3 answers
zainab
Student
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
1
Question
Asked
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Can anyone working in the computer science field provide info about their life as a computer scientist and the schooling you went through to graduate?
i have an assignment that requires me to find a person working in the computer science field .
I have to know details about the day in the life of a computer scientist, and also know what schooling you went through to become a computer scientist.
I need someone who works in ontario, and someone who works anywhere else in the world.
Also i have to show proof of contact, such as screenshots of the emails.Thats why it is better if you please provide your email so we can discuss together the questions.
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3 answers
James Lawrence
Senior Consultant with Microsoft
2
Answers
Culpeper, Virginia
Updated
James’s Answer
Zainab, I have been involved in computer science for going on 27 years. I started in the early 1980's while I was in the military and after I exited the military I started back to college studying computer science.
I studied computer science and obtained a Bachelors and a Masters in Computer Science with a focus on object oriented design.
Now I work for the greatest company a computer scientist could possibly work for. At least that is my feeling. I work for Microsoft as a Senior Software Consultant supporting the Enterprise Services group.
I studied computer science and obtained a Bachelors and a Masters in Computer Science with a focus on object oriented design.
Now I work for the greatest company a computer scientist could possibly work for. At least that is my feeling. I work for Microsoft as a Senior Software Consultant supporting the Enterprise Services group.
Mark Montz
Wireless Network Architect, HLR - Jasper Wireless
46
Answers
Morrisville, North Carolina
Updated
Mark’s Answer
Possibly a little late for this, but in case it is useful for others... :)
My education was a Bachelor's of Science in Computer Science from an Engineering College in 4-year university. Because of my interests, I ended up with Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and other courses in addition to CS, Math, and the normal humanities for the degree. There was an option to go through the Arts and Sciences college, and people more interested in Business applications tended toward that degree.
My career has now extended for 30+ years (I graduated in 1983), and has covered a lot of topics. During my first job, I also went back to school part time and earned my Masters in Computer Science (not much night life, but having someone else pay for it was cool!). I have had work assignments mostly in "real time" (e.g. hardware control) and telecommunications (mostly the cell phone system).
In a very real sense, my jobs have a consistent pattern:
1. Learn about a goal, or problem, and work to understand it. This may be given to my by a boss directly, or may be discovered on my way to a larger goal.
2. Document the problem and a solution.
3. Take steps to implement the solution.
These have lots of variations, and can be very formal (multiple requirements reviews, code reviews, test case reviews, etc) or very informal ("Hey! I got it done... utility is ready to use"). Often times it take many days/weeks/months to achieve some of the goals, so keeping track of my time and making sure I don't forget some task is important.
Talking to others to get information I need, and to provide them information they need is also very normal. Again, this can be chatting over a cube wall, a formal meeting, or sitting in (or teaching) a class on a subject.
Pretty general, but hopefully you get a flavor. Hope your project went well... and that others can use this as well. :)
My education was a Bachelor's of Science in Computer Science from an Engineering College in 4-year university. Because of my interests, I ended up with Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and other courses in addition to CS, Math, and the normal humanities for the degree. There was an option to go through the Arts and Sciences college, and people more interested in Business applications tended toward that degree.
My career has now extended for 30+ years (I graduated in 1983), and has covered a lot of topics. During my first job, I also went back to school part time and earned my Masters in Computer Science (not much night life, but having someone else pay for it was cool!). I have had work assignments mostly in "real time" (e.g. hardware control) and telecommunications (mostly the cell phone system).
In a very real sense, my jobs have a consistent pattern:
1. Learn about a goal, or problem, and work to understand it. This may be given to my by a boss directly, or may be discovered on my way to a larger goal.
2. Document the problem and a solution.
3. Take steps to implement the solution.
These have lots of variations, and can be very formal (multiple requirements reviews, code reviews, test case reviews, etc) or very informal ("Hey! I got it done... utility is ready to use"). Often times it take many days/weeks/months to achieve some of the goals, so keeping track of my time and making sure I don't forget some task is important.
Talking to others to get information I need, and to provide them information they need is also very normal. Again, this can be chatting over a cube wall, a formal meeting, or sitting in (or teaching) a class on a subject.
Pretty general, but hopefully you get a flavor. Hope your project went well... and that others can use this as well. :)
Stacy Shields, PhD
Career Counselor
7
Answers
Houston, Texas
Updated
Stacy’s Answer
Hi Zainab,
I think it's great that you have to complete this assignment because it can be incredibly valuable to learn from a professional who is in a career that is of interest to you. It's often the next best thing to trying out something for yourself.
You may have some luck here if someone is able to answer your question with the details of their experience as a computer scientist. However, because of the nature of the assignment requiring you to have personal contact, I would perhaps suggest that you also use a different route to find someone to talk to if you aren't already. It is my understanding that it is against careervillage.org's policy for individuals to share personal information like email addresses. Other ways to contact someone in your field of interest would be to put a call out on your social media (i.e., asking your friends/family if they know someone) or using a resource like LinkedIn. With LinkedIn, you can directly message individuals who are in your area and who maybe work as a computer scientist at a company that you are really interested in.
Good luck with your networking!
I think it's great that you have to complete this assignment because it can be incredibly valuable to learn from a professional who is in a career that is of interest to you. It's often the next best thing to trying out something for yourself.
You may have some luck here if someone is able to answer your question with the details of their experience as a computer scientist. However, because of the nature of the assignment requiring you to have personal contact, I would perhaps suggest that you also use a different route to find someone to talk to if you aren't already. It is my understanding that it is against careervillage.org's policy for individuals to share personal information like email addresses. Other ways to contact someone in your field of interest would be to put a call out on your social media (i.e., asking your friends/family if they know someone) or using a resource like LinkedIn. With LinkedIn, you can directly message individuals who are in your area and who maybe work as a computer scientist at a company that you are really interested in.
Good luck with your networking!