My name is Madisyn and I’m a 22-year-old student from Melbourne. I am currently in my final year of a Bachelor of Arts Degree at Monash University, in which I am majoring in Psychology and minoring in Criminology and Human Rights. In addition, I have begun studying Information Technology online this year with RMIT. I also work part-time at a call centre, and I compete in ballroom and Latin dancing competitions regularly.
I have only very recently developed an interest in IT. I think, being a woman, IT never really presented itself as an option during school and so I never even considered it as a possible career path that I might enjoy. It’s only really been in the last 6 months that I have considered IT as an option. This has come about due to a couple of reasons.
Firstly, I’m nearing the end of my Bachelor of Arts degree and so I have been considering different options of where to head next and what I really want to choose as a career.
Secondly, one of my closest friends began a cyber security course last year and she has shown me some of the projects that she has completed and the assignments she has done. It really amazed me how my friend had built entire websites and programs from scratch. I think that is what interests me most about IT – the idea that I can build something useful and exciting all just with a computer. And I think building something from scratch like that would be very rewarding and give me a great sense of achievement.
I really have no prior IT experience at all, other than of course being an avid user of the IT that is all around us everyday.
I chose to come to RMIT so that I could get a taste of what a career in IT might be like. I am studying both the Introduction to IT and Introduction to Programming subjects this study period to explore my new-found interest in IT and see whether it is something I should pursue after I complete my Bachelor of Arts this year. I also chose RMIT because the flexibility of the online course is ideal for fitting my IT studies in with my other studies, as well as with my work commitments and spending time with friends and family.
I am hoping that within this course I learn a lot more about the basics of IT – what it is; how it functions within society; and whether it is something that I enjoy learning about and practicing. More so, I am hoping that I get an idea of the different types of careers I could have in IT and whether any of them are viable options for me. I am also hoping that I develop some practical IT skills, such as learning the basics of some programming languages, so that I am able to build basic websites and programs.
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Below is a screenshot of a job advertisement for a user interface/user experience designer for Robert Half Technology. The job is a 3-month contract in which I would play a part in re-designing a software application.
This position appeals to me in that it involves a bit of creativity. It would require me to help design and build an application, and therefore I think this would give me quite a sense of achievement when the job is completed. The advertisement also lists Psychology as a relevant tertiary qualification for this job, so I would be interested to see how my psychology training would be used in a position like this (perhaps in the ‘User Research’ component of the position). Finally, I find the fact that the position is only a 3-month contract quite appealing. I think I would enjoy the flexibility of freelance work, as well as the fact that it would mean that I could try my hand at a variety of different kinds of projects, perhaps making working life less monotonous.
To be successful in securing this position, 3-5 years experience in a similar position as well as experience using digital design tools such as Sketch, Invision, Adobe CC and Axure is required. In addition, excellent communication skills and experience with portfolio evidence is also highly regarded. Finally, a relevant tertiary qualification in IT, web development and/or psychology is also a requirement.
While I do not currently have a lot of the IT experience necessary for this position, I do have some key skills that I believe would be essential to be successful within this job. For example, I have excellent time-management skills and a keen eye for detail. I have a lot of patience and an excellent work ethic - I will not stop until a project is the best it can possibly be. I also have excellent communication skills and have plenty of experience working in teams, both within a university setting and within my current and previous jobs.
In order for me to get to a point where I could be successful in applying for this position, there are a few steps I plan to take:
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Personality type =INJF
My responses indicated that my preferred learning style is visual.
These results indicate that when working in a team I’m likely to stay relatively quiet, and so when forming a team I should look for some more vocal team members who can perhaps take more of a lead position within the group and who will encourage me to contribute my ideas. My ‘Learning Style Assessment’ results also suggest that I work best with visual information, so I should look for team members who are also visual learners so that we can communicate on the same level.
