Kate in Tech

Breaking down barriers. Navigating through life. Follow my journey as a second year Computer Science student and beyond...

[kateintech]

I'm currently on my placement year from university and on Monday I left the first team I was placed with for a new one. I came back from my lunch break and the sweetest card and lego avatar was waiting on my desk 😍

[kateintech]

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail

Ralph Waldo Emerson

[kateintech]

Edith Clarke (1883 – 1959)

I've chosen to write about Edith Clarke and her achievements for my first post on women in technology. On the last day of 2016 I want to pay tribute to the past and to a women who paved the way for others. I hope that you enjoying reading about such a strong and inspiring woman!

At aged 12 Edith Clarke became an orphan and was raised by her older sister. On turning 18 Clarke received a small inheritance which she used to attend Vassar College in New York where she studied astronomy and mathematics. Clarke graduated from college in 1908.  

After graduating she went on to teach physics and maths in San Francisco until 1912 where she went to work for AT&T as a "human computer".

In 1918 Clark enrolled to do a masters in Electrical Engineering at MIT and in 1919 became the first woman to earn a M.S. in Electrical Engineering from MIT. 

Despite her degree Clarke struggled to get a job as an Engineer so left the US to teach in Istanbul. However she didn't do this for long and returned to America to work as a "human computer" for GE. Whilst working at GE, Clarke invented the Clarke Calculator, a graphical device that solved equations used to send power through electrical transmission lines longer than 250 meters. The device could solve line equations involving hyperbolic functions ten times faster than previous methods.  

Clarke was still unable to land a job as an engineer so left GE to teach in Turkey. In 1922 GE re-hired Clarke as an Electrical Engineer.  

In 1926 Clarke became the first woman to deliver a paper at the American Institute of Electrical Engineers' (AIEE) annual meeting and in 1932 one of her papers received the Best Regional Paper Prize and in 1941 another one of her papers won the Best National Paper Prize - both awarded from the AIEE.

In 1947 Clarke became the first female professor of Electrical Engineering in America which she joined the faculty of Electrical Engineering at the University of Texas in Austin.

It’s been enjoyable for me to learn about someone that had all odds against her but was still able to shatter that glass ceiling. Edith Clarke is a true inspiration, trailblazer and someone I will think of whenever I feel that making a difference is too hard a task.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

[kateintech]

A year later...

Wow it's been over a year since my last post! I've made a promise to myself that I'll never let it go that long again. A lot has happened in the last year...I finished my second year of university and am currently three months in to my industry year work placement as a Systems Engineer!  

I'm working for security company that really champion diversity. They encourage everyone from all backgrounds to apply and have done nothing but help me to develop my skills by signing up to courses and letting me shadow more experienced staff members. They have an internal work group for women in technology that I have joined and am looking forward to getting more involved with over the time I am there.  

Joining this group and being part of such a positive workplace has mad me want to step up my game. I'm going to start by reading up on the prominent women that made a difference in STEM fields so that I have more people to look up to and be inspired by. I'll share my research each month and hope that this inspires you too.  

[kateintech]

Second year begins!

This week I started my second year at university and what a week it's been! The leap from first year to second year is crazy. I definitely feel that I've been thrown in at the deep end but I love it! The lecturers themselves have improved this year which I think will make a huge difference to my learning. They know what they're talking about, are confident and some of them are quite funny. All of this helps to keep our attention and makes me personally want to show them what I can achieve. I'll post again soon with details of what modules I'm taking and what they all involve.

[nurselaa]

List five random facts about yourself and tag ten of your followers

I was tagged by fellow Supernatural lova nydriael

1. I earned my two Bachelors degrees before I turned 22

2. I’m 25% Turkish and desperately regret not having my grandma teach me the language 3. My best friend has been my best friend for 20 years

4. My greatest accomplishment in life thus far has been my son, he is the most incredible thing I could have ever wished for (#sappymommoment)

5. I have three tattoos and am trying to talk my husband into letting me get a half sleeve 😈 I need to show some Cards love!

cardiacattack caffeinatednursing flourandyarn greigferguson 100cupsofcoffee pedsnurse-sarah swednurse nightdutynurse boluscoffeestat nurseeyeroll

[greigferguson]

1. I crushed my right hand and needed 4hrs of micro surgery when I was 17.

2. My best friend and I grew up together, were in the cubs/ scouts and both have green berets from being commandos in adulthood.

