Week 13 Learnings

This week I learned to work while the sun is shining. One of my professors that I TA for called me up and asked if I could judge INTEX, a giant project for the IS junior core. It was during the day on Friday, which was prime time to get homework done. I initially wanted to decline, as I thought it would be too stressful to get the extra hours in for work while trying to juggle all the different projects that were due. However, my dad told me something really smart: “Work while the sun is shining.” He explained that it may seem stressful, but it always works out in the end. It’s smart to make money while you have the opportunity because you never know what might happen or things that will pop up. It was really good advice and I’m sharing it all with you!

By the way, here is a sweet survey I made about different types of cheese that everyone should take. +1 point for Sarah’s blog!

https://qtrial2015q4az1.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3aR01MJEQ8KfR8V

Also, here is a link to a cool blog that everyone should read! It’s full of cool career advice. +1 point for Sarah’s blog!

http://www.levo.com/articles/career-advice

Here is a high quality vector image of a bridge. This related to M Com because it is the bridge of communication for business people. +1 point for Sarah’s blog!

 Here is a video that I shot and uploaded myself. It is of me and my group working on the m comm report, with a really nice artistic shot of a Tanner building Christmas tree thrown in there. +2 points for Sarah's blog! 

Week 12 Learnings

This week I learned there is just no rest for the weary. Here I am on Thanksgiving break, and there is still homework to be done. Do people not believe in breaks anymore? BYU is already notorious for their lack of breaks, but now they assign homework and blog posts on Thanksgiving! I don’t understand it! The holidays are a time for getting together with family and enjoying a rest from the business of the year, not a time to be even busier! I’m sure that there is a good lesson in here somewhere...like there is no rest for the weary. Anyways, I’m sure it is making me into a better person or whatever, but I’m getting sick of it! I just want a real break! At least I have Christmas break to look forward to. Class are over by then and  it will be impossible for my professors to try and reach me then. Yay!

Week 11 Learnings

This week I learned how everyone looooves to fight on Facebook. Nobody really wants to discuss the issues, they just want to show everyone how much more compassionate or loving they are then everyone else. This has been a tough week for social media! Anyone else feeling the same way? If I see one more fight about the Syrian refugees...I don’t know what I’ll do. I really do believe that we need to talk about these issues, but I don’t think Facebook is the right medium. It is so easy to misunderstand what others are saying and so easy to be unnecessarily cruel, with the added buffer of the internet between us.  The biggest lesson I’ve learned this week is to be aware of the issues and to understand exactly what you’re talking about before going on Facebook and spouting an opinion. It is too easy to start a giant fight and hurt a lot of people you care about in the process, only to turn out to be wrong. Hopefully I don’t sound too mean writing this. Social media is just too much!

Week 10 Learnings

Prepare yourself. This post is going to blow your mind. This week in my computer security class, we learned about Edward Snowden and information privacy. Now, I have always considered myself pretty savvy when it comes to the tech world and I try to keep my friends up to date on what I read in the news. But every time I tell them about how the government and corporations are collecting endless data on us and can basically watch our every move, no one seems to care. They always say “I’ve got nothing to hide. Doesn’t bother me.” This argument has always irritated me so much, but I’ve never been able to find the right words to express why this is such a poor argument. Well, in class, my professor gave me exactly the words I have been looking for. Quoting Edward Snowden, he said “Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say. Rights = power.” This is such a great way to express it. This isn’t an issue about what we have to hide, it’s about what we have to lose. It’s saying that we don’t matter as individuals, and that our rights don’t matter. Information privacy is a huge issue and more people should care about it, regardless of how interesting they think their lives are. 

eMeeting

We had our eMeeting the other day to discuss our strategy moving forward for our big group project. We met over Google hangouts, and we had a surprisingly difficult time getting the ball rolling. I originally sent out the invitation to the three members of our group. Only Sarah got the invitation and answered, and we didn't have any sound. We were trying to communicate but couldn't hear each other. It was pretty funny. So, I sent out another invitation. This time Kimmy and Sarah both got it and we were able to hear each other and start talking. But Clancy wasn't able to join! She was receiving the invitation but it was putting her in her own video call without the rest of us. So, she tried sending out an invitation of her own and we all joined in from there. Finally we were able to have our meeting and get down to business, and it only took us 30 minutes! From there, we had a really good meeting. We could our schedule lined out and made plans for the next time we were going to meet. It was nice to be able to meet from the comfort of our own homes. Half the battle with group work is coordinating everyone's schedule, and this makes it a lot easier. We don't have to factor in travel time, and we could just have a quick meeting. We did get a bit distracted by all the fun things google hangouts has, like funny hats and beards that attach to your face. Overall, I liked meeting online, even if we did have some technical issues.

