Get Connected - April 2008 - (Page 7)

“Students need to get out of school and into workplaces like this. They need to see how the real world works. That it’s not just subject mastery learned in the classroom. It’s about communication, it’s about teamwork, it’s about lots of different skill sets and personalities coming together to get a job done.” —Brandy May, Spring Hill High School Guidance Counselor experience into a career. “I like the Academy classes a lot. We get to do a lot of hands-on stuff, and that’s really cool.” After he graduates from high school, he’s thinking about going into network engineering at Tennessee Tech University or getting a business degree at Middle Tennessee State University. As for Natalie Miles, another senior, she comes at her interest in technology from a different direction. “I work part-time for a magazine,” said Miles, “and we have a lot of design software used to put the magazine together. I really dig graphic design and mass communications. That’s what I’m most interested in when it comes to technology.” “I plan to go to college after I graduate and major in mass communications and minor in music. Logically, when I think about it, there’s just not that much job security in music. Since I like to write and design, and I’m good at it, and there’s more money in it, I’ll probably stick with that as my day job. I can pursue music after work.” Speaking in a language the students understand As techies themselves, with many of the self-same extracurricular techie interests as the students, the ENA staff members knew just how to connect with the students. While testing the group’s network knowledge with enquiries such as “What is a DHCP?” (short for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) and “Can anyone explain Prioritization of Data?”, Senior Network Engineer Tim Ketner also kept the group on their toes by pointing at individuals at random and peppering them with surprise questions such as, “What level have you gotten to in World of Warcraft?” Initially surprised by the question posed to their classmate, several students erupted into declarations of their own video gaming prowess after he answered, “Level 70.” Sam Naff, one of ENA’s software engineers, typically builds rapport quickly with students, thanks in part to his rather unorthodox dress and long, curly hair. The rapport extends, too, from his obvious interest in young people and his passion for his work. “The real beauty and joy of being a programmer,” as he told the students, “is when someone comes to you for something but with only a vague notion of the result they’re after. Success as a programmer is going from a big picture description and drilling down to the details in order to write the code that will accomplish the intended action. It’s about learning to look at problems and breaking them down to their component parts. That’s very cool and very satisfying.” After speaking engagingly about his career and fielding questions, Naff wrapped up in trademark style: “The other cool thing about being a software developer, especially if you’re good at it, is you get to grow your hair long and wear different color shoes.” At that point Naff, who had been seated on a table throughout much of his presentation, lifted up his legs to reveal shorts and his mismatched—one orange and one red— Converse Chuck Taylor sneakers. “Software developers generally just stay in their work space, so I can wear whatever I want.” Cook and May, the Spring Hill High School teacher and guidance counselor, explained that not just the content of ENA’s presentations, but the spirit and delivery too, were important. It was clear, they said, that ENA employees are enthusiastic about their jobs, their colleagues and the impact of their work on their customers. “We couldn’t ask for a better field trip and host,” said Cook. Collaboration breeds success: a textbook example “Students need to get out of school and into workplaces like this,” continued May. “They need to see how the real world works. That it’s not just subject mastery learned in the classroom. It’s about communication, it’s about teamwork, it’s about lots of different skill sets and personalities coming together to get a job done.” ENA cannot help but admit that we believe ourselves to be a textbook example of that real-world truth. 7

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Get Connected - April 2008

The End of a Bottleneck: OCPS’ New Network Contents A Letter From the President Not Your Average Library: New Carlisle, IN New Consortium Program Launches May 1 Hands-on Education Education Leaders Decry EETT Cuts Much More Than E-mail: Gaggle’s Other Apps Notes From the CTO

Get Connected - April 2008

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