CS 400Y Work Cultures in Tech Ecologies

https://splinternews.com/i-tried-silicon-valleys-favorite-brain-enhancing-drugs-1793845948 This article may seem a little outside the box as it is not a direct course concept, but it's relatable, I swear. This post is inspired by a recent Netflix documentary that I watched called Take Your Pills . The article discusses the use of A.D.D. and A.D.H.D. medications such as Adderall (which I'm sure we're all very familiar with) by people without being diagnosed with these disorders. It seems as though today, we are moving faster than ever and just keeping up to speed can be overwhelming. Not to mention the level of competition between new hires, especially in the tech industry. This article attempts to justify the use of these potentially harmful drugs by saying if we use creatine and protein supplements to get stronger, why can't we use pills to be smarter. In my opinion, and according to the documentary, it seems as though tech industries such as those in Silicon Val...

Throughout the duration of this course, we have spent a great deal of time discussing innovation, specifically in the tech sector. In Mariana Mazzucato's piece, The Entrepreneurial State , she spends a lot of time discussing this misconception of where financing for innovative ventures comes from. In this article by Biz Carson on Business Insider , she discusses a misconception of what innovation actually is. In this article, Carson states that innovation, especially in Silicon Valley, is typically associated with copycat ideas. She states that many innovations and new ventures are generated based on the ideas of other people. An example of this that Carson refers to is Instagram's CEO Kevin Systrom, who admitted that he had taken an idea from Snapchat and put his own spin on it, with TechCrunch later calling him "the one honest person in tech." What does everyone else think about this notion of innovation that Carson declares? Do you also think that most innovati...

The other day, I was at a Chinese food restaurant and broke open my fortune cookie to find the sentence, "Your innovation keeps you ahead." No joke, that's actually what it said. Of course, I immediately knew I was going to write about it within the context of this class, and it got me thinking about the reasons people look to innovate. Is it simply to make money? Is it an obsession with being "ahead of the game?" Do some just get lucky with a good idea under the right conditions? During my presentation, I asked the class whether they classed themselves as financially, creatively, or intellectually motivated in their quest to enter the workforce. Many of them responded that they felt their interests were a mixture of the categories, and consequently I've been thinking a lot about what it means, to me personally, to be "ahead." Really, I think that term is something that is different in meaning to every individual and is changing all the time for...

Article:   https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/postgraduate-degree-necessary-get-job Being in the last year of my undergrad, I can not help but stress about what my next step is. Do I take a year off? Do I find a job right away? Or, should I go to grad school? I am sure most of you can relate to these questions as we want to ensure that we will secure a job in our field as well as one that pays enough so that we can pay off all that student debt!  I found this article very interesting since I feel that there has been a major increase in the necessity and pressure of getting a postgraduate degree in order to land a good job. As the article mentioned, “Universities UK (UUK) report, Patterns and Trends in UK Higher Education 2015 , showed that over the 10 years from 2004-05 to 2013-14, the number of postgraduate research students rose by 27.2 per cent and postgraduate taught students by 8.4 per cent”.  Living in a world where one degree does not seem to c...

Throughout the semester, I was intrigued by how some of you have a vision of being an entrepreneur. This got me thinking about the processes of becoming an entrepreneur with a successful start-up. Furthermore, I started to wonder what would be the first step and how many steps would it take to reach one’s end goal. As I looked at articles online, I came across this video that outlines how you could start a business in 10 days. My reaction to this was doubtful at the same time curious as to how one could possibly create a whole business in just 10 days. In my opinion, I do not think a true successful start-up could be adequately pu t together in just 10 days. In other words, each day of this 10-day process is clearly hyper-intense and I do not think that most people are able to complete each of these tasks in such a short amount of time. Either way, if I was interested in starting a business by following this 10-day structure, I would certainly be overwhelmed.  With this v...

A question that I have been lingering on is who do I need to approach in order to not only potentially get a job but gain the information that will help me figure out myself more. Last month I had the honour to attend a ‘Professional Development Day’ at our Laurier office in Toronto with Queens University. One of our guest speakers talked about networking and how it is not per-say ‘using’ people as it is more about having real conversations and getting to know them so that you can reflect on whether their job interests you. With this said, he also emphasized how we should not be afraid to reach out to CEO’s. This really stuck with me as I would never think to approach the CEO of a company but the more he explained how it shows perseverance and determination, I thought that this may not be the worst idea. Of course, by doing this, you would need to do thorough research about the company, express why you are reaching out to them and outline the experiences you have that could be an asse...

We have tirelessly discussed the implications of job-hunting on LinkedIn and the reasons why we must consider ourselves as something to be sold to our potential employers. Let’s stop discussing WHY and start discussing HOW! As with any social media/networking platform, it is important to stay relevant and adapt to the changing nature of the technology. Here is a detailed list of what to include and omit from your profile as you enter the workforce in 2018: 1. It is a SOCIAL network, be social! Interact with colleagues, industry experts, companies you admire, etc. Your list of connections isn’t enough to justify your level of connectivity. Actively engage with things and people that interest you. You will thank yourself later. 2. Add a summary of who are you and what you want to do. This is the elevator pitch that will help to differentiate you from the competition. Make sure this statement includes your interests and motivations, not just what type of job you are looking f...

https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/tips-for-social-networking-online The class discussions from the presentations today have lingered with me as I have been thinking about the pros and cons of creating our personal brands and networks on social media platforms such as LinkedIn. As mentioned in class, we have moved away from the traditional way of taking our time to hand over physical resumes to employers and towards a modern-technological way of promoting ourselves online. With this in mind, I searched ‘new networking online’ and came across this article by Monster. On a personal note, I have used Monster as a source for job listings and therefore thought that this article was very interesting as it provided advice for social networking.  When reading the article, Monster has outlined that although we have mastered the ‘art of handing out business cards’, social networking online is another way to make connections for business, dating or personal interests. Con...