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My project idea is an iOS location-sharing app with a new spin. It involves users checking in to certain types of venues or events such as bars, pubs, clubs, festivals, concerts or sporting events when the app detects that they are at the location of said venue or event. Such an app will allow users to selectively share their location with a list of friends of their choosing. The benefit of this will be that users can check and see if any of their friends are attending the same event that they are. In addition, friends who are deciding where to head on a night out can see where their friends are, and therefore can decide whether to join them or not.
Location sharing apps, such as Apple’s ‘Find My Friends’ and Snapchat’s "Snapmaps" have become quite popular over the last few years. One of the things that draw people to apps like these is the fact that you can see when friends are nearby so that you can potentially meet-up. They also can be handy on weekends when heading out for the night, as you can see where groups of friends are and decide whether you’d like to join them there.
The problem with these apps is that they don’t allow for enough selectivity when sharing your location. Most people don’t want all of their contacts or Snapchat friends to be able to see their location all the time. Current location sharing apps do allow you to limit and change the people that can see your location at any one time, however this is time-consuming and somewhat arduous.
Current apps also allow you to turn your locations on and off depending on where you are and whether you want people to know that you’re there. However, this requires people to remember to go into their apps and turn their locations on and off. This is easily forgotten, and therefore discourages many users from sharing their location at all.
My app aims to better current location-sharing apps by prompting users with notifications when they are at certain venues to turn on their locations, and automatically turning locations off when they leave that venue. It works on the assumption that people are happy to share their locations with a large number of friends when they are out at public events or venues, but when they return home or they are just going about their daily life, they want their locations turned off.
The app will work by users first creating an account and selecting from their Facebook friends whom they wish to share their locations with when the app detects that they are at a public event or venue.
When the app does detect that they have arrived at a certain event or venue, their phone will send them a notification of which will ask "Would you like to share your attendance at [insert event or venue’s name] with your friends?” to which the user can respond with “yes” or “no’”. This means that people can selectively choose when to share their locations with their friends list without even entering the app, making it quick and easy to use. When the app detects that the user has left the venue, it automatically turns off the sharing of the user’s locations.
Friend’s locations will be displayed in two formats:
The map will open as the app’s home page and it will automatically show a 30km range from the user’s current location. The user can zoom in or out from there. Every venue that has been checked into by at least one of their friends will be highlighted with a pin at it’s location on the map alongside a number that indicates how many of their friends have checked into that venue.
The list view will list all friends that have checked into a venue alphebetised by friends’ first names, with the venue they have checked into displayed next to their name.
There will also be a search function, whereby users can search specific friends to see if and where they have checked in, or they can search specific venues to see if any friends have checked into that venue.
There may be certain places where people also want to share their locations that are not considered public events or venues – such as their workplace or sporting club. Users can therefore add custom venues so that when they arrive at said venue they will also receive the notification asking whether they want to begin sharing their locations.
In order to run the app, all that is needed is a smartphone with enabled location services and the app downloaded on to the phone.
I do not have any IT or programming experience so I am not entirely certain what tools and technologies are required to create this app. From what I can understand however, creating an iOS app such as this one requires the integrated development environment ‘Xcode’, which contains a suite of software development tools for creating apps for iOS. In addition, for this particular app, the Google Maps SDK will need to be installed and used within Xcode. Use of design software such as Adobe Indesign will also be necessary to create the look of the app.
To create this app, I will need skills in using Xcode and Apple’s Swift language (or another language supported by iOS such as Objective C). I will also need design skills to create a sleek user interface. These skills are not rare, and so I should be able to employ developers to help write the code and employ designers to create the look of the app.
If the project is successful, people will more easily and reliably be able to control when their locations are shared with their friends, and therefore people are more likely to share their location in the first place. This development will help connect people and increase real-world social interaction. In today’s fast-paced world, we so rarely get to see our friends face-to-face. Knowing where they are (that is, when they choose to share that information) means that we are so much more likely to get to see them.
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