Data

n easy steps to a great career day 0 Where n = 3

1. Get good people The most important factor.

+’s 0 Are they good story tellers? 0 Do they work with something your students know and love? 0 Can they serve as role models not already in the classroom? 0 Do they exude energy about computer science? 0 Younger is good

It takes time 0 You’re looking for ~3 people 0 Use your network and start now!

2. Get setup

Your speakers should… 0 Know where to go 0 Know when to go 0 Understand your class vibe 0 Understand their role

Your class should… 0 Hyped for career day 0 Prepared with questions

3. Plan out the career day

Basic plan 0 Re-introduce career day 0 Introduce your speakers 0 Demonstrate the vast landscape that CS spans and the careers within 0 Layout the roadmap to get there 0 Ask the speakers to tell some stories and take questions

If you remember nothing else

Career Day! What do you really do with Computing Science, what does a Career in CS look like and how do I get there? Intro to Computing Science

Why Career Day? 0 What is it like to work in the tech industry? 0 What you can do with a CS degree? 0 What problems you can solve with a CS degree? 0 What you can earn with a CS degree? 0 What do you need to do to get there?

Computing Science Career Panel 0 David Smith – Amazon 0 Graduated (19xx) 0 Bachelors Degree in …. 0 Yulia Dubinina – Microsoft 0 Graduated University of Southern California (20xx) 0 Bachelors Degree in …. 0 Calvin Hopkins – Microsoft 0 Graduated Tufts University (Boston) (20xx) 0 Bachelors Degree in Computer Engineering

Things David has worked on in the past….

Things Yulia has worked on in the past….

Things Calvin has worked on in the past….

Computing Science Career Stats 0 Career Cast’s #1 Job for 2012! 0 Why is CS #1? 0 Low Stress and High Pay 0 Avg $90,000 starting salary for 4 year bachelors degree (bureau of labor stats) 0 Lots of Paid Internship Opportunities - $ before Grad 0 Great Work Environment 0 Free food, flexible working hours, lots of “events” … 0 Good Job Outlook – 3:1 - Job Openings CS Graduates 0 By 2015 – 800,000 new CS related jobs (US only graduates 14,000 / year) 0 Seattle has MANY tech companies (Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Boeing, …)

How To Get Ready

David – what is it like to work at Amazon? 0 Shape and build the next generation of consumer electronics – e.g. Kindle Fire 0 We get to work with cutting edge hardware 0 I've never worked with so many smart people and so many donuts 0 LOTS and LOTS of dogs in the office!

Yulia – what is it like to work at Microsoft? 0 Small teams are the best 0 Lots of fun Windows apps to play with 0 We Look for apps that do “bad” things 0 We Learn how to detect those bad things 0 Communicate with a lot of other teams and learn a lot of new things from different people all around the world

Calvin – what is it like to work at Microsoft? 0 I get to work with some of the best and brightest in industry 0 Things I’ve learned in college are extremely applicable to what I work on 0 I work on High priority items that millions of people are dependent on each day. 0 I have done everything from web development, to gene network estimation, to bringing ESPN to Xbox

Questions and Panel Discussion

CS Unplugged Demo Lester Jackson, Sr. Program Manager

Objectives Using a predefined “Robot Vocabulary”, students figure out how to guide one another to accomplish specific tasks without prior discussions. Students will learn Convert real-world activities into computer like instructions Gain practice coding instructions with symbols Gain understanding of the need for precision in coding Gain practice debugging malfunctioning code Understand the usefulness of functions and parameters

Key Lesson Vocabulary Algorithm - A series of instructions on how to accomplish a task Coding - Transforming actions into a symbolic language Debugging - Finding and fixing issues in code Function - A piece of code that can be called over and over Parameters - Extra bits of information that you can pass into a function to customize

Materials and Preparation Materials Symbol Key (1 per group) Cup Stack Pack (1 per group) Disposable Cups or Paper Trapezoids (6 or more per group) Blank paper or note cards (1 per person) Writing Instrument (1 per person) Preparation Print out one Symbol Key for each group Print a Cup Stack Pack for each group Cut trapezoids from Paper Trapezoid template if not using cups Stack cups or trapezoids in designated area away from groups (Robot Library)

Symbols

Cup Stacks

Lessons Steps 1.Choose one “Robot” per team 2.Send robot to “Robot Library” while the “programmers” code. 3.Choose one image from the Cup Stack Pack for each group. 4.Groups will create an algorithm for how the robot should build the selected stack. 5.Coders will translate their algorithm to arrows, as described in Symbol Key. 6.When programmers have finished coding their stack they can retrieve their robot. 7.Upon return, the robot reads the symbols from the cards and translates them back in to movements. 8.The group should watch for incorrect movements, then work together to debug their program before asking the robot to re-run it.

Example Recommendation: Run through example out loud in class

The Exercise Group Up Robot Program Run Code Repeat

Advance Opportunity: Introduce usefulness of functions Demonstration: Illustrate new cup stack assembly A B C Other Options Add Vocabulary Add Time Element Add Objects to be inserted into Cups Rotate Debugger from Group to Group Reduce number of instructions Any More Ideas?

Resources

Thank you

Things that went well regarding the session format. Would you like to see more experiences like this at training? Things that you would like to see change /improve