3. I have a birthmark.

4. I can speak 6 languages (very roughly), not including pirate.

5. I have 7 tattoos, although 2 are now covered up fully.

sake-rn wanderingnurse flyingeagleclaw simplee-mee cherryb182 homoglobinopathy kitty-batass myworld50 blackblackdoe missbluekitty

[homotology]

1. My dog has a secret identity. 

2. Sometimes I don’t think I’m good enough to get my RN. 

3. I have extensive plans to deck out my arms and legs in tattoos just not the money right now to do it. 

4. My dream car is a Morgan Aero8 Supersport

5. There’s at least 6 followers of mine that I really want to meet in person. The lovely soul that tagged me being one of them :D

pre-med-timelord healthandjunk videogamesforprozac nurseshustle bibliophilekindagal

[pre-med-timelord]

I was tagged by the great homoglobinopathy :) Five facts about myself would be: 1. I have a dog named Killa. Her name means in moon in Quechua. 2. My favorite color is blue. 3. I had “the talk” when I was 5-6 years old. 4. I’m terrified of any type of bird. Whether it’s big or small. 5. I’m completely deaf in my left ear. I tag: nazoana aspiringdoctors md-admissions dxmedstudent sketchshoppe –dopamine

[dxmedstudent]

Thank you to the lovely pre-med-timelord for tagging me! I really enjoy learning random facts about awesome people, so I’m looking forward to lots of interesting tidbits! I have 4 scars on my face. I’d like to say they have a cool backstory, but really I was just a troublesome kid who fell into things a lot. People don’t tend to notice them at first, so every once in a while someone I’ve known for ages will go ‘When did THAT happen?!?’. I’m so bad with faces that I’m pretty sure I have a mild form of face blindness/prosopagnosia. It’s caused a great deal of awkwardness and unnecessary stress in my life from as far back as I can remember. Even this week, I met a senior who had worked with me when I was a student. Naturally I have no recollection. It also makes it really hard to follow the plots of films when all the characters are played by conventionally bland attractive white people; casting directors please take note!

I write ridiculously fast in exams. Even essay exams. I used to be one of those annoying people who leave a 3h exam more than an hour early, having written a couple of pages more than everyone else. I’ve even had enough times during a couple of exams to re-write my essay on new paper because I thought it was too messy. You should note that how soon I finish an exam paper bears no correlation to how much I know or how confident I felt the exam went. My family has three very cute cats. Anyone who thinks cats are indifferent has never seen one pine when their favourite human is not around.  I used to keep a large tropical aquarium but I chose not to re-stock it after the last ones died because it’s a huge time commitment that I just don’t need at present.

I sleep-talk, though usually in my native tongue rather than English. This means that I don’t normally get to find out what I actually said in my sleep. I also suffer occasional bouts of sleep paralysis since I can remember. It’s a pretty interesting phenomenon, though not if you’re not going through it at the time! I find that avoiding sleeping on my back decreases the chances of having an episode. I tag anybody who follows me and would like to share some random facts, but as per the rules, belis86, cluelessmedic, aspiring-internist, –dopamine, thecheerfulmedic, dr-imaginasian, modernathena90, leggomyespresso, lukasgarry, witchdoctorc, quilavastudy

[leggomyespresso-deactivated2016]

Thanks for the tag <3

1) When I was little, my mother told me a variation of the story about the boy who was asked why he was always smiling and replied “do I need a reason to be happy?”. That struck a chord with me, so I have a resting smiling face :D

2) But for some reason laughing is my default response. Scared? Laugh. Nervous? Laugh. Hearing a sad story and don’t know how to respond? Laugh. 

3) I have no sense of direction. Both times the passenger with me allowed me to go with my gut were the two times I ended up on the highway lol.

4) I have 0 confidence when it comes to predicting how I did in exams, and that stat just keeps getting lower as the days without results go on. I was 100% convinced after 3 weeks of not hearing about my stats mark that I failed . 

5) I hate coffee but I love the smell :( 

tagging: artisticallyblack jaz-minee thebanalone acryliconwood reidalexandra ivrileague girloffthewaywardpath shukarguzaar and anyone who would love to do it <3 

[girloffthewaywardpath-deactivat]

Ahaha thanks leggomyespresso (awesome url change btw) 5 facts about yours truly: 1. Astrid means divine strength/beauty - it’s a good name and I love it. 2. I’m half Polish and speak it fluently. 3. Magenta is my favourite colour. 4. I HATE CHEESE (with very rare very bland exceptions) ITS THE DEVILS DAIRY BASED PRODUCT 5. I really really want a tattoo but have to be very stealthy about it because 95% of my family hates them T_T I know we do these all the time but I tag studylune studiousmedic –dopamine booksbywilde-and-afountainpen thispathismine

[studiousmedic]

thanks for the tag girloffthewaywardpath

5 facts about me (cant promise they’ll be random and/or interesting but hey ho here we go):

1. i am hyperaesthetic, particularly to textures and sounds, which means i experience certain things much more strongly than the average person, and if i encounter ‘bad’ sensations i can feel nauseous to the point of actually throwing up, or will become panicky about not being able to escape it. it also means i easily become overstimulated and need time out to ground and reset.

