Comparing a college day to a work day

Definitely my days in college were much different than my days now at work. I have a few classes this fall, but those days will be different than my days in recent years. Let's take a look and compare.

College Mornings
Nothing beat being 18 and not having anything to do other than going to class. In college, most classes started at 10am for me, rarely before 9am. Granted, my first college class was a Cisco Networking course that started at 7:30am. This was back when I definitely wasn't a morning person! Back to the subject - while I was at community college, this meant crawling out of bed, driving a mile down the road and going to class. At Radford University it was even more convienent - just roll out of bed 3 mins before class and run. After class was finished I'd hit the Bonnie for breakfast or go back to my dorm to take an enjoyable (and probably well needed) nap.

Work Mornings
I wake up typically around 6:15am, shower and try to be out the door by 7:15am or 6:45am. This gives me plenty of time to drive, depending on the location I am leaving from (Radford Home or my Parent's Home). I begin my workday around 8am. By noon, I've already completed an abundance of data entry, updated forms, and have taken care of various IT related issues.

College Day
Days in college were fun. I'd go to my classes for the day, have lunch with a friend or two, then I'd find something to get into. Sometimes it meant going to the library, but most of the time it meant chillin with one of my fraternity bros.

Work Day
Work isn't college. A lot of my time is spent keeping on top of things, taking care of conference calls, keeping documentation, entering data, and more. There's not a lot of time to waste! Interact with very many different people and I must always keep my composure.

College Night
College nights are why we all go to college. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING beat going out with my friends to a college party and living it up. The amount of people you could meet, the spontaneous energy around it all, and the memories that you'd still talk about for weeks (and years I've found) all made it worthwhile. Going to bed was NEVER before 3am.


Work Night
I'm never up past 11pm and wore out by 9:30pm. I usually reflect on the day, look forward to the weekend, and overall relax as much as possible. Hangouts are are during the week.

Compare and Contrast
Work and College are a like. There's a lot of work to do and I have to work with a lot of people to get the job done. They differ tremendously in terms of seriousness though. College is very carefree whereas work is not. You have to be on top of your game due to the competitiveness. College has competition too, but it isn't the type of competition you see when earning money is involved.

I recommend to those of you in college to enjoy every second of it that you can. To my fellow coworkers in the real world - I hope you made many memories while in school. It'll definitely make icebreakers with the coworkers a lot more interesting!

Employee Appreciation Day

Sometimes work gets boring. Then there are days that break the mold.
Today at work we had an Employee Appreciation day to - you guessed right - show appreciation to our employees.

We brought in a dunking booth and allowed employees to buy throws. Why would we charge them to throw on THEIR appreciation day? The reason - to raise money for charity. I must say it was a fun experience, even yours truly was dunked a few times.

I hope to see more events like this in the near future. It's an effective tool for improving internal company relations and takes away the norm of sitting in the office!

Time Management for the College Kid

The quote unquote "real world" is a great instructor in terms of free-time. It has really taught me in some time about how much free time I have had in college and that I never really utilized it. For example, I thought I was almost too busy because I was not only a full-time student, but I was also in a business fraternity, business organization, held part-time jobs, and more.

The beauty of college is that everything is spread out. If you can figure out ways to patch those hours in between your active hours you can really become productive in various ways. Below I have included five suggestions that I have found helpful over the past two years:

• Try waking up before 9am. It adds to your energy and ability to produce. Can't wake up early? Try going to bed before midnight and maintain a consistent schedule of productivity.
  
  
• If you have an hour before class, don't walk all the way back to your dorm or apartment. Find a productive place near where your class begins next and get to work on some tasks that need completion. Possible suggestions could be computer labs or student dedicated centers.
  
  
• Stop spending too much time on certain tasks. A lot of times we study too much for exams or drive the point into the ground in hopes that it will only make us better. Unfortunately, it mostly just wastes useful time.
  
  
• Make use of the time you create by implementing these habits. It wouldn't hurt to use some of the free time to refocus or take a breather from the day's activities.
  
  
• Use a planner! This may sound like a no-brainer, but the effective use of a planner isn't as simple as you would think. Take a week, log what you use your time for. Adjust it accordingly to see how much you can squeeze out of your time in a given day.
  

Boomer Article: Let the Immigrants Succeed

While browsing through Yahoo I come across an article that really stood out and made a point. A big demographic in the business world is about to go missing in the next 30 years and its a big thing to look at. A current issue is immigration and its recent explosion.

Immigration itself could be the missing piece to the puzzle. Check it out, its - Good Life of Boomers Tied to Better Life for Immigrants.

My First True Failure

Hey, I don't get to say I have failed a lot. Bear with me!

