I am Barry O'ConnorAnd this is my Professional Development Journey

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What did I do?

I went to MHR for a company visit during Digital Horizons week

When did this take place?

The visit was on the 15th of November

What have I gained from this activity?

The visit to MHR was great. We had a few talks which were interesting and finished with a great activity session using Lego bricks to show how Agile development cycles work. Was a good day, made a few networking contacts, learned some new things and had fun.

Related Links

MHR website

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What did I do?

I attended the Work in Tech presentation during Digital Horizons week.

When did this take place?

I attended on the 14th of November

What have I gained from this activity?

The talk was a little basic but considering we are first years, that’s to be expected. I didn’t learn much that I didn’t know but it was a great opportunity to chat to the employers a little in terms of networking and finding out whether they could be potential employers in future.

Related Links

Bloc DIgital website | Boots website

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Structuring an essay (powerpoint)

What did I do?

I attended a library course on Academic Writing, called Structuring an Essay

When did this take place?

I attended on the 14th of November

What have I gained from this activity?

I attended this course to help with my Academic Writing. The course was run by Angela Donaldson. Coming from a Web background, I'm not used to writing in this style and was struggling a little. This course was really helpful and I learned a lot about paraphrasing and essay layout. The slides were made available afterward which was really useful.

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Serious Games and VR report

What did I do?

I attended three Library Learning Team appointments

When did this take place?

I attended on the 12th, 20th and 27th of November

What have I gained from this activity?

I booked and attended a few appointments to get help with the report assignment for Essential Skills. I booked with Angela Donaldson mainly since i had spent time with her on the course and felt familiar. These sessions have been great because I was able to ask for specific help with areas I was struggling with and was given lots of additional advice on how to approach the task. This helped enormously with the report writing and I eventually managed to hand in something I was really happy with.

What did I do?

I attended four CERT Mentor sessions

When did this take place?

I attended on the 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th of October

What have I gained from this activity?

These are a great opportunity to get information regarding tests and general tips. I feel that, in general, I don’t have a huge amount of questions that need answering so the usefulness is somewhat limited. However they have been extremely useful on occasion, especially regarding information on testing procedures from the mentor who has obviously been through them before.

What did I do?

I attended the palcement and graduate jobs fair

When did this take place?

I attended on the 8th of November

What have I gained from this activity?

I went for a brief walk around with some of the DevSoc guys. Wasn’t a lot there for me personally although I did chat for a little bit with some of the web companies to get a feel for what they were doing and what the job market was like. I spoke to the lady from MHL who I met again at the interview practice session during Digital Horizons week.

What did I do?

I attended the Mock Interviews during Digital Horizons week.

When did this take place?

I attended on the 14thh of November

What have I gained from this activity?

I met with the interviewer (who turned out to be the lady from MMT Digital that I’d spoken to at the job fair) so it was a nice ice breaker to begin with. Was a good interview and I did really well but there were a couple of suggestions which would have made my answers more rounded or fuller so this was really useful.