Working in the IT Industry Unit 2

Unit 2: Working in the IT Industry On completion of this unit a learner should: 1 Know the characteristics that are valued by employers in the IT industry 2 Know the common job roles undertaken by people working in the IT industry.

Assignments Assignment 1: Skills and Attributes P1, D1 Assignment 2: IT Jobs P2, P3, M1

Know the characteristics that are valued by employers in the IT industry Industry specific: General skills: Attitudes preferred:

Industry specific technical knowledge, working procedures, health and safety knowledge

General skills interpersonal skills, planning skills, organisational skills, time management, team working, numeric skills, creativity, problem solving

Team working

Numeracy skills Using and applying numeracy: What sort of things?

Can you: Use a calculator to work out the difference between the sale price and regular price of an item? Estimate the cost per kg of a grocery item? Understand information about an appointment schedule? Which is the higher risk? 1%, 5% or 10%?

American research Almost half general population cannot do this: Use a calculator to work out the difference between the sale price and regular price of an item? Almost half general population cannot do this: Estimate the cost per kg of a grocery item? 26% could not do this: Understand information about an appointment schedule? 16% of highly educated people got this wrong: Which is the higher risk? 1%, 5% or 10%? Numeracy Skill And The Communication, Comprehension, And Use Of Risk-Benefit Information Ellen Peters, Judith Hibbard, Paul Slovic and Nathan Dieckmann http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/26/3/741

problem solving - resolve, replace, work around etc 1Finding the right problem to solve 2 Defining the problem 3 Analysing the problem 4 Developing possibilities 5 Selecting the best solution 6 Implementing 7 Evaluating and learning

creativity Creating new ways of working, new programmes etc Think of the problem in a different way – compare it to something which may not be related; ‘If I was trying to (build a house)…’ “Creativity is not just the domain of a talented few.” You are probably more creative than you give yourself credit for. How to Incorporate Creativity into Your Business Practice By Juanita Weaver, creativity consultant,

creativity A man lives on the twelfth floor of an apartment building. Every morning he takes the elevator down to the lobby and leaves the building. In the evening, he gets into the elevator, and, if there is someone else in the elevator -- or if it was raining that day -- he goes back to his floor directly. Otherwise, he goes to the tenth floor and walks up two flights of stairs to his apartment.

Lateral thinking In the middle of the ocean is a yacht. Several corpses are floating in the water nearby. A man is lying dead in a room. There is a large pile of gold and jewels on the floor, a chandelier attached to the ceiling, and a large open window.

Lateral thinking A man and his wife raced through the streets. They stopped, and the husband got out of the car. When he came back, his wife was dead, and there was a stranger in the car. A body is discovered in a park in Chicago in the middle of summer. It has a fractured skull and many other broken bones, but the cause of death was hypothermia.

Lateral thinking A woman has incontrovertible proof in court that her husband was murdered by her sister. The judge declares, "This is the strangest case I've ever seen. Though it's a cut-and-dried case, this woman cannot be punished." A man walks into a bar and asks for a drink. The bartender pulls out a gun and points it at him. The man says, "Thank you," and walks out. A hunter aimed his gun carefully and fired. Seconds later, he realized his mistake. Minutes later, he was dead. Brain Food (http://www.rinkworks.com/brainfood/p/latreal1.shtml) http://www.rinkworks.com/brainfood/p/latreal1.shtml

Attitudes Give an example of each of these: determined, independent, integrity, tolerant, dependable, leadership, confidence, self-motivation, adaptability Give an example where you have shown or have witnessed each of these being displayed. Where you cannot think of an example, define the term so that you can explain it to the class.

Assignment 1 Build a checklist of the type of attributes which are important, use this to start to prepare a profile of useful IT-specific characteristics. For assignment 1 you need to write an article about useful attributes; an example of how this article might be presented is shown here: http://www.careerbuilder.com/Article/CB-1640-IT-Skills-Important-for-a-Career-in-IT/ Go to it and read it now. (This article is also linked directly from the Wiki. )