As many of you have read recently, I have been interviewing with a popular technology based company here in the New River Valley. It has been an exciting process and much different than other hiring processes that I have been through in the past.

The news is - I didn't get the job.

Some of you may be shocked. Some of you may have expected it from the start. I gotta say this - it was an eye-opening experience and is JUST the jump start I needed.

Today's technology industry is VERY competitive and there are a lot of jobs tailored to specific areas. With this, I was going after the title "web developer" which to me sounded just like my ballpark. I was welcomed in-house for an interview after a few phone interviews and was on my way. Then, once in-house it was a whole different story:

• Web Development is just that - developing programs for the web
• Design and Development are two majorly different spectrums
• Design caters to USD - User Interface Design
• Development caters to making each module work
• Keep your mind sharp. I was given a test with logic answers. Tips or advice include:
• Be able to explain how you answer some things
• As a programmer, dabble in every language you can
• Please, under all circumstances, refresh your memory on syntax!!!!!
• Always bring a small notepad and pencil with you. It helps ;)
• Brush up on brain teasers. These are becoming very popular in the job market

All in all, I may have not got the position. It has not though, detered me from wanting to work with the company in the near future. They really are onto something with their business model and truly care about their employees. This experience has given me incentive to improve upon and take a better interest into a sector of the web world that I have ignored somewhat over the years - true ground up scratch programming.

Why I would be an effective web candidate

Typically I never have a problem finding inspiration to write an article. In this installment I will discuss some of my positive points on why I feel employers should look into me for their companies.

Web Design and Development isn't "work"
I think this is very important with the success of hiring efficient and effective employees. Personally, I do not see web design or development as "work" or a "job". Not to say I don't take it seriously, that is not it at all. The fact of the matter is that I can wake up each and everyday and not feel drained from it. I LOVE what I do and that is why I want to make it a career one day.

Knowledge Junkie
This is very important in my industry just because technology and the way society uses it is constantly changing. I adore learning new techniques and methods of implementation. It is nice to keep up to date with new software too because it keeps you one step ahead of the game. I must admit - I am guilty of spending more time in my university's library reading material related to my field rather than what relates to my homework.

Honest About What I Know - And What I Don't
This is a very important trait in anyone, in any field, and in any location. Nothing will drive a person up the wall more is when they find out someone has lied about their abilities. It saves a lot of time, money, and stress when you are just straight forward about something being outside of your abilities.

Challenges are nice
I feel I am at my best when I am challenged. We all are. If you have no challenges laid in front of you then you will only accomplish what you KNOW you can do. Challenges arise, they take us out of our loop and we see exactly what we are made of.

Interviews - the dynamics

How exactly can you survive an interview these days?

I've been through my fair share of job interviews and all of them really have had their perks and unique traits. I've had various settings, including over lunch, e-mail, phone, and directly in the office. Today I personally finished a phone interview with Webmail.us and it was probably the most professional I've experienced to date.

This company means serious business and they really read your resume. To me this shows importance of who they employ and that they really take the time to make the right decision. The contact that I was interviewed by was very professional, was respectful of what I was wanting to accomplish and asked me one thing I have yet to hear during an interview - "What do you want to achieve in the next few years?"

With this I have been motivated to write 5 job interview tips that I feel made this interview a success.


1. Do your research
I feel that the person that interviewed me was impressed that I had prior knowledge of the company and what exactly they represent, their employees, and the products they developed. This is essential to both you and your employer - its best to know what you're up for.

2. Always have a Plan B
Believe it or not, I was going for one job and the interview was directed into another job more suited to my talents. Always be ready for discussion on topics OTHER than the job you've placed your resume in for. You'd be surprised what may come up!

3. Just relax
I personally caught myself getting overly nervous during the first few minutes of the interview. Once I took a few deep breaths and seconds to reflect I was on the go. Remember - it's just an interview - not the end of the world. The company is getting to know you, not judging you.

4. Check your resume not once, not twice, but at least three times.
Commonly people use a resume for various job applications. I personally tailor my resume for the jobs I go after. This time around I unwittingly forgot to put my phone number on my resume. This was a huge goof on my part but fortunately my interviewer was cool with it. Other tips for this include:

• Keep it to one page minimum if you are just out of high school or college
• can be more than one page if you have a doctorate or lengthy work experience
• Spice it up - don't use a typical Microsoft Word template - you want to grab their attention
• Use relevant experience. Just because you worked at McDonald's doesn't mean you didn't gain experience that could be used to treat customers effectively.

5. Be confident of your abilities
This occurs sometimes with the best of us. No matter how experienced you are, you could feel that you don't make the cut. Remember - if they've taken the time to pull your resume and interviewed you, then you definitely have something to say about yourself.