Life Skills

Bart Massey 2013-12-05

Today's Topics

• Personal Character

• Professional Style

• Beyond This Course

Personal Character

• Programmers with strong technical skills are dime-a-dozen

• Programmers who are good people are rarer

• Programmers who can improve themselves are rarest of all

Character: The Book View

• Intelligence

• Curiosity vs Discipline

  • Reading and Writing

• Intellectual Honesty

  • Openness
  • Reliability
  • Attribution

• Habits

The Book: Resource Suggestions

• Info about construction
• Topics "beyond construction"
• Periodicals
• Reading plan
• Professional orgs

Professional Style

• Deportment and presentation

• Communication

• Networking

• Association

• Self-development

• Resume development

Beyond This Course

• The rest of your PSU UG Curriculum, esp. Capstone

• Graduate School vs "Real Work"

  • What grad schools are looking for
  • What employers are looking for

• Finding cool things to do

• Making a difference in the world