to the job.She said that employers would want to look for the following information that i will soon get into and discuss them

Personal details 
Include your name and address, a phone number, and your email address. You may also add your nationality, gender and date of birth if you wish, but they are not obligatory. one should as well attach a decent professional photos at either of the top corners of you CV entirely depending on ones choice

Personal profile 
It is advisable  to include your enthusiasm about working at a given job capacity and what motivates you about that particular job. Use keywords and keep it brief and concise.

Technical skills and soft skills
Include any professional  skills you have learnt such as secretarial or IT skills as well as the inter-relational skills you posses. Explain what you think your personal skills are. especially related to the job you are applying for and how you associate with other people.

Employment history 
This part though most of  us haven't being employed it was advised in future we should include it and start with your current or last employer and work backwards. You should include the dates of employment, your job title, name of employer, nature of business, responsibilities, duties and achievements. Try not to leave gaps in your employment history; if you do, it is advisable to account for such times.

Education and qualifications 
Write in chronological order a brief list of school, college and university qualifications, such as KCSE, A levels, etc., together with the grades you obtained. Then list any further qualifications you have obtained, together with the names of the awarding bodies.

projects
you could talk briefly about the projects you  have done and if any project is on progress you should as well state it.

Interests 
This is optional but gives you a chance to portray something about your personality. Keep it simple, mention what you do in your free time and note any achievements made.

References 
 It was wisely advised to state at least two references but make sure that  your chosen  referees agreed to be referenced  and that you have asked their permission to use them and they are aware they have being referenced in your CV.

TECHNICAL WRITING AT WSO2

TECHNICAL WRITING AT WSO2

as you can see from the photo i, wasn't lucky enough to attend the session, but still I'm obligated to write on this particular event. I had to read from several other blogs before i could finally come up with something to write.so this is just  a collective idea of how other students perceived the session at WSO2.

It was just at the beginning of the semester we as the 2nd batch, were given the opportunity to participate for a workshop on TECHNICAL WRITING at WSO2.

From all blogs i read students wrote on how good the place is and how hospitable are the stuff over there

The workshop took place on 12th of September and commenced at 9am. WSO2 Head Office is located on Duplication Road, Kollupitiya. Many of the students went through  Panadura train to reach Kollupitiya for it was the most convenient means to reach there.

They were welcomed by the technical writing crew and each of them given a WSO2 diary and a pen, The session was held on the  7th floor which was referred to as AREA 51.In accordance to many of them, WSO2 has a very employee friendly environment with facilities from where yo can relax and re freshen your mind over the break.games equipment such as Chess boards, carom boards, the piano and the drum kit were made available.

The session was conducted by 3 technical writers at WSO2 and was done in 3 stages namely : Introduction to technical writing, technical writing as a career and grammar lab.

Most of them who participated in this activity confessed that the technical writing was something new to them, and  were not aware that technical writing was a career itself and that it carries a lot of responsibilities. If done correctly, one can even reach the highest position in the tech writing ladder.

Technical writing is the area in the field of Software Engineering that involves the writing of user manual for novice use in the underlying technology. It's a challenging position because the writer needs to know about the technology and be concerned about the user at the same time. They were further taught on the current days, even a developer needs to know the basics of technical writing. This is mainly because, it is the developer who writes the comments in a code, and a QA or a BA that tests the ultimate product needs to know what can actually be done by the Software product. If the developer is unable to describe the Software or the code in a proper and comprehensive manner, the QA may not be able to test the product functions precisely. Similarly, if the technical writer cannot understand what the developer has done with the programme, he is unable to write a detailed manual for the end user as well.The knowledge in proper English is a must despite the career path chosen. in a summary the technical writing helps developers and all those involved in a software life cycle ease of communications between them.

The session also included useful grammar lessons followed by fun activities. The winners were gifted WSO2 t-shirts

The feed back from this activity was positive and i would believe it really brought them a step ahead in their career building.my only regret is that i missed it.

TECHNOLOGICAL TRENDS WITH WSO2

TECHNOLOGICAL TRENDS

 Technology has  come  a long  way from the era of analog systems and huge systems that were used to a digital era where micro chips have replaced the adversely big systems and increased efficiency but still we have to embrace that's not the end and new inventions come in day in day out.

Technology is embedded in everything we do and enhances the way we live, work and live the world. and there is rapid and steady growth of how much technology is being used in various sectors of the economy all over the world.Each an every single day there is at least a different technology being introduced into the world.

Being software engineers there is need to stay up to date on the latest technology but not just the latest but as well as the common and famous ones too. with this it would help us be competitive and stand an equal if not an advantage chance with other graduands from several universities

On the same spirit, WSO2 a software company in Sri Lanka, coordinated by Madam Sarasi, organized a meeting to introduce the software engineering students and to  familiarize them with new technologies and the latest trends of technologies.

