Evolution of "the IT pro"

Microsoft "put together this infographic with some details about the duties of the average IT worker since the beginning of the PC era in the 1970s, and what the job prospects will look like in 2015 and beyond.
Do you recognize any of these technologies or statistics? Do you agree with the predictions? How do you see IT changing in the coming years?"

cited: 

(Fogarty, Susan. "The Transformation of the IT Pro."Enterprise Efficiency . 7/3/13 (2013): n. page. Print. <http://uk.enterpriseefficiency.com/author.asp?section_id=2371&&goback=.nmp_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1&doc_id=265236>.)

Building a Personal Brand

During my education as an English major, keeping a blog was required of some classes. The idea behind the task was meant to initiate a habit, an appreciation, and a kick-start towards a personal brand. 

What the heck is a personal brand? 

More so, Why is it important to brand yourself? 

There is a sea of 7,107,256,437 people hanging out on this planet. (http://www.census.gov/population/popclockworld.html) (there, proof.)

A giant chunk of that sea is either working people, or people searching to get their work on. 

If you want to stand out in that sea-

stand out as a metaphorical "rainbow fish" amongst the other working fishes, you have to jazz it up a bit. 

And while it's currently socially unacceptable to buy a billboard space to display your resume and most attractive Facebook profile picture; you're gonna have to try some other options. 

blog.

-It portrays a peek into your personality &

displays a dimension of your intelligence

-A blog can be a supplement to your resume.

Sure, you can list "professional-grade basket-weaving skills" on your resume, 

but writing about it,

posting photos, 

and really laying out proof of these professional-grade basket-weaving skills will distinguish you from other basket-weavers. 

& "Don’t be fooled by the myth that if you build it, they will come. Unless you’re the luckiest person on earth, you’ll have to actually communicate everything you’ve created to others." (http://mashable.com/2009/02/05/personal-branding-101/) 

-I'm not gonna lie to you- lots of people have blogs. Simply writing posts ain't gonna produce the magical results of massive waves of recognition. You're going to have to work at it. Throw your page's url out like candy at a parade -in places where it holds chance of being gobbled up.

Announce new posts on your social media sites. Stand on your roof & yell it to the neighborhood. 

Think about one of your favorite brands.

Why do you like it?

Brands establish authenticity, dimension, and emotion-tailored to the audience that they want to appeal towards. 

For example- take the recent Chevy truck ads.

The ad embodies the hard-working consumer--and this appeals to their demographic. 

Who is your demographic? 

Are you a technologist? Blog about technology. Blog about what you love. Blog with the passion that made you study this technology for the years that you did. 

Get on Stackoverflow, Github, & discussion boards; & then link that activity into your blog. 

If you want to be seen & known-if you want to be a rainbow fish amongst the sea of technologist fishes (but how do they type? :P ) Start placing your colorful scales all over the sea to be noticed. 

Lady Engineers

I recently became a member of the new Milwaukee chapter of Girls in Tech. It's an awesome group of people; & I thought I'd share the article write-up from the recent meet up.

http://www.jsonline.com/business/networking-group-for-women-in-technology-launches-milwaukee-branch-b9964526z1-219339501.html

I'm excited to be a part of the mentoring committee -meant to get together & pump up young ladies about STEM.

What do you think we can do to ensure full equality within the field of software & technology?

Personally, I think that we should work to present the subject matter in a fun, interactive manner at all levels of education.
I never really had caught interest in technology because of this lack of exposure. The only related experience that I can recall from my education= being filed into a stuffy library computer lab to complete class typing exercises.
I have a few guy friends that obtained degrees in software engineering & talk about their side projects with awesome energy. And I know that these guys gobbled up a load of exposure to the neat possibilities of technology when they were younger. -One example being video games. I think that by seeing this enjoyable potential of technology ignited a curiosity and motivation towards learning about it.
--On a side note, my parents only allowed me to play video games if they held educational benefit. Really -I remember playing an English/grammar skills rain forest game where you could rescue animals from a flaming forest with a pixelated helicopter if you corrected a number of grammatically incorrect sentences. Maybe this primed me to become an English major. Ha...

Anyways- check out the article; & perhaps consider getting involved or passing it on.

graphs cited:
Bateman, Kaleigh. "Women don’t realise just how good they are, survey reveals." ComputerWeekly.com. (2013): n. page. Web. 16 Aug. 2013. <http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240188181/Women-dont-realise-just-how-good-they-are-survey-reveals>.

Preparing for Career Fairs

Lately, I've been scurrying around the internet in order to ensure CTS's enrollment in certain career fairs, mock interview events, and other recruitment hullabaloo.
We'll be at:
Marquette University: Sept. 26th 3PM-7PM
Milwaukee School of Engineering: Oct. 11th 9Am-2:30 PM
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Industry Expo: Oct. 4th 9AM -2PM
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee All Majors Career Fair: Oct. 10th 9AM-2PM
University of Wisconsin-Platteville: Sept. 24th 10AM-3PM
Wisconsin Private Schools Career Consortium: Feb. 18th 3PM-7PM
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Mock Interview Day: Oct. 22nd
& I'm excited.
The start of Fall semester has always instilled this "fresh start" feeling, or a refreshed kick-start towards positive productivity.
This is the first Fall that I won't be walking to campus as a student. No more checking my online schedule quick before I leave in order to haphazardly scribble down the room number to reference as I'm walking through the fluorescent-lit hallway of Curtin Hall.
Instead, I get to visit multiple campuses this semester & talk with loads of wonderful people dressed in business casual wear.
For many years, I worked as a tutor & mentor to high school STEM students making their way to college. I helped them to make sure that all of their i's were dotted, t's were crossed, and verb tenses agreed throughout their letters, resumes, and essays.
And now I get to jump to the other side of things. I get to speak with these driven people and read their letters, resumes, (and probably not essays...ha). -As well as creep through their impressive LinkedIn, Github, and Stack Overflow accounts.
I love working and speaking with people that know what they want, & hold passion for what they do.
And I'm really just looking forward to doing just that during my campus visits this Fall.

p.s. Got suggestions for great give-away items that I could hand out at career fairs? Throw 'em at me -leave a comment, or email me at smontie@consult-cts.com