CS 400Y Work Cultures in Tech Ecologies

So I just finished reading Marwick's Leaders and Followers, and it brought up some interesting points on status in person versus online status. In person, we deem physical aspects of an individual more important thus giving them more importance. They rank higher in the social hierarchy if they are wealthy, have a good job, and spend their money on lavish things such as travel. This is achieved status, as you work to create your personal brand. When comparing status online, it is created through how many followers you have and how many likes you can get. The higher these numbers, the more influential you are. As a student that neither is influential online nor in person (because I'm broke), my status is not high. But the status of my parents is good and my family, so that acquired status does apply to me. So I do question regarding the value of the status and which is more important to you? What is your status or what do you think about your status? Do you find this soci...

Termites are nasty lil' things, but they can teach us a lot about innovation, apparently. In an article called " How termites reveal the rules behind radical innovation ," Sunnie Giles, a Forbes contributor, suggests that termites have managed to survive for so long because of their innovation.  Giles summarizes radical innovation using the following principles: Self-organization Simple rules A generalist approach Diversity of input Speed of execution, and Profuse experimentation Termites, she argues are prime examples of radical innovation because: They self organize, self heal, and are strong, independent termite They use simple communication methods that are highly effective Colonies work together to support one another, without even realizing it They make improvements through trial and error, rather than striving for perfection immediately They connect, communicate, collaborate, and adapt accordingly, resulting in transparency among the colony A...

There was an interesting debate hosted by Oxford that was on if universities can innovate and their role in entrepreneurship. Check it out here: https://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/faculty-research/skoll/events/oxford-union-debate-role-universities-creating-social-impact When I first heard about it, instantly I responded "No", universities cannot innovate and push entrepreneurship. This is based out of my experience at Laurier. However, maybe if I was at UW things would be different, but maybe not. Since UW is known for innovation, we often forget that there is only a handful of people that are part of this glamourized ecosystem. Most of the people I know from UW are not innovators, most of them want to just work and get paid and that is it. Some of them do create their own startups and embody the startup mindset, but most don't. So how can we say UW is innovative in a system where they breed more followers than leaders? These university systems are great for breeding for the job...

Hi Everyone, Since most, if not all, of us are graduating and will be looking for full-time jobs, I thought it might be helpful to give some insight into how the job interview process in general has changed, so that we can be more prepared for them in the future. Spark Hire provides a useful comparison of then vs. now, helping to show the kinds of things that we should take into consideration for interviews. There are 9 changes in particular that are mentioned: Your reach is much more expansive Drastic improvements in video interviewing technology It’s much easier to schedule interviews An increased focus on cultural fit Candidates run the show There’s a greater emphasis on employer branding Networking happens in many different places The kind of employee hiring managers want has changed There’s a greater focus on data and analytics The two that I feel connect the most to what we have discussed in this course are number 6 (there’s a greater emphasis on employer bran...

There has been a lot  of talk about LinkedIn this semester in CS400Y. For something hailed as the Facebook as the working world, maintaining and developing your LinkedIn profile can feel like a lot of the time. We've seen so many posts, presentations, and articles about how to "hack" or improve your participation on the platform, without a lot of hands-on tutelage. So, I thought I'd be the one to stick my neck out and ask you guys to rate my LinkedIn profile , using what we've talked about this semester. As a disclaimer, I'm fairly new to this platform (I actually signed up because of this class), and I don't feel like I really "get it" yet. This is an opportunity for us to see where we're all at with this kind of tool and learn from one another. Feel free to post your comments, suggestion, and personal profiles in the comments, as well connect with myself and others.

At the beginning of the course Dr. Herman presented the class with a question when he asked what the term innovation meant to each individual. A simple yet intriguing question, one that certainly sparked my interest. After completing CS400, I found that my answer has changed significantly. I initially claimed innovation signified creativity and while yes, I still believe innovation conveys creativity but our readings and class discussions, have lead me to believe that the term encompass so much more. In my opinion, innovation does not contain a concrete definition rather, the term is in a constant state of flux. To further elaborate, I am stating that the definition of innovation changes according to the situation and application. I thought to myself that I must not be the only one who believes the term innovation changes according to situation. So I took this thought to the internet and I happened to find an article written by Brendan McGowan that discusses the different ways in ...

Photo courtesy of Matt Smith  http://www.matthewsmithphoto.net/ Michael Litt, co-founder and CEO of Vidyard , recently contributed an article to the Globe and Mail, titled " Southern Ontario's Silicon Valley: Unleashing Waterloo's tech-innovation sector. " Vidyard is a Waterloo region startup offering video platform services for organizations looking to create video for marketing, sales, customer service, employee training, and corporate communications.  Litt explains that the Canadian federal government's recent ' innovation superclusters initiative (ISI) ' places Waterloo region in the centre of the Southern Ontario innovation superclusters. Despite the region's technological abundance, it lacks the community resources that Litt argues will both attract workers to the area and keep students here after graduation.  "We’re lucky to live in a region with an exciting opportunity before us to address our challenges and cement our legacy ...

Why the World Needs More Women in the Tech Industry It is no secret that women are often under-represented in the global tech-sector. According to  Next Generation Recruitment article  Why Aren't There More Women in Tech? , this problem is one that has been stated to commence in the early years of childhood development. Just about everything one can think of from sports, toys to clothing and everything in between, is marketed to children by gender. As a ramification, children begin to internalize and eventually, subscribe to these dominant hegemonic gender roles. Consequently, this can limit the realm of potential capabilities of both men and women. This may begin to offer a possible explanation as to why so many girls at the high school level, are often discouraged to take science, math and computing courses.What do you think, could the ‘pinkification’ of job possibilities directly impacts the amount of women who pursue math and science related degrees at the Univ...

