The “Meet a Mentor” event
organised by the Graduate Development Community held at the University College
London (UCL) on the 20th of September 2012, was interesting as well
as enlightening. In attendance were
three groups of people: mentors, “graduates” and representatives of
RecWorks. The group of mentors was
comprised of technical evangelists, analysts, programmers and testers. Such
variety of skills and experience ensured that questions from the graduates were
addressed from different perspectives.
After the introduction by Barry
Cranford, one of the organizers of the event, the graduates were divided into
groups of 6-7 people. Each group was assigned two mentors for a certain amount
of time, at the end of which, the mentors switched groups; a procedure that was
repeated until all mentors had engaged each table. I think this was pertinent as it maximised
the level of engagement between the graduates and mentors, not to mention
ensuring the type of informality necessary for the success of such gatherings. I shall now proceed to enumerate the issues
that were raised and tackled.
Firstly, the nature of the jobs
in the development industry was discussed at length by several of the mentors.
From what I have gathered it seems that there is a tendency for a graduate
developer to start out as a tester, which helps him/her to improve coding
skills, by fixing bugs and assuring the quality of systems. Based on his/her
perception of how coding is done, the person may then get involved in
programming, where business logic, encapsulated in design, is mapped to code.
During the course of being a programmer, the developer would continuously work
with system models; such that a prowess for design is built over a period of
time. Therefore, the developer may progress into the more abstract field of
system analysis and design, which involves the capturing of system requirements
and modelling.
Furthermore, the opportunities
and challenges involved in freelancing and entrepreneurship were discussed. The
discussion in this case revolved around web development and mobile
applications. From this I learnt that the success of such systems is significantly
affected by the level of advertising and marketing invested in them. One of the
mentors even suggested teaming up with graduates of marketing disciplines, such
that the developer can concentrate solely on the task of building the system,
while the partner(s) is/are concerned with the marketing aspect.
Nonetheless, the mentors gave
tips for successful interviews. I realised that employers usually require the
prospective employee to have soft skills in addition to technical skills. The
emphasis on soft skills is to ensure that the person is able to adapt quickly
to the working environment; as well as being capable of quickly learning new
methods and techniques; which may arise during the course of working for a company.
In order to ensure that both skills are measured, the interview for jobs
involves two phases. In the first phase the applicant’s soft skills are
measured, if he/she is deemed to be competent, then the technical skills are tested.
Moreover, there was a discussion
on development methodologies, with particular emphasis on Agile and TDD (Test
Driven Development). The purpose of such methodologies is to optimize the
system development process, by following effective guidelines and procedures. A
mentor asserted that having knowledge of such methodologies can be a
significant factor in being selected by employers, as it shows that the
applicant has some understanding of the development process.
To round up the great event,
refreshments were provided at a nearby pub; where the participants
socialised and further discussed development issues. It was at this pub that I
had the opportunity of talking to representatives of RecWorks, who advised me
on the issue of employment and even offered to review my CV. In conclusion, I
would say that the event was successful and will definitely be attending more.
For more information about upcoming events like this please visit:
