Assignment 1 MIS 2

Think about yourself worthy to be called as IT professional, how do you see yourself 10 years from now, what are your strategies to get there? (at least 3000 words)


IT Professionals meet the challenges of running reliable and flexible enterprises. First you create your "big picture" of what you want to do with your life, and decide what large-scale goals you want to achieve. Second, you break these down into the smaller and smaller targets that you must hit so that you reach your lifetime goals. Finally, once you have your plan, you start working to achieve it.
Remember too that your goals will change as time goes on. Adjust them regularly to reflect growth in your knowledge and experience, and if goals do not hold any attraction any longer, then let them go.

The first question you need to answer is what you really want to be, to do and to have. You need to find out what you really want from life, what you value high and your life's priorities. Career test is a tool that is designed to help find your ideal career.

Ten years from now I see myself as a database specialist. Lots of things to look at, discover and explore as I face the real world. I will do the best of mine and I will succeed in my dreams and goals. After all of this struggles in life, I think someday I will be the central processor of the company that I will be working.


Database Specialist

-to measure your ability to design, implement and maintain databases, build client applications and administer security on databases.

-Database specialists manage and administer databases (large collections of computerized data). The Bureau of Labor Statistics considers database specialists, including administrators and managers, to be one of several computer specialist occupations. Other computer specialist occupations include computer scientist, network analysts, systems analysts and data communications analysts. The prevalence of computers and the growing amount of electronic data has created a favorable job market for database specialists, and according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job market is expected to continue to grow through at least 2016.

-to provide decision makers with the knowledge needed to find departmental or corporate solutions.

The strategy of designing a custom software solution is to form a sequence of events in the development cycle from vision and scope through Design, Development, and Deployment followed by customer support. Implementing a custom software solution allows the function of the application to provide the essential information you need to excel in the marketplace.


Databases function in many applications, spanning virtually the entire range of computer software. Databases have become the preferred method of storage for large multiuser applications, where coordination between many users is needed. Even individual users find them convenient, and many electronic mail programs and personal organizers are based on standard database technology.

As a database specialist, you'll help develop and maintain a company's database system. A computer database stores information, or data, so that it can be easily retrieved, analyzed, and compared by departments throughout an organization. This data might include sales figures, budget information, or employee files. Widely used databases are Oracle, Sybase, File maker Pro, and Microsoft's SQL Server.

You'll work closely with other technical staff, especially software engineers and database administrators. You'll also spend a great deal of time assisting and instructing non-technical staff about how to use databases as they prepare reports and presentations. A database specialist might also be called a database analyst.

Tasks may include:

Conducting interviews with employees to determine organizational data needs
Assisting with database design and implementation
Troubleshooting and repairing database problems
Determining shortcomings of database system and recommending improvements
Performing backup procedures to protect the information within the database
Coordinating system testing to ensure system security and efficiency

Job Duties

Database specialists include database administers and database managers. Database administrators use database management software, including Oracle, MS Access and other database management programs. They identify the needs of the end user (the people providing and accessing the data) and set up databases to meet the data needs of the user. They assist with the transfer of existing data into new and more efficient database systems. They test the effectiveness of databases, modify and adjust database performance and queries as needed and resolve database problems. Finally, they ensure the security of the database, especially if the database is connected to the Internet.

Database managers oversee the creation of databases and supervise database administrators. They may also manage larger or more complex databases.
Working Conditions
Most database administrators work in office or laboratory settings. They generally keep regular hours but may be required to work overtime or evening shifts to resolve problems that arise. Some database administrators are able to work remotely and telecommute due to the electronic nature of their jobs. Risks include carpal tunnel and eyestrain from spending extensive time working on the computer.


Experience is paramount in the database specialist industry, and individuals with strong work experience may be hired even without the requisite educational background.


Lifetime Goals:

The first step in setting personal goals is to consider what you want to achieve in your lifetime (or by a time at least, say, 10 years in the future) as setting Lifetime Goals gives you the overall perspective that shapes all other aspects of your decision making.

To give a broad, balanced coverage of all important areas in your life, try to set goals in some of these categories (or in categories of your own, where these are important to you):

Artistic:
Do you want to achieve any artistic goals? If so, what?

Attitude:
Is any part of your mindset holding you back? Is there any part of the way that you behave that upsets you? If so, set a goal to improve your behavior or find a solution to the problem.