The words creativity, efficiency, technology, idea, and modernization come to mind when thinking about innovation. Through this class, we have been able to explore a wide range of ideas about innovation and what it means. If you are innovative, you are progressive and changing the times. Think about technology and medicine- the advancements in both of these fields have been revolutionary and have changed the way we carry about our daily lives. Innovation has made our lives easier and more efficient and has overall contributed to the bettering of society. However, I also do not think that innovation is limited to the creation of something revolutionary like the automobile, computer, or cellphone, it can be something small- it is all about the process of creating something new.

To outsiders, it seems like Canada's tech sector is thriving. The name silicon valley of the north is used to describe Waterloo and the cities big companies like Shopify and Vidyard receive a lot of press coverage. We are experiencing huge growth in the sector and this is leading to a big problem; a shortage of tech talent. As these companies grow they require more and more applicants coming from a STEM to fill their new roles. The problem is that Canada has a serious shortage of tech talent, making it hard for companies to grow and meet their sales projections. It's estimated that by 20/20 there will be a shortage of 220,000 tech workers in Canada. This problem is caused by two things. The first is that a lot of Canadians tech talent moves down south to join companies in the valley or grown companies at their American head offices. The second problem is that we have a relatively low number of students graduating from STEM programs. To make it worst the need for technical rol...

The technology industry is one of the most exciting industries to work in right now. However, when visiting a job board the job titles can be very confusing or be intimidating to someone who has never worked in that industry before. As new grads, these jobs may seem inaccessible so but these are openings are more within reach than many realize. The reality is that the technology industry can be easy to break into once you take into account the wide variety of jobs for both technical and nontechnical workers. To help make this easier here are Workopolis' 5 tips to break into tech. Take on technical projects – The best way to see if you are technically inclined and gain basic experience is to dive in head first. Work on side projects within your current role, or in your free time, to expose yourself to the field. Learn more tech skills – While going back to school for a four-year degree may not be in the cards, some type of education and training can go a long way. Talk to others...

As I mentioned in class one day, I volunteered with the WLU Career Centre this year. One of my duties was to publish an article for the 'Career Forward' newsletter for the month of April. For those that are maybe unaware, the newsletter is emailed to all WLU students at the beginning of each month and usually have information about upcoming events, workshops, and articles written by support peers (like me!). In the second half of this course, many of our discussions and presentations have surrounded topics relating to job searching, networking, and social platforms such as LinkedIn, drawing on Illana Gershon's book, Down and out in the new economy: How people find (or don't find) work today. I wrote the Career Forward article before the assigned readings, but I found myself relating to much of what Gershon was writing about in terms of networking and utilizing LinkedIn from my own experiences this year. Like many of you, I am graduating and have been using LinkedIn...

We've come across it several times throughout the duration of this course: nanotechnology. On the surface, nanotechnology is a branch of technology that deals with dimensions that are less than 100 nanometers. Essentially, it is the study and application of extremely small things that has implications across all of the technological and scientific fields, including chemistry, biology, physics, and engineering, to name a few. Now, while this may sound boring to some, nanotech has been referred to as perhaps the next great and revolutionary general purpose technology, which stands to have an impact on nearly every sector of technology and science, and serves to be the next source of economic growth and opportunity. While it may still be a bit too far away from commercial viability, the potential for nanotechnology applications is very promising. In the article I have shared from The British Heart Foundation, they talk about how nanotechnology has applications to help heart failur...

As I write this post, I am sitting in the Queen Street Commons Cafe, and affordable coffee shop run by the Working Center in the heart of Downtown Kitchener. There is a division in the people I see around me. Some are locals, they sit together greeting familiars as they enter, they know the staff by name. The other group stand-out from the rest. They, like me, sit by themselves, headphones on and tapping away on their laptops. This, I feel, is a good representation of the current tensions at work in Downtown Kitchener and one that lies at the heart of many blossoming creative cities. I was surprised throughout the year to hear many of you say that you considered Kitchener a sketchy, dangerous place and that it has failed as a creative city. I spend a lot of time in DTK and aware of a wealth of arts and culture events that take place throughout the year and contribute to a vibrant and active creative scene within the local community. However, I feel like Kitchener's reputation mak...

We live in an automatic world. We are constantly connected and have the ability to obtain information in seconds with the touch of a screen or few buttons. With that, lead to constant communication. In the workforce with the integration of smartphones, employees are more susceptible to feeling as though the workday never ends due to their job coming home with them at night when they leave the office. This has lead to over-exhaustion, mental health issues, and truly the lack of a break.  In France and many companies including Volkswagen, have changed their company culture or created laws that make it illegal for employers to contact their employees after hours unless it is an emergency. In doing so, it has fostered further creativity and innovation for participants. Do you think that Canada should adopt this law? Why or why not?   https://globalnews.ca/news/2725886/after-work-emails-banned-in-france-a-national-epidemic-in-canada/

Whether your source is news agencies, conversations with peers, or even Mariana Mazzucato's book, "The Entrepreneurial State," we've all talked about Apple and its innovative process. With the iPhone 8 and iPhone X hitting the shelves, many have argued that the new smartphones don't have much to offer over older devices, minus slightly improved displays and batteries that haven't been totally depleted. Nevertheless, Apple has still received praise for being one of the most innovative companies in the world. However, as Mazzucato makes clear in her piece, "The State Behind the iPhone," many of Apples greatest innovations had been strongly influenced by the State and previous innovations that they had conceptualized or funded in other agencies. Examples include the multi-touch screen (which was actually created by FingerWorks, a company funded by the State and later acquired by Apple), SIRI (which was influenced by a DARPA-led initiative that aimed t...