2. i’m english japanese canadian, which im told is a strange combination :D

3. i’m babysitting on saturday night, and the woman who’s kids i’m babysitting used to babysit me when she was my age, so its all come full circle!

4. i’m currently drinking peach squash and eating dates and peanut butter.

5. i’m addicted to documentaries about serial killers/criminals/gangs/crime, that sort of thing - its just fascinating to me!

i tag - saturdaystudying, studylune, astudy-of-bakerstreet, boxofcards, @kizzybattlesthepinkrobots, algorhythmn, anatomydoodles

[algorhythmn-deactivated20181016]

Thanks studiousmedic! :D

I confuse right and left.

When I was a child I hated tea. Now I love it.

I’m a bookworm since I learnt to read and proud of it.

I used to play chess in the chess club when I was in school.

I loooooooooooooove cheese. All types of cheese, specially blue cheese.

I tag a-student-life studybeast lightssuccess ihearttech cecilyacat ayamahen perksofengineering curiosityandcode lorraineblack90 not-an-average-psych-student and anyone who would like to do it.

[ihearttech]

1. I love lizards 2. I never ever ever wear a dress , cant remember the last i wore one xD 3. I got interest in all subjects so you can talk to me about anything 4. I really make a deep connection with music i listen to like i leave my heart there 5. My first tattoo is going to be “ scanf( “hello world” ) ; “ I tag : codingflumps karenz-08 studyinstivation

[karenz8-deactivated20190904]

Thanks for the tag ihearttech :) Mmm ok here I go… 1- I don’t like tomato :S haha I picked this one because I’m on lunch time and I had to remove it from my sandwich… 2- I have been working as qa software engineer by 7 years and yesterday I just learned that its actually quality control 3- A spider bite me when I was 10 years old and I have a scar because of that :S I went to the hospital and everything… 4- I’m from Mexico, to be more exactly, from Monterrey :) <3 5- I like to play soccer in case you had not noticed. I tag: incomingstick  lunacodes kateintech uncool-vibe thecodingpadawan

[kateintech]

Thank you for the tag karenz-08 :D

1. I have 5 tattoos, one of which is on the sole of my foot.

2. My favourite food is rice. 

3. Up until last year I thought I was half Filipino and half British but last year my dad told me his parents were actually Dutch and Portuguese - No wonder I tan so well!

4. My favourite film is The King’s Speech. I think that the acting in it is AMAZING! 

5. I’m a trained latin and ballroom dancer

I’d like to tag elgme the-optimist-hoper-dreamer logicandgrace brandi-studies alsaurus certain chaos​ cheerleaderrara tech-source it-studentessa cecilyacat

[kateintech]

What was you asked on the aptitude test?

Here are some of the questions I was asked:

“A company is replacing its fleet of light trucks and delivery vans. The old light trucks got 18 kilometres per litre, the new trucks will get 23. The old delivery vans got 13 kilometres per litre, the new vans will get 14. The total number of kilometres driven is normally 16000 per month and 30% of this is by the delivery vans. How many litres of fuel per month will the company save using the new trucks and vans?”

“An administrative team processes reports 7 hours a day, 5 days a week. Last week, the team processed 380 reports, and averaged 10 reports per hour for the first 2 days of this week. How many reports must the team average each day for the remainder of the week in order to equal last week’s performance?”

“If a certain computer is capable of printing 4900 monthly credit card bills per hour, while a new model is capable of printing at a rate of 6600 per hour, the old model will take approximately how much longer than the new model to print 10000 bills?”

I had two minutes to answer each question and was asked around 30 questions.

[kateintech]

@ntchv you could use a calculator and write things down. 

[kateintech]

What was you asked on the aptitude test?

Here are some of the questions I was asked:

"A company is replacing its fleet of light trucks and delivery vans. The old light trucks got 18 kilometres per litre, the new trucks will get 23. The old delivery vans got 13 kilometres per litre, the new vans will get 14. The total number of kilometres driven is normally 16000 per month and 30% of this is by the delivery vans. How many litres of fuel per month will the company save using the new trucks and vans?"

