Assignment 3

Finished and working: http://mypage.iu.edu/~jfeldhak/resume.html

Chapter 9 Lab

Oracle Database Administrator – I already do work with oracle on Toad for SQL every day, and this is a high paying position that probably bores most but interests me.  There is also a 0.4% unemployment rate for people in this position, the lowest in all of IT.  I would need 4 to 6 years of experience and a degree in CS or a related field (such as my own) to get this job.

CCIE System Engineer – This is definitely my first choice.  I have wanted to do this type of position for many years, and the pay is great.  It requires a CCIE certification which would take many years of study and work experience.

CCSE Sr. Security Professional – This job is closely related to my desired job, but more focused on security than networking.  I would enjoy this job very much, but it takes a lot more work.  It requires experience in many things that I have no experience in, as well as the CCSE certification and 7+ years of experience.  This would be the hardest of the positions I have listed to get.

All of these jobs were found on www.dice.com.  All of the jobs pay six figures on the high end.  The jobs are similar in that they involve a lot of sedentary work.  The CCIE position requires the most mobility because you have to install and configure hardware.  Another reason for picking this position is that a job that requires hardware installation can’t be outsourced to India.

Most of my skills that I currently have aren’t really applicable to the CCIE position.  I have some basics from my classes, but this position requires years of experience.  In fact it requires years of experience just to take the CCIE exam, and it requires a lot of other certifications to be taken before it.  The best thing I can do besides finish my degree is get a CCNA certification and apply for jobs at the ground level of networking.

I feel that I still don’t know a lot about the CCIE position, but that is something that I think would best be changed by getting my foot in the door in the networking industry.  I am very sure that this is the position I want to do because I have spoken with people that do this position.  I need to get my CCNA (I have studied for it on several occassions).  My mind hasn’t been changed by this lab, but it has renewed my motivation to put time into getting my certification instead of just doing my schoolwork and going to work.  I have to make time for it.

Chapter 9 Discussion

There are many major milestones in the history of computing, but I would rank the two most important to today’s computing to be the advent of graphical user interfaces by Apple and the transition of internet use from the military and universities to the general public.  These two events more than any others have a big hand in creating the global economy and general acceptance of cultural differences that we see.  As more and more generations grow up using the internet we will see a lot of new problems that didn’t exist before, but there are, in my opinion, even greater benefits.  I think the open source movement will lead to cheaper and more readily available software for all operating systems in the future.  We will see a wide array of applications available on portable devices being modified to work for any device.  We will see a shift away from the giant that is Windows as the general population becomes more and more savvy with each passing generation.  And with just one or two more steps we might see desktop computers disappear altogether.

I think we have largely benefited from this rapid growth.  The dot com bubble burst had a hugely negative impact on our economy, but the 90’s were still the largest economic expansion in US history.  I believe this can largely be placed on the internet driving retail sales and the creation of an entire new industry.  I don’t think the growth should be slowed.

I am attracted to the IT industry because I have a natural affinity for it.  I have built computers since I was very young, and I enjoy my current job.  I think it is comparable to other industries in terms of pay and working conditions for skilled individuals.  I chose this path because I enjoy doing the work, and I want to always be at the edge of technology.  I want to be one of the first people with a device that lets your brain communicate with hardware, even if I’m 80 when it happens.

Chapter 12 Lab

I completed the lab, which was exceptionally long this time by the way.  It closed out on me several times for no apparent reason, so I had to skip back up to where I was.  I missed one question through the lab.

I don’t believe I can draw a sketch here, but I can describe it.  I’ll just use microsoft word as my “favorite” word processor.  There are many menus that scroll down upon clicking on them at the top.  There are also many toolbars across the top.  The toolbars contain lists and buttons that are clickable.  Right clicking generally has the same functions regardless of where you click.  Scrolling over and hovering shows the alt-text for each button explaining what it is.  I don’t believe there is any double click functionality.

I would have a list on the top left that you can use to scroll through and select the type of exercise.  Then I’d have empty fields for weight, distance, and time.  Underneath these I would have a calculate button and a clear button.

I chose to use Civilization IV for this.  There are lists for almost everything.  There are buttons to click for every action that a unit can take.  There are toolbars for whenever you select a unit or city by clicking on it.  It would’ve taken immense work to put this together.

Chapter 12 Discussion

I can definitely think of times when I have had techno-rage.  I’ve been incredibly frustrated and even punched a hole in the wall accidentally when flailing my arms about in frustration.  I think this sort of situation will always happen in some form or another.  While it is possible to make interfaces that make software significantly easier to use, there will still be some people and situations that cause the frustration.  Most of my friends are developers and I believe they have a firm handle on the typical user viewpoint.  However, my perspective could be skewed in the same fashion as theirs.

The Computer User’s Bill of Rights is a good idea.  I think it is a bit too user-friendly.  It is a good set of guidelines but I would hate to be a developer that had to work around it as a set of laws.  Some effort toward following it could help though.

I don’t think games would be terribly effective implemented as an online learning tool.  However I think there is a great potential for knowledge transfer through wikis.  Wikis are a great source of information available to everyone.  You can’t take everything at face value all the time, but they are a great learning tool in general.

