October 20th, 2012

We started off the day with a lesson in Ethics by Mr. Ron Broadnax. He came into the classroom looking very unprofessional, with bags on his feet, his jacket on backwards and string laying randomly around his shirt.

After we told him about how unprofessional he looked, he left the room and came back wearing a formal outfit. He then talked to us about office behavior and how to act with others. It was mostly just common sense, but it was information that sometimes we forget. At the end, he assigned us a Ethics assignment that he posted on his website.

After the Ethics lesson by Mr. Broadnax, we received a lesson on e-mail etiquette from Ms. Houchins. She taught us about the different uses for e-mail and how we can write e-mail professionally. We then sent an e-mail to out mentors. Our mentors were assigned to us today, and my mentor is Mr. Aaron Weeden, the Parallel Computing Mentor at Shodor.

Ms. Houchins then talked to us about how to make a resume for a job application. We learned that we first start with our personal information, as in, name, address, phone number and e-mail address. The second part to a resume is the objective: What we/I hope to accomplish. An example of this would be, seeking a job to do (insert wanted job here).

The third part to a resume is to present your previous education. That is, name and location of school you went to, and what year you graduated. You should also present your Major and/or previous courses you took. This is to show your interest in the subject and to show your level of mastery. You can also include here, your certificates or specialized courses. You can also add what related experience you have. This also shows mastery and interest in the specific subject. This should all be in chronological order, with the most recent events first. This is the place were you can also add any honors or rewards/accolades you received in order to set yourself apart from the rest, also listing skills you have in the particular subject.

The different aspects of the third part can be rearranged based on the purpose of your resume. Overall, the resume should be no longer than 2 pages. The shorter and more to the points a resume it is, the more likely you will be chosen.

After leaning about how to make a resume, we critiqued a fake resume made by a Shodor employee. It had many problems with it, irrelevant information, was in non-chronological order, many spelling mistakes and false references.

After this, we actually made a resume ourselves. It is due November 17, 2012 so I have some time to finish it.