"An administrative team processes reports 7 hours a day, 5 days a week. Last week, the team processed 380 reports, and averaged 10 reports per hour for the first 2 days of this week. How many reports must the team average each day for the remainder of the week in order to equal last week's performance?"

"If a certain computer is capable of printing 4900 monthly credit card bills per hour, while a new model is capable of printing at a rate of 6600 per hour, the old model will take approximately how much longer than the new model to print 10000 bills?"

I had two minutes to answer each question and was asked around 30 questions.

[kateintech]

Summer time busy

Sorry I've been so quiet lately. Work and a trip to France have kept me busy! I've loved being back at work with my old team over the summer but I am more than ready to go back to uni now. I can't believe how much I'm missing lectures, lab sessions and my friends. And there's so much I want to take on in second year, I'm hoping to join the badminton society and get a place on the team. I'd also like to join the drama society. Drama was a big part of my childhood and I think it will be a great way to make friends outside of my course. I'm also hoping to carry on my role as the Computer Science Course Rep! Lectures don't start until the 5th October so still a while to wait... In the mean time I've been keeping my eye out for any 2016 internship opportunities. So far the only one that's open and I've been interested in is IBM. I made it through the first round of the application process but didn't make it past the second round aptitude test. I had no idea what the aptitude test would involve and I wasn't prepared at all. I won't let this dampen my spirits though. It was the first aptitude test I've ever taken and now know how to better prepare for the next one which is exactly what I've been doing. I'll learn from this and won't make the same mistake twice. Bring on the Microsoft and Google applications!

[curiosityandcode]

Why I chose not to be an English major (and study Computer Science instead)

If you had told me, even two years ago that I would be studying computer science, I probably wouldn’t have believed you. Growing up, I really wanted to do something “creative” and for most of my life, I thought I’d probably study english and become a writer. 

I never considered computer science to be an option because I believed that it was boring, and strict, and uncreative. I though science wasn’t creative and if I wasn’t creative, I’d be unhappy. So since I loved to read and was good at writing, I thought I was obviously I was meant to be a writer. 

I even wrote a whole novel (a terrible novel, that will never see the light of day). But once I was finished, I realized that I didn’t have it in me to write another. Slowly, I realized that writing wasn’t something I could do for the rest of my life. 

Around this time, I was also trying to take a course of graphic design/animation at my school. It was full, and so I basically had the option of taking law or computer science. I deciding on computer science because even though it would be boring, at least it didn’t require memorizing the charter of rights. 

And that decision changed everything for me. I discovered that programming came naturally for me. While my classmates sometimes struggled to think like programmers, to me it was quite easy to think in code. 

I also realized that computer science is in its own way creative. It might not be artistic, but at its core its about creating. It was something that pushed me intellectually, forcing me to thinking logically and imaginatively at the same time. I have to decide what I want to create and then figure out the logic to get there. 

 Slowly, all my preconceptions about computer science started to fall away and I found a field I genuinely wanted to be a part of. That that’s the whole point. We have this idea that smart people do science and creative people do art. But that’s not true. 

So many of my friends don’t get why I chose computer science. In them I see they have many of the perceptions that I use to have. It’s so important we change our views of different majors and career paths. We need to defeat stereotypes and expose people to has many subjects as possible. Because it might just cause people to miss out on something they loved. 

[kateintech]

Thanks for a great post! This is something I can definitely relate to. I’m at uni studying computer science but it wasn’t until last year at 27 that I started to even think about IT as a career. Almost 10 years ago for my A levels I studied Film, English and Media and thought these were the creative choices more suited to me. Now that I’m studying computing, as curiosityandcode says, it is creative in its own way. Wanting to create in code forces you to think logically and creatively. The only reason I made the career change to study computer science is because people that worked in the field opened my mind to what working in IT actually meant. Peoples views do need to start changing because like me, they could miss out on early career opportunities or miss out altogether.

[kateintech]

"Placement Hunt Plan" - what´s about Apple?

Yes thank you, I can't forget about Apple! If they take students for a year long internship I will be applying for a position there too.

[starclouddriver]

I'm glad my post "how I am where I am" has helped you. If you ever need to talk any thing through, let me know.

Yeah it has I have been in dead end for 7 years to the point of depression, been promoted twice and then cough *restructuring* cough has occured and I had to go back down. Fed up of it, going to try and get into Computer Science or Computer Games Programming at Clearing Thursday. I am.giving up a 17k job for this but I want to do something that makes me happy and I need to get away from Customer Service.