Week 9 Learnings

This week I learned the importance of taking care of yourself.  School has really been pushing me to my limits lately. There have been labs due every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, with group projects due Saturdays. I had been doing fine, but this past weekend I think I hit my limit. It was one of those weekends where your roommates were crazier than normal and the school load was heavier than normal. Saturday was a really rough day, to say the least. 

I never really sleep in, but Sunday I slept straight through my alarm and through all of church. As bummed as I was to have slept through church, it was a blessing in disguise. I really needed the sleep and the rest. I had been pushing myself to the limit, and this was a good lesson to me to take a break every now and then. It’s important to stop and smell the roses before you’re so exhausted you pass out. So when Monday came, I did a wild and crazy thing and skipped my master’s classes. It was awesome. 

Online Interview Experience

Yesterday I had the opportunity to do a mock interview with my partner Leanne over google hangouts. I thought it was a good experience, if a bit on the redundant side. We had just done mock interviews the day before in class and so I felt that Leanne and I were asking each other the same questions. It was nice because I had good answers prepared for her, but I also felt that it didn’t challenge me to become a better interviewee.  Leanne and I had a good chat and it was definitely a comfortable environment and we didn’t feel awkward. We were able to take the mock interview seriously. I felt we both gave good answers. It was good practice to interview someone in a safe environment, but I also feel it would be beneficial to have a list of really challenging questions. This would help people not to be caught so off-guard when they are asked tough interview questions in real life. This assignment was a good foray into the interviewing world, and overall I thought it was a good experience. 

Week 8 Learnings

This week I met Richard Searfoss, a commander of one of the NASA shuttle missions. It was so cool to meet him! He gave a fireside for my ward and he talked all about space, his family, what it was like to pilot a space mission, and so forth. Astronomy has always been a huge passion of mine and it was amazing to get to meet the commander of a NASA mission.  He talked also about how to juggle a career and a family. This was super beneficial to me because I’m a girl going through the Marriott School and sometimes it’s really hard to think about the future and how my degree can still be used while raising a family. I don’t want to be a super career woman that never settles down, but I also want to use my degree. Obviously Astronaut Searfoss’ situation was a little bit different, but he talked about he juggled being in space while raising a family and it really helped me to realize that you can do both, no matter if you’re in space or working for a corporation!

Week 7 Learnings

This week I learned how valuable hard work and dedication is. This past summer, I did an internship with Nissan and I tried my best to do really well. I took on a lot of projects and helped out a lot of people, hoping it would pay off. I’ve been hoping to go back and do another internship with them and eventually begin full time work with them after I graduate. I didn’t expect to hear back from them before December, but they called me on Thursday to offer my another internship early because they wanted to nail me down and make sure I got to work for them before someone else tried to hire me. They also gave me a huge pay raise. It was so wonderful to see all the late nights pay off and learn that the easy way is definitely not always the best way. A lot of the other interns I worked with did not get offers because they took long lunches and would leave early. It was super nice to see that hard work and dedication are still valued over flattery. 

Week 6 Learnings

This week I had to start scheduling my classes for next semester and I realized how close I am to graduating. It was really freaky to realize that this chapter of my life is coming to a close and that a new one, getting a job, is steadily approaching.  It definitely put school in its perspective for me, that even though I’m in the midst of midterms, it will all be ok because one day this isn’t going to be my life anymore. I should definitely focus more on the things that matter most, like being a good friend to people. My grades aren’t going to matter anymore and so I should put all my time and energy in the things that do matter. Obviously, I’m still going to try my best and do well in my classes, but it doesn’t hold the same weight like it used to. It was a good reminder for me. 

