Information Technology in the School Banner

Students

Parents, Employers,
Teachers

Workshop Modules

Information Technology Career Opportunities
“Hands On” Beginner Programming
Introduction to the Internet
Email and Mailing Lists
Information Resources of the Internet
Computer Tools (Word, Excel)

Module 1 - Information Technology and Career Opportunitiess Workshop Script

Yhe following is a narrative to the slide show of the same title. The following are the powerpoint and pdf links:

Powerpoint
PDF

Introduce myself. Chapter and why I am here (4:34)

Name and chapter IT Careers website. All the information I’m giving here is in the website in detail.
My vision is 20/70 and was 20/200 and still could code.
My experience

Information age just beginning when I got hired at IBM.
Describe mainframes then
Operator, hardware programmer, system programmer, various manufacturing and engineering programming areas, Human resources as an analyst and manager. Left IBM and did programmer/analyst consultant with Verizon, NY Times, Lucent and database programming with IBM.

What conclusion I came to

Did TTS and Voice Recognition. I’m deeply familiar. (include Caldwell and Ken).
I am familiar with JAWS and it’s capabilities.

I’m here to encourage all of you to consider Information Technology as a career. There are a lot of opportunities; interesting and fun.

This is a great career for the blind and visually impaired. That’s what I hope to demonstrate in the next few minutes.
I’ll try to lead you through some understanding of what the environments will be out there.

Ask students:

PCs?
JAWS?
Web usage?
Anyone use skype?
Anyone thinking about programming?

Feel free to ask questions.

Outline (0:42)

We’ll define what the term “Information Technology” and how Information Technology (IT) is a major part of a corporation’s business. I’ll do that by giving three examples. UPS on how IT is used to perform externally a service for profit. The second will be an example of a Chip Manufacturer(Intel, AMD) or a computer maker (Dell, Apple) who depends on IT to internally design, build, Test and ship it’s product. The third is a Software development compamy like Microsoft. These companies develop software as a product.
Within the IT organization, I’ll discuss the job positions and how a blind/VI person interacts with the technology and the tools that are applicable.
I’ll give you an overview of what is a program; and, some programming languages..

Information Technology Definition (0:39)

Software and hardware technology used to gather, store, process, maintain, distribute and utilize information that is critical to running a corporation

Pre Information Age (0:30)

. Yesterday - Forty years ago employees used paper to record and distribute information. The file cabinet was used to store and access information. Paper was created and kept with each part. It had all the information concerning the part: The part description; where it came from,; it’s part number, etc.

Information Age (0:32)

Today the part data is on large database. It’s data is accessed by many reports. The data can be accessed from anywhere in the world. Machines move the part through each manufacturing station with no human intervention. All data at each station is recorded on a central process computer and automatically transferred to the central database. Central programs monitor inventory and automatically transmit orders to vendors for more parts.

Information Technology Examples (5:57)

UPS – IT improving external business model (3 minutes)

Go through UPS Tracking System.

Bring package to UPS dtore; the to and from addresses are intered in a terminal and the data is sent to a main location. At the same time a label is printed with a bar code and it is pasted on the package. This will be the identifier for identifying the package at each station.
You can pay by credit card that is automatically deducted from your account or card debt. You can view bank account online.
The package is tracked on entry/exit to each location, This data/transaction is sent to the central database location.
You can view the tracking on the web site
The payment you made is placed on their financial systems.
You sign a pda device that is wirelessly transmitted and sent to main database

Manufacturing Plant – IT improving the manufacturing process model (5 minutes)

Engineers design a circuit that is part of a chip (processor has thousands). This is done on a terminal using design tools. The circuit is tested using simulations of input data and the outputs are verified. When it is tested, it is “released”. The circuit is now pulled together with other circuits and tested with test programs. Again changing inputs and verifying outputs. At completion, the processor chip is released.
At release time a bill of material of all associated parts is created. Test data from the design simulation tests in included.
Manufacturing takes the data and create “build” data and “test” data for each of the tools that are required to build the chip.
An example would be: wet process, etching, masking, testing
Each tested chip has a serial number etched on it and it packages and sent tot the warehouse.
Sales, ordering and shipping; field evaluation

Software Development (5 minutes)

Someone proposes that a program/application is needed. This could be based on customer rquests, surveys or internal proposal.
A chief architec reviews it and, if accepted, creates functional specifications that:

Describes the Business flow
Translates this flow to a system design.

This system design is then divided up to various program groups to do a detailed design.
Once approved, the detail design is then used to write code.
Each programmer writes the code and does a unit test.
The modules are then combined into a system and a system test is downe.
A selected customer does an acceptance test of the software.
The software is released.

Major Areas of IT Jobs (3:56)

Operations support

The IT organization typically supports the technology throughout the corporation. This includes hardware (Mainframe, Mid size, PC, servers, Networks) and system software: (MVS, VM, AS/400 OS, Windows, Windows 2000 Server, Cisco software, Novell, Database software (DB2, Oracle, SAP, Windows SQL Server, IIS, UNIX, LINUX)

Business applications (solutions)

The Manufacturing organizations have applications programmers and business analysis. Business understanding (analysts), programmers, Reporting (Query languages), Programmers for Process Control)
There is organizations that are common to manufacturing and development companies. (Human Resources, Finance, Facilities). These areas are considered application programming areas.

Development Programming

The development software companies have programmers. Architects who understand the outside DP environment, designer (software engineers), programmers, Testers, Field analysis.
Companies which develop specialized hardware that require microprogrammimg or DSP devices.

Tools development and support

There are departments that develop and support tools whose usage spans the corporation. For example, program libraries, Programming tools (software enginerin, accessibility, etc.)

Operations Support (5:23)

Operations
Operations Analyst
Computer Support Specialist
Systems Programmer
Network Administrator
Network Systems and Data Communications Analyst
Database Administrator
Database Manager
Database Designer
Systems Engineer

Business Applications(4:07)

Programmer/Analyst
Systems Analyst
Web Developer
Report Administrator
Applications Architect
Data entry

Development Programming (2:32)

Software Engineers, Systems Software
Designer
Developer (Programmer/Engineer)
Technical Writing
Tester
Field Reporting

Tools Development and Support (1:45)

Usually program library services, software engineering and documentation tools. Programs or applications that used widely; but, are area specific.

Tools Development & Support
Program Library Support
Accessibility Consultant

Design: Pseudo Code (1:38)

Read each line and note the simple basic structures; do loop, Decision, Assigment, Operation. Any language can be used to implement this design.

There is an older, still used, techniaue called flowcharting. The graphic symbols make it hard to follow for a person with sight issues.

Flowchart (2:45)

Discuss the attributes of a flowchart and why it is used. Discuss the challenges that a flowchart engenders; and, how decision tables and pseudo card are the usual. Tools are being designed to add interpreting diagrams both audibly and tactile.

Typical Programming Languages (4:41)

Programs written to run on PC and mainframes using the Windows, Linux, Unix, MVS, AS/400 Operating Systems.

C languages are prevalent and are generally applicable to today and future computers.
JAVA is cross platform and applicable to Web/Browser programming.
Visual Basic is part of MS suite (.NET Framework0. Basic is a fairly easy language to learn.
Python is new and is interpretive. It executes from the source.
Assembly is the lowest level program language of the PC (Intel). Mac has it’s own.
Mainframe languages are: Cobol, Pl1, Fortran, Assembler, RPG). These are potential opportunities since colleges don’t teach; but, they are prevalent. They are text baed.