We have all heard about LinkedIn and there is a large chance that most of us have an account, but why is this? Is it because someone told you that it was necessary in order to get a job? Did you feel pressured because everyone you knew all of a sudden had a LinkedIn account? Is this the new and only way to network in this generation? Our class discussion about LinkedIn really left me with some questions and thoughts that I would like to share with you. LinkedIn offers an easy way to discover new jobs and opportunities with certain companies which I believe to be a great thing. It is a great way to showcase yourself how you would like employers to see you, from your picture to posting publications. This way, it seems as though you can even 'edit' yourself or 'refine' your image to what you would like your personal brand to be. Now with all of this being said I do believe that LinkedIn offers great opportunity to connect with people you may have never gotten the easy o...

"It's in Apple's DNA that technology alone is not enough – that it's technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the result that makes our hearts sing." - Steve Jobs We've all heard it before - "What're you going to do with your bachelors degree?", or "What does a Communications degree prepare you for in the workforce?".  Well, in this article by The Globe and Mail, author Scott Stirrett explains the under-appreciated value of an arts degree, stating that these degrees are viewed by employers as very valuable. Whether one chooses to work in advertising, journalism, public relations, or even business (yes, Communications Studies graduates can certainly work in business), the skill set that we students have refined over the past four years, which include writing , communicating , and learning how to think critically to name a few, are all viewed very highly by potential employers. Especially with...

Recently when browsing through my LinkedIn feed, I came across an article titled "9 of the World's Most Influential Female Entrepreneurs." I was immediately compelled to read the article however came to realize that it was an info graph and didn't answer as many of the questions that I was hoping it would, especially in regards to this course. Throughout CS400Y, we have heavily discussed the idea of risk and reward. When reading this article, it is logical to assume that these nine women  exercised the ideas of risk and reward that we have discussed in class however the extent of this was not discussed. Do you believe that, especially being a woman in the tech industry, it is worth it to take big risks when there could be such big consequences or do you think the possibility of reward is worth it? https://addicted2success.com/entrepreneur-profile/infographic-9-of-the-worlds-most-influential-female-entrepreneurs/

Recently, I came across an article on Workopolis  that discussed Toronto as the fastest-growing tech market in North America, which I found to be very interesting. Toronto as a city has grown exponentially in the past several years; its exposure has increased, new businesses are formed constantly, and its population continues to expand year after year. With regards to the tech industry, Nick Patch addresses several different reasons as to why it is growing so quickly and significantly. He discusses the cities diversity , affordability , education , and an abundance of  highly skilled individuals bursting onto the scene. The article is very interesting as it looks at the future outlook of Toronto as a tech capital in North America. He makes a point of saying that Toronto is very affordable as a tech sector, because the average salary is significantly less than the salaries of cities in the United States, making the cost of work much cheaper for employers. I think that thi...

Recently, when thinking about the word 'innovation' and what it means, something that has been heavily discussed within our seminar, I began to associate the term with 'efficiency'. I believe that a lot of times, when companies or businesses are trying to become more innovative, it is usually aiming towards one of two goals; creativity and efficiency. Focussing on the latter, it often becomes a problem when certain softwares or procedures are put in place in order for things to be done more efficiently as it removes a lot of human thought behind the tasks. An example to better demonstrate my point would be the application called Grammarly. This application that can be downloaded on one's devices automatically edits grammar and word flow when an individual is writing. An application such as this one does make work much more efficient however removes human thought and we ultimately end up losing the skills that we would obtain if we were editing our text ourselves. ...

Upon graduation, many of us may continue with more schooling but the remainder will most likely enter the workforce. As Millennials is it well known that our generation prefers companies with a great culture that in addition allows us to feel like a large contributor. LinkedIn recently created a Top Companies list for Canadians. This list was compiled based on "four main pillars: interest in the company, engagement with the company’s employees, job demand, and employee retention."  Majority of the list included companies from the financial or technology industry. What do you think it takes to be hired as a recent graduate at one of these in-demand companies? Are there any companies that are not on the list that should be? Please refer to course readings. Link:  https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/linkedin-top-companies-2018-where-canada-wants-work-now-daniel-roth/

This article The Risks of Becoming a Google City looks at the emergence of Toronto as a global tech hub, as part of it's Waterfront will now be home to the development initiative of Google’s sister company – Sidewalk Labs, an urban innovation firm. Sidewalk labs won the bid to become an “innovation and funding partner” for a new innovative space at a former industrial site on Toronto’s Waterfront. There is a lot of controversy surrounding the development of this land to home Sidewalk Labs, largely in regard to data collection and privacy, and their plans exceed what they have been given allowance for by the city. The deal (between the City of Toronto and Sidewalk Labs) is still being negotiated, but many fear that if goes through in the favour of Sidewalk Labs, there could be severe consequences for the City of Toronto and its extremely valuable waterfront, as well as citizens of Toronto. Take a look at this video and let me know your thoughts about ...