Mill WoodsTechnical Coordinator Summary of Job Summer 2011

 

My coop work experience with the Family and Community Twining Society (FACTS) was very positive. Not only was this my first co-op working experience, but it was also my first experience working full-time. My job as a Technical Coordinator provided me with a unique learning opportunity.

            Being able to work flexible hours was a strange experience at first, however, I feel that having to fit 40 hours gave me valuable time-management experience. Also beneficial to me was my work with PowerPoint presentations. Creating over ten different presentations over the summer gave the opportunity to familiarize myself with PowerPoint, which I am sure will be, an asset to me in my career.  This is important, especially considering that many employment opportunities in the Computer Engineering field will involve training others with technology that I have worked on. I also really enjoyed our discussion periods with the teachers from Japan.

            I was also able to work on things directly related to the Computer Engineering program. I spent some time working with Linux, including using the terminal. This gave me the opportunity to apply some of my skills learned from my Operating Systems class. Not only did my work with the laptops allow me to utilize my soldering and Computer Hardware skills, but it also provided the opportunity to completely disassemble a laptop, which was a great learning experience. Working with Blogger was good, as well, because it gave me an introduction to HTML coding.

            The only thing that I did not like about my work experience was the monotony of some of the projects that I worked on. For example, creating a list of 200 different versions of O Canada was at times not the most exciting thing to be doing. That being said, it was probably a good experience, because much of a beginner programmer's job involves working on monotonous tasks.

            In conclusion, my co-op experience with FACTS has provided me with valuable work experience, which I am sure will beneficial when I am seeking employment in the future.