Student Partner Massey Palmy
Late Nights, Bloodshot Eyes and a Can of Red Bull...
Ashleigh Thompson
| It’s something all of us can relate to – late nights, bloodshot eyes and a can of Red Bull. Over the past two weeks it’s becoming a familiar sight. The labs have seen an influx of numbers of the past few days as everyone makes the most of what little time is left before those impending deadlines finally sneak up on you. It’s not something that is unique to those of us studying CS/IT/IS. BUT, it seems that all too often people are left with the impression that those involved with CS/IT/IS degrees, and these professions spend long hours, stretching to late nights working on various aspects of the SDLC. |
It’s been misconceptions like this that have discouraged people from becoming involved in this industry. For some reason this misconception is one that heavily sticks with our industry. What a lot of people fail to realise is the technology sector particularly seems to be working hard on ensuring that employees can achieve a suitable work-life balance. Many leading companies now make how they promote this work-life balance a big selling point to potential employees.
There are of course, those of us for whom these late night ‘coding sessions’ are self inflicted. Time management becomes an essential skill to learn to successfully navigate through rigid deadlines at university and at work. Luckily, today there is an abundance of tools available to help with this: Zoho Planner, Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook. The emergence of online technologies also means that we are no longer restricted to the ‘old pen and paper’, which doesn’t provide any help when you’re at work and it’s at home. Many of these technologies also facilitate the sharing of information between friends and colleagues. It’s definitely worth looking into getting yourself set up with some form of time management tool. You’ll soon realise how much more productive you can be when you are more accountable for your time.
In keeping with the theme of time management, and sharing information with others we’ve created a calendar which we will continually update with events and dates which are worth knowing about. Make sure you keep up to date with what’s going on at the Massey Palmy campus by checking out our calendar: Massey University Student Partner Calendar
If you know of any events that you think others would be interested in, make sure you add them. It’s your calendar to!
So … for those of you at Massey Palmy, to relieve some pre-deadline stress and forgot about looming exams we’re having our final presentation for the semester this week!
UPCOMING EVENT: Microsoft Student Partner Presentation
Come along and join us! You can score some great giveaways!
UPCOMING EVENT: .NET User Group Meeting
When: Tuesday 3rd June - @ 6.00pm
Where: MUSAC
Speaker: Ivan Towlson, Senior Dev. Mindscape in Wellington
(P.S. Title thanks to inspiration from Tooks, who has a blog post with the same name)
Ashleigh is the Microsoft Student Partner for Massey University in Palmerston North
Comments
- Anonymous
May 25, 2008
Speaking of misconceptions about the industry, it's interesting to note the popular perception that IT professionals always dress "one rung below" that of everyone else. e.g., if a business shirt is expected, the "IT guys" wear polos. If a polo is expected, they wear t-shirts, etc. It's not always the case though - it's just that the ones who do, are the ones who stand out. That said, at least there is flexibility!