Overview

• Preliminaries.
  • Admin.
  • Upcoming Work.
  • Extra Credit.
  • Questions.
• Team formation.
• Working with clients.
• R&ecaute;umeé reviews + Client meeting prep.
• Client meetings and work time.

Preliminaries

Admin

• Apologies for late notification about résumés.
  • My strengths are clearly last-minute improv, and not careful pre-planning.
• Project teams formed.
• Alumni visits confirmed for the 17th. Plan on lunch and dinner with alums, if at all possible!
• Work for next week:
  • Everyone - Overviews of existing codebase - questions, ideas, notes, etc.
    • Resource bank can look at the food pantry code.
  • Board Bank and Grants - Plans for meeting with Ahrens.
• I need someone to work on the simple maintenance of MIST - making sure to reboot if it's crashed, gathering usage data, posting things to Facebook, maybe fixing bugs when they appear, whatever. 1-2 hpw max. Any interest? (If so, let me know and apply through PioneerLink.)

Questions

Team formation

• Quick intro.
• Read each other's resumes.
• Discuss: What have you learned about each other from the resumes?
• Fill in strengths chart and discuss.
• Identify
  • Product owner: Liason with the client
  • ScrumMaster: (Project manager)
  • Other roles you consider appropriate

Working with clients

• Understand the context of the community partner
• Don't assume that you know everything
• Meet with the community partner regularly
• First meeting: Have them outline the project in their own words and find out their goals. (It's okay to do this for continuing projects, too.)
  • Understand the client's overall mission.
  • How does it relate to your mission? Why is it important?
  • What do you want it to do?
  • What do you see as the greatest priority.
• Try to get some user stories - situational examples, personalized, of things that you want to do in the system
  • One reviewer needs to be able to review more than one project. As a reviewer, I need to be able to review not just multiple applications, but applications for multiple grants, so that I can accomplish my task efficiently.
  • General format: As , I need to , so that I can _.
• Reminder: Bring something for taking notes. (If you use a computer to take notes, ask permission.)
• More from the first meeting:
  • Make sure to describe yourselves, perhaps explain why you are excited about the project.
• Need a way to prioritize tasks, using the client's input effectively.
• It's okay to ask for clarification later.
• Don't expect to know how to solve the problem immediately.
• Typical followup meeting
  • Describe progress (and problems/sticking points) - what's going on
  • Help set expectations
  • Provide list of possible next steps and get prioritization
  • Possibly demo
• These meetings should generally happen at the client's site of business.
• These people need ADVANCE ARRANGEMENT of meetings
• Both of our partners are happy to communicate via email.
• Use ONE POINT OF CONTACT.
• These are not technical people. Avoid technical terms.
• SKETCHES can be helpful.
• Decomposing big projects into small pieces can be complicated, and communicating the decomposition is one of your challenges.

Client meeting prep time

No notes.

R&ecaute;umeé reviews

Disclaimer 1: While I review CVs for certain jobs, I do not typically hire for the kinds of positions you may be seeking.

Disclaimer 2: Your resume is usually only part of your job search. Contacts and cover letters can make a huge difference.

Disclaimer 3: Resumes go through multiple audiences.

What story (or stories) does your resume tell?

• Observation: You want to tell different stories for different jobs. You should have multiple resumes.
• Observation: Most CS majors want to tell the story that they are technically competent.
  
  • What in the resume supports that?
  • What in the resume undermines that?

What are things in your colleagues' resumes that you'd reuse?

• Give the name of the MAP as part of the description.
• Prioritize appropriately.
• Use typography to better highlight things.
• Communicate technical details clearly.
• Communicate soft skills, too. You can sneak them in "Worked with team to ...", "Working with client, developed ..."
• Communicating the programming languages you know.
• Break up technical skills into separate categories.
• Extend the margins [x2]

What are things in your colleagues' resumes that you think they should change.

• Use "teaching assistant" or "peer educator" rather than mentor

Questions and Thoughts

• Remember that you can't please everyone
• One page vs. multiple pages
• New information at the top or bottom?

Client meetings and work time