Just hoping Thursday Is a good day. *fingers crossed*

[kateintech]

As they say life is too short to do something that doesn't make you happy and want to get out of bed every day. As you read on my post, going back to uni has been the best decision I've ever made and I know it will pay off. It will work out for you too! You just have to give it your all.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. Good luck!!

[kateintech]

Placement Hunt Plan

Next month I’ll be going into the second year of my degree (can’t come fast enough) and one of my top priorities is finding a work placement for third year. 

I’m feeling pretty good about it at the minute and the plan is to apply for large companies first like:

Google Facebook Microsoft IBM

Warner Bros is also in my top first picks of companies as I have wanted to work in the film industry all my life. Being in IT that might now actually be a possibility!

After big name companies, instead of applying for medium size companies I’ll be trying for smaller businesses so that I can be involved with all of the processes. 

Either way wherever I end up I am so excited! Although I have around 10 years of work experience in customer service and events it’s not going to be the same as working in industry. I’m so excited to learn and build the foundations for my future. 

[kateintech]

Time for an upgrade

I've currently got the iPhone 5s but I'm in the market for a new phone. Do I go with the iPhone 6 or try something new? I've been with apple for years now and wouldn't normally think about switching but last year in a lecture my friend pulled out a OnePlus One and someone turned around and actually said, "I feel like I'm meeting Kanye West" It was pretty strange but is this the way to go? Does anyone here have a OnePlus or another phone they recommend I get next?

[kateintech]

Hey ! Congratulations on your awards~ I just wanna know how are you helping people to develop their IT Skills ? I am a Computer Science student too, but I still can't find a good path to develop my skills (Yes, I'm not even at the level where I'm able to help others do so) I get lost every time on the so many things there is, I find them all so interesting that I can't focus on a single one then I end up learning nothing..

Thank you! And thanks for the question...At the community centre we were helping people who had little or no experience using technology. A lot of the people that came in knew what they wanted to achieve from the weekly sessions, examples of these goals were learning how to use eBay to buy a caravan, creating a family Christmas card using Word, creating an Access database and learning how to use a smart phone. What was basic for me was impossible for some of the people coming in. Helping on this project helped me to develop more of my interpersonal skills but what has really helped me is volunteering in the school. We were using Scratch to teach the kids how to code and we started off making a simple maze game but then the kids were coming up with all sorts of ideas, some of which I couldn't help them with straight away. I had to figure out how to get the code to do what they wanted and then teach them what I had learnt. I had to think on my feet and become more creative and confident in my coding. Another volunteer project I want to be a part of next year involves school kids coming into the uni to code a robot. Again this will help me to develop my coding skills whilst teaching others how to code. I would definitely recommend getting involved with as many IT related projects as you can. You'll learn something from all of them and will be able to decide what you do and don't like doing and can develop more skills from there. You're a computer science student too so I can assure you that you have a lot of knowledge others don't, and anything you can do to help and teach other people, even if it's just the basics will benefit them and you. With regards to development in my own time a lot of people have told me to develop skills that employers want and that's things like Java, C++, SQL and commercial awareness. I hope this has answered your question!

[kateintech]

I spent my first year at uni volunteering at a local community centre helping people to develop their IT skills and I also spent time at Woodstock Primary School teaching kids there how to code. I'm so happy to be making a difference in the community and having an impact on people's lives and I'm very thankful to have been awarded the DMU Square Mile Community Impact Award!

[kateintech]

I would like to give a big shout out to my friends Nat and Gary.

Two years ago I moved to London and met these guys whilst working in Brixton as the Centre Manager of a co-working space called the Piano Club. Nat and Gary were (and still are) IT professionals working there who were happy to answer any questions that I had about their industry. They encouraged me to go away and look into programming in my free time and advised me to check out websites like codeacademy and w3schools. They were both very patient with me and were happy to answer any questions that I had.

One year later I enrolled onto my Comp Sci degree in Leicester. Being in different cities didn’t stop them from helping me and encouraging me to learn how to code.

Whilst at uni Nat has been offering me words of wisdom and shares his own experiences with me from when he was starting out. This has helped me to stay positive and keep me motivated when I feel like I’m struggling with getting my head round things.

Whenever I’m stuck writing a program Gary helps me to take a step back and go through my work line by line. He’s helped teach me to break down my code and come at it from a different perspective.

Two years of friendship later I’ve made it through my first year of uni, passing with a first and I couldn’t have done it without the help of these two.

Thanks guys!