Week 5 Learnings

This past week, I went to the opening ceremonies for homecoming week, and they showed a video honoring one of the founders of BYU. His name was Abraham Smoot. It was a remarkable video and I learned a lot about this man who saved BYU. I had never known anything about him before. The thing that stood out to me the most was the fact that after BYU burned down, he mortgaged his home and his farm to pay off BYU’s debts so they could rebuild. He died penniless and gave up everything he owned to save the school because he loved it so much. This was very humbly to me to realize a man gave up everything he owned so that, years later, I could get an education. This taught me to value my experience here at BYU a lot more and to remember everything that people who came before me did so that I could come here and gain an invaluable education. 

Week 4 learnings

This past week I learned that you should always expect the unexpected. My car began to have trouble starting, and it eventually died on me, stranding me at Big Lots. I assumed it was the battery and began looking around to get it jumped. I was so surprised at how many people flat out refused to help me out. I asked four different people if they could help me and they all told me no. One lady said I could borrow her jumper cables, but not her car battery because she didn’t trust me. So, I now had jumper cables but no car. Two more people said no to help jump my car, but eventually a kind soul came and helped me. This taught me that you should always expect the unexpected. People might say no to helping you out, effectively stranding you in a parking lot, but others might not! It also taught me that I should always help others, since I had been on the receiving end of not getting any help and I realized what a terrible experience that was. 

Week 3 Learnings

This week I learned that it is super nice to prepare ahead. I had been studying for the grammar test all week and I was ready to take it. I was ready to nail this grammar test. I decided to take it Friday, and I went as soon as my class ended. When I got to the testing center, I saw that the line was out the door and there were a ton of people stressing about getting their test done in time, or trying to get it done before their next class. A lot of people had waiting until the very last minute to take their test and were now worried they weren’t going to get the test done in time. However, I had no stress because I had planned ahead and decided to take the test the day before it closed to avoid this problem. I felt bad for my fellow line-mates, but it helped to reinforce the lesson of “always plan ahead so you don’t have to stress”.

Extra Credit Networking Post

I recently attended a networking event for PwC. It was an informational dinner and there were over 150 students from Accounting and Information Systems there. It was an opportunity to meet with many different PwC professionals and to ask any question you wanted about working for them. Dinner was served and there was a professional at each table to talk with you while you ate and then after, everyone proceeded to different rooms to talk about different jobs within PwC. I met a man named Travis and I had a great talk with him about advisory. He told me that there really is no difference between the big 4 firms. All of the jobs are pretty much the same, but the real difference lies in the culture. You have to decide where you fit best, not on the job description. It was really great talking to him because sometimes it is easy to get caught up in the name of a company instead of looking at what really matters, like if you fit in with their culture or not. Travis was super helpful and I feel a lot more confident about my career direction now. 

Week 2 Learnings

This week I learned that grammar is really hard, but really useful. When I was in high school, I used to ace every grammar test and do really well in my writing and speaking. Grammar was really important to me when I was taking the classes, but I came to realize with taking M Comm that my grammar has really suffered in the last couple of years. I found myself forgetting simple rules and making dumb mistakes in my writing. I had grown very lax in my writing and speaking. I was horrified to realize I had made mistakes in emails to recruiters and future employers. Luckily, they still talk to me. The “so what” behind this post it the realization that I need to step it up and begin to care about grammar again. I’m in the midst of recruiting season and am sending out lots of emails, resumes, etc. and I need to get back into the grammar game. 

Week 1 Learnings

During week 1, I learned that no matter what level of school you might be, motivation is a fluid thing. I am currently in the first year of a master's program for IS and that might lead someone to think I am super organized and motivated. However, this past week I did not want to do anything. School did not feel like it was really starting and I had my head in the clouds. My routine was off and I missed a few assignments in my classes. The "so what" of this all, is that no matter what program you may be in, or what level, motivation ebbs and flows and you really have to stay on top of your game and choose to want to do well. Nobody else can force you to want to do well or be motivated. It has to come from within and you have to always be on top of your game or it is so easy to slide.