TOLD YOU I'LL BE BACK

EM-TECH is reaching its finish line and its giving me both the excitement and sadness. Excitement because it’s my last classroom course for my entire college life but sadness because I’ll be leaving school and become one of the serious professionals in our field. I just hope that I won’t get too serious with everything. I want to enjoy my graduate life if ever. I'm not sure if I'm ready to face the real world but I want to be ready!

 
As what I'm saying, other than the final project for EMTECH, there goes our seminar series! Seminar series will be comprised of, obviously, seminars that will be headed by us students. We will organize the logistics and contact speakers. With this as our requirement, I'm really thankful that I joined one of the best organizations in DLSU (because we are the BestBG \:D/), the CATCH2T13 Batch Government, because this organization helped me in planning out activities like this most especially when handling logistics and dealing with the speaker. :)

I'm usually a follower in my group but when no one is stepping out, I need to initiate and manage things. As the leader of the group, I made sure that I get their opinions and suggestions regarding the planning of our seminar. We planned ahead to avoid procrastination since other are also busy with their thesis and other subjects. 

Seminar series started July second week. The first two seminars were more inclined to Microsoft as its technology. July 14, 2012 was the date of the first seminar, which was about the new operating system of Microsoft, Windows 8. It was held in the ISR, Gokongwei building. The speaker was a Microsoft student partner from Adamson University. The topic was very interesting especially it is really related to our course. 

What is it with Windows 8? 

 

I've seen my other friends use Windows 8 and it just gives me the thought of having an overwhelming desktop. Yes, i find Windows 8 overwhelming because of the big icons and its like there so many things going on. However, after the seminar, I can give Windows 8 a chance. 

"Where is the start button" is the typical question users ask about Windows 8, so am I! But Sir Adamson said it's really normal. When searching for an application, typing its name will help you find it easily (just like in Windows 7). The applications are already built in and they collaborate with each other that is making it the "heart of Windows 8". They are all connected through the Internet. These applications can also be added by downloading through the Windows Store. Windows 8 is also built for business such as mobile productivity, enhanced end-to-end security, virtualization and management. Moreover, it is also experiences across different types of hardware, from tablets to laptops. And lastly, the one that really caught my eye is the organization of pictures, videos and personal accounts. Windows 8 has the capability of accessing your pictures from different websites such as facebook and stores it to your computer as if it is in your documents, IT’S AMAZING! I really like that idea because I love pictures. :))

After half an hour, from Windows 8, we shifted to Window Phone 7 (Windows never gets old). This seminar was led by another Microsoft student partner, Yvette Watson. I’m an iOS user and for me, nothing will really surpass the greatness of Apple. But let’s say after this seminar, I might be wrong. As the speaker proceeds to her seminar, she listed seven (7) things to remember about Window Phone 7, which persuaded me that its not such a bad idea to have this kind of phone.

Seven things to remember: two smart designs and five hubs. Windows Phone has a glance-and-go experience; this means that even though you are in the lock screen, you can see the notifications from the internet. The other design is the do more in less steps, because the phone is syncing in the background for updates over the internet. For the five hubs, it includes People, Picture, Office, Music & Video, Games. All of these features are offered by Windows Phone 7. Furthermore, the METRO style that they have implemented in the phone was very professional. They also added a panorama experience for the users. Miss Watson was like promoting Windows Phone 7, hope will have her own. Windows Phone 7? I’ll give the benefit of the doubt J

The next seminar was supposedly our seminar but due to the weather, classes were suspended and we were moved to next next week.

July 28, 2012 seminar was held at the Andrew Gonzales seminar rooms. The third seminar was about System Testing, which was led by another Microsoft representative, however this time, he is already employed. He was a College of Science graduate but amazingly, he is working as a programmer. He is really that good when it comes to system coding. So he discusses about our future in Information System as System testers. There includes the different types of testing like unit testing. Unit test, as what he defined, it is a type of testing that tests a single unit of functionality. This single unit of functionality is one block of code that performs one functionality like a method, class and function. However, there is an interface that was made for unit testing (it’s somehow depressing for us, they automate it!) This is the Unit Interface Testing, as the name implies, it uses unit testing to validate user interaction. it automates the user clicking and typing. it is also used to automate the repetitive tasks for the user across the application interface. Moreover, there is also the Test Driven Development, which is uses unit testing to design the application. It is also allows changes in the code without changing the functionality. It uses unit testing when designing the code structure.

It made me think that with this type of technology being present already, what will be the role of System Testers (one day, I might be one!) Gratefully, the speaker said that this software still cannot replace a human capability. There are still a lot of possibilities and cases for the system testing that only human can comprehend.

For the Window Azure seminar, it is somehow similar witu Windows 8. This seminar was also led by Daryl Silao, a Microsoft Student Partner from the Asia Pacific College. Azure is a near synonym for the color blue. Windows Azure is also an operating system that is designed for utility computing. It has its four major features: service management, compute, and storage and developer experience.

The last seminar series was August 4, 2012 (our seminar series! yay!) at the Yuchengco building. The first seminar (our seminar) was about Social Media as a Career, which was led by Sir Jonel Uy. As graduating students, he shared to us his experiences when it comes to earning using social media. he also cited known people who are currently inclined to social media as their means of living. He also tackled the different social media tools that are commonly used such as twitter, facebook, instagram, etc. Entering into this career may also have challenges that are needed to surpass. Some of the challenges are demands of the customers, time management and social media behaviour. He ended the seminar with the future of social media. It will still be a great impact because social media is becoming more accessible and cheaper. Everywhere, you can access the internet, and more people are being inclined to the cloud.

Lastly, was the Gas Detection seminar, which I think was too inclined to the engineering side due to its technically with terms and explanation. In this seminar we have tackled the importance of gas detection. It is essential to identify what gas is present around us because there are dangerous gases that are very harmful to humans. We also have to monitor these types of air due to its status may affect greatly to human life. Sampling is one of the key skills for effective gas detection and monitoring. There are also considerations in gas monitoring such as the size, durability, cost and ease of use of the equipments.

Different seminars, different rooms, different speakers, different topics, different experiences, different learning and different groups. These made our EM-TECH Seminar Series a success!  \:D/