Chapter 11 Discussion

	Job	Doctor	Website	Purchase	Bank	Email	Classes	Mortgage	Gym
Name	OK	OK	R	OK	OK	OK	OK	OK	OK
Address	OK	OK	R	OK	OK		OK	OK	OK
Email	OK		R	OK	OK	OK	OK	OK	OK
SS#	R	R			R			OK
CC#		R		OK					R
Phone	OK	OK	R	OK	OK			OK	OK
Height	OK	OK						OK	R
Weight	OK	OK						OK	R
Gender	OK	OK						OK	OK
Hobbies									?
Medical History		OK							?
Employer	OK	R			OK			OK	R
Spouse								R
Children								R

 

Above is my table from the critical thinking exercise.  The last two columns are for applying for a mortgage or joining a gym.  I have left the table blank where I don’t think it is required, and I am not ok with giving it out.

Chapter 8 Lab

LucasArts, or I guess Industrial Lights and Magic, is basically the best in the business at this.  However, I personally was always a huge fan of the first Matrix movie (the sequels were awful).  The Matrix revolutionized action special effects.  In scenes where there is a 360 degree spin around a character frozen in midair, it’s typically called a matrix spin.  I prefer more realistic effects such as this, done entirely with cameras.  I’ve never been a big fan of overuse of CGI.  For example: In the new Indiana Jones movie there is a scene done almost entirely in CG where Shia LaBeouf swings through the jungle like Tarzan.  This scene is not at all necessary to the movie, and it comes off like Lucas and Spielberg just want to show off what ILM can accomplish.  In situations like this I believe the use of CGI takes away from the movie.  If applied in limited amounts, such as in The Matrix, it is a great tool.

Before:

After:

Chapter 8 Discussion

I personally have never really had a problem in finding ways to accomplish what I wanted regardless of copy protection.  I do know of several instances where copy protection software has caused problems with legitimate use of games, dvds, and music cds.  I think copy protection software offers little to no protection against copying but instead causes a wide array of problems for legitimate users.

I have never used iTunes or any other online music store.  I can’t really say for sure what these stores offer and whether or not it is sufficient for the users.

I would say they are justified, but not effective.  I’ve never seen or heard of a truly successful implementation of copy protection software.  I think the industry on the whole should look deeper into the open source movement, if this is really such a big cut into profits.  Using software that creates problems or simply stops your code from working at all on certain machines is not beneficial to legitimate users who have purchased your software.  This will inevitably hurt sales and profits if done on a regular basis.

Chapter 10 Discussion

My book doesn’t have a chapter 10, so these answers may be skewed from the expected responses.

An organization has a lot of options when new opportunities arise or competitors threaten to take market share.  An organization in such situations can build a new information system designed to operate towards a goal in a more efficient and less costly method.  This can give them an advantage over competitors or enable them to take advantage of a new opportunity that they previously couldn’t.  Their mission statement should ensure they implement such strategies in a way that falls in line with the goals laid out for their organization at its inception.

When an information system is designed to automate a process, it probably removes jobs from the organization.  On the other hand, this decreases residual cost to the organization and is generally more reliable and efficient.  A problem with an automated system is that when something “breaks”, if nobody is monitoring the system, it could take awhile before it gets noticed.  Once it is noticed, someone highly specialized has to fix the problem and get the system running again.  A user-oriented system will have user error and presumably higher maintenance costs (payroll), however, each error is probably going to be less dire than an entire system going down.  Users can also perform much more detailed tasks and think for themselves.

Well I am tier 2 application maintenance at my job, so I am frustrated with how a program works on a nearly daily basis.  In my personal life, I have had some difficulties with some obscure applications that don’t have any user support on a few occasions.  I’ve always fixed the problem myself, typically with the help of google.  At work I have recurring problems on a daily basis that are definitely caused by the way the application is designed.  There are specific instructions for users to follow doing certain things, and when those steps aren’t followed, problems come.  The best way to stop this would be to prevent users from doing this in the first place, but that isn’t worth the time it would take to fix according to management.

I would partially agree with this.  In UML you lay out the design of the program very thoroughly.  This typically involves defining all user interactions with the system.  I would argue this is a better method of design than just laying out the user documentation ahead of time.  Designing a system entirely on paper first, in my opinion, streamlines the creation process and prevents what might otherwise be unforeseen errors.

Chapter 6 Lab

In my opinion, you never draw a line for free speech.  As soon as you draw a line, it is no longer free speech.  Censoring ideas, no matter how atrocious they may be, is the beginning of a slippery slope to outright oppression.  That being said, parents definitely have the right to choose what their children see or do on the internet.  Parents should always accompany children when they are using the internet to ensure they aren’t visiting questionable sites.

Governments are never justified in censoring what their citizens see.  However, I do believe it is their decision to do so and should not be interfered with by other countries.  I may disagree with it on every level, but it’s still none of my business.  Companies assisting governments in such actions is perfectly normal.  A business exists to supply where there is demand for a profit.  If one company didn’t fulfill this need, another would step up and do it.  It is not the moral responsibility of the company to advocate free speech and force it upon their customers.

Nobody should be responsible for policing the internet.  How can anybody claim to have a right to police a worldwide entity?  I know a lot of heinous things can be passed around on the internet, but such things should be dealt with on a case by case basis by the local government.  Creating some sort of global censorship organization to monitor and police the internet is a big step in the wrong direction.  Censorship, at a fundamental level, begets ignorance.  Ignorance is not bliss.

My first experience using the internet was in about 1993 or 1994.  When AOL first arrived.  I had a 2400 baud modem on a 386.  It was atrociously slow.  I basically just used it to chat with people.  Nowadays I use the internet for almost everything.  I use it for work, for school, for gaming, for communicating with friends and family, to pay bills, to fill out timesheets to get paid, to look up information on subjects… basically every aspect of my life involves the internet in some way.  I really don’t know what I’d do without it now.