Computing Career Exploration: An Interview

Objective: To provide students the opportunity to explore career options in computing by interacting with practitioners in the community. Students will get practice in written and oral communication.

Assignment Length: 3-4 weeks (suggested)

Description

  1. Introduction of Interview Assignment (7 minutes)
  2. Each student needs to locate a professional software engineer, conduct an interview, and write a 3-4 page paper summarizing the interview. Include the person's contact and other information, as contained in their business card. You also need to submit the notes/transcript of your interview (though this does not count towards the paper's page count).
  3. The paper (in Word format) is due in 4 weeks. Be prepared to discuss your paper. Spelling and grammar count towards your grade so proofread your paper. Include your interview notes/transcript and the person’s contact information (information that would be on their business card).
  4. Due to the large number of professionals out there in the world, there should not be any duplicates in terms of the people being interviewed. Declare the name of the software engineer you plan to interview to your instructor by a specified date (suggestion is to give them 2 weeks).
  5. Brainstorm sources(e.g. friends of family).
  6. No school faculty or family members please.
  7. Remind them of safe online communication.
  8. Starter interview questions include, but are not limited to: (7-10 minutes)
  9. What is your name, email address, and what city do you live/work in?
  10. What is the name of the company that you work for and how long have you been employed there?
  11. Describe your position and the types of projects that you work on.
  12. How large is your project team?
  13. What types of languages, technologies and tools do you use?
  14. Describe a typical workday.
  15. What skills are important for your job?
  16. Brainstorm others of interest to the students.

On Day the Paper is Due: (50 min)

  1. Have students bring a copy of their interview paper to class.
  2. Student small group work (30 min)
  3. Divide class into small teams (3-4) and have each discuss their interview. Each team documents a collective list based on consensus on important skills, career opportunities, and short-term goals that are meaningful to the team in the pursuit of their career goals.
  4. Include in their discussion the types of high school courses and college majors and/or activities they should pursue to prepare for their desired career and goals?
  5. Have each team document their responses.
  6. Discussion of lessons as a larger group (20 min)
  7. Have each team spokesperson present their responses to the questions, while the instructor compiles a list.
  8. Discuss commonalities in the responses and other issues that may not be been raised.
  9. If possible, post the papers or have some other mechanism to share them among students.