The session was conducted by  Mr.Srinath Perera with Mrs. Premila Rajapaksha who discussed few topics which included 

• APIs
• Analytics & AI
• IoT
• Bots

And as expected it ended with few questions from the audience...and not to forget about the free pens we received.

 

The technological world advances at a steady rat and as software engineers we have to stay vigilante and always be up to date with the latest technologies.

FACING AN INTERVIEW
Facing and interview is not an easy thing to do, especially if it for your first time facing an interview. there those who have faced several interviews and have gotten used to it , even though there are some who never get used to it. An interviews matters a lot since from it is where you create you first impression to the employers and its because of the impression  among other attributes you make that will help or boost you to e able to be selected in. There are several things that make an interview not be successful and we will discuss  a few and how to overcome such shortcomings.

 Having knowledge about the employer

There have been cases of individuals who face an interview and have no any idea  about the employers and their companies.Most employers find this offensive and it reduces your chances of not being selected. There is no excuse for ignorance, hence you have to a proper research about the company you are going to have your interview at get familiarized with their policies so as to be on a safe side

 Get prepared to answer general questions rather than technical Questions

People always get well prepared to answer technical questions related to their lines of duties and for a fact employers are well informed about this and they tend to settle on general questions which most people most times fails to prepare and this questions hit them as a surprise and they get stuck in the interviewers.Hence getting prepared for general questions helps to avoid this kind situations.

Asking Questions

Asking questions during the interview portray a good trait and has a positive indication that you are not afraid and you are confident having that sessions.It also shows you are interested in the company and this quality attracts employers to consider you for the job

Show Confidence 

One of the problems people face is being anxious and stage fright and never confident with themselves.If you show any sign of doubt it gives a bad impression to the potential employers and reduces your chances to get employed. Its good to start from being decently and smartly dressed this puts yo at ease. when offered a seat you should seat upright and never slouch on the chair. and during your session ensure to maintain eye contact.these shows how much you are confident about yourself.

Check your qualifications

Always ensure your skills match or are above the skills the job position and the company's employer are asking for to help you stand a chance of being selected, otherwise if you are under qualified or overqualified it reduces your chances for if you are under qualified employers would feel as a waste of time interviewing you and if you are overqualified they may feel intimidated by you and in both cases you stand minimal chances of being selected.

Get well prepared before the d day

always ensure to keep important documents well packed and that you have not forgotten any crucial document. Arrange your document in a systematic manner.employers normally pay attention on small details and just from seeing how yo organize your documents they can tell whether you are someone neat and responsible or not.

Punctuality

Don't be too early or too late.few minutes before your session should do. you wont want to keep them waiting 

i wish you all the best when you next go for an interview.

PAPER ROCKETS

PAPER ROCKETS

this was an activity we did after a long break from the vacation and just started a new academic year. As days progressed we had a PPD session which was equally interesting as the rest before, by the one and only Madam Sarasi

The task we were obligated was quite fascinating and for a moment we thought it was a walk in the park ahead of us  was a task to make paper rockets.with only 6 A4 sheets provided to us out of which we had to make as many paper rockets as we could regardless of the size.

The task didn't end on just making paper rockets but yet there was another challenge on testing how far the paper rockets could fly. A line was marked on the ground and challenge was to throw all of them across the line. We were given about 20 minutes to come up with a strategy and make the paper rockets.


Our team members were able to make 36 paper rockets out of the 6 A4 sheets of which we could send 24 rockets across the line.

Our strategy and learning outcomes :

•  Before we utilized the papers given by her, we did a couple of test runs with rockets of varying sizes with another paper.
• We realized that very tiny rockets would be hard to send up and so we agreed on making 6 rockets out of one paper. It was the perfect size and would fly a longer distance.

At the end of it, it was a good and exciting activity that needed paying attention to the little details.

WORD STORY BUILDING

This was an activity that was so fascinating.Students were divided into three groups.Each group was given a section on the board where they were required one person at a time to go to the board and write a word while other team members were required not to look at the board until it was their turn.The next team person was required to come add another word from the previous one to help build up a meaningful story.Time was located to finish up the story and so the faster your team thought of a word the more chances they had to finish building their story.

The activity was so fun and very hilarious. I remember their was a group that someone went to the river and killed by a crocodile but later on the person fetched water and went back home.The point is it was not easy building a story.But as always these activities usually have a lesson at the end of the day.for this activity it included the following:

    In a given project all the individuals involved always have different ideologies basic reason is that      they all have different minds so they will tend to think differently hence the need for them to share

    out their ideas otherwise nothing constructive will be achieved.

    In cooperate world most of the time we will sometimes pick up an unfinished work of someone          else, it may be difficult to complete it to the  target expected because it was someone else who set

    the standards

    Luck of communication also hinders a smooth flow of work as shown in the the stories.Hence it is

    very necessary for communication to exist for smooth work flow