Knowing that we have some guest speakers (who have had experience working full time in the workforce/in the ‘real world’) coming to the our class, what expectations do you have for that particular ‘lecture’? What sort of guest speakers would be of interest to you? That is, would you want to talk to someone of a particular background, position, experience, etc? What questions might you ask our guest speakers? What advice would you ask for? Explain.
Knowing that the guests speakers are already chosen, I do not get much of a say in what sort of guest speakers I would be interested in hearing. However, that does not deny the opportunity to learn and expand my view. I would expect from any guest speaker that the speaker would be very informative and organized. I would like to absorb any information in a structured manner. Therefore, I would expect the guest speaker to not only be a qualified person because of their experience and background but also to have a strong set of communication skills. A guest speaker should be able to present their ideas in a coherent way and able to make listeners engaged to their presentation. Furthermore, I would expect to see the speaker to be informative about the field and what it’s like in the workforce and the nature of their job. I expect honesty from the speaker and use figures an facts about the industry along with their own experience such as the current industry state. In some sense, I expect the guest speaker to somehow shatter our perception of the industry that it is not great as we would assume it to be. In addition, I would expect the guest speaker to talk about the importance and key skills needed for the industry such as soft skills and give personal examples that support the importance of the skill such as communication skills. I also would expect to hear some advices about the career or the industry itself. The guest speaker I would assume will discuss the roadmap of their career such as the type of technical skills needed, experience and certification required. Perhaps, I may also expect to hear their disappointments with their coworkers or with applicants due to their experience with them.
If I was given the choice of being able to choose the sort of guest speaker I would like to hear is a person who not only have a lot of experience and good communication skills but also a person in a field I am more passionate about. I would love to hear from a scientist or researcher in the science field. In particular, I would love to hear someone in the nuclear or in the astronomy field. Although not related to my program of study, I am very interested in the idea of nuclear energy and in space. I want to not only hear about the career prospect (which I presume to be very terrible) but also the progression of the field itself. However, taking in consideration of the course being Communication Skills for Computer Science, I would never expect the guest speaker to be in the field of my interest. I would expect the speaker to be a person from the technology industry who is more relevant to the general population of the class and also someone not in a specific part of the industry such as Operating Systems (something I am also interested). If I was a professor, I would probably select a person that is more relevant to the general population and that is able to answer the questions of the students such as a manager in a technology field. I assume students would have questions on how they can get a career in the industry, what managers are looking for in applicants and basic networking to get the students a foot into the technology industry.