Career:
What level do you want to reach in your career?

Education:
Is there any knowledge you want to acquire in particular? What information and skills will you need to achieve other goals?

Family:
Do you want to be a parent? If so, how are you going to be a good parent?

Financial:
How much do you want to earn by what stage?

Physical:
Are there any athletic goals you want to achieve, or do you want good health deep into old age? What steps are you going to take to achieve this?

Pleasure:
How do you want to enjoy yourself? - You should ensure that some of your life is for you!

Public Service:
Do you want to make the world a better place? If so, how?


As you do this, make sure that the goals that you have set are ones that you genuinely want to achieve, not ones that your parents, family, or employers might.



Techniques :

1.) Time management skills and techniques

Time management skills are your abilities to recognize and solve personal time management problems. The goal of these time management lessons is to show you what you can do to improve those skills.

With good time management skills you are in control of your time and your life, of your stress and energy levels. You make progress at work. You are able to maintain balance between your work, personal, and family lives. You have enough flexibility to respond to surprises or new opportunities.

All time management skills are learnable. More than likely you will see much improvement from simply becoming aware of the essence and causes of common personal time management problems. With these time management lessons, you can see better which time management techniques are most relevant for your situation.

Just get started with them. Many of your problems gradually disappear.

If you already know how you should be managing your time, but you still don't do it, don't give up. What you may be overlooking is the psychological side of your time management skills, psychological obstacles hidden behind your personality.

Depending on your personal situation, such obstacles may be the primary reason why you procrastinate, have difficulties saying no, delegating, or making time management decisions. The psychological component of your time management skills can also be dealt with. The time management skills information below will point at a relevant solution for your situation.



2.) Planning

What is planning and why I need to plan:

Planning is one of the most important project management and time management techniques. Planning is one of my strategies. Planning is preparing a sequence of action steps to achieve some specific goal. If you do it effectively, you can reduce much the necessary time and effort of achieving the goal. You either spend much time on deciding what to do next, or you are taking many unnecessary, unfocused, and inefficient steps.


How to write an action plan:

When writing an action plan to achieve a particular goal or outcome, you can get much help from the following steps.

Clarify your goal. Can you get a visual picture of the expected outcome? How can you see if you have reached your destination? What does make your goal measurable? What constraints do you have, like the limits on time, money, or other resources.


Write a list of actions. Write down all actions you may need to take to achieve your goal. At this step focus on generating and writing as many different options and ideas as possible. Take a sheet of paper and write more and more ideas, just as they come to your mind. While you are doing this, try not to judge or analyze.

Analyze, prioritize, and prune. Look at your list of actions. What are the absolutely necessary and effective steps to achieve your goal? Mark them somehow. After that, what action items can be dropped from in the plan without significant consequences for the outcome. Cross them out.


Organize your list into a plan. Decide on the order of your action steps. Start from looking at your marked key actions. For each action, what other steps should be completed before that action? Rearrange your actions and ideas into a sequence of ordered action steps. Finally, look at your plan once again. Are there any ways to simplify it even more?

Monitor the execution of your plan and review the plan regularly. How much have you progressed towards your goal by now? What new information you have got? Use this information to further adjust and optimize your plan.


3.) Personal goal setting

-is the wisdom that comes out of a lot of practical experience and psychology research to help you direct your conscious and subconscious decisions towards success, building up your motivation to achieve your personal or business goals.
-Goal setting is a powerful process for thinking about your ideal future, and for motivating yourself to turn this vision of the future into reality.

-The process of setting goals helps you choose where you want to go in life. By knowing precisely what you want to achieve, you know where you have to concentrate your efforts. You'll also quickly spot the distractions that would otherwise lure you from your course. Goal setting techniques are used by top-level athletes, successful business-people and achievers in all fields. They give you long-term vision and short-term motivation. They focus your acquisition of knowledge and help you to organize your time and your resources so that you can make the very most of your life



Goal Setting Tips:

The following broad guidelines will help you to set effective goals:


State each goal as a positive statement: Express your goals positively – 'Execute this technique well' is a much better goal than 'Don't make this stupid mistake.'

Be precise: Set a precise goal, putting in dates, times and amounts so that you can measure achievement. If you do this, you will know exactly when you have achieved the goal, and can take complete satisfaction from having achieved it.

Set priorities: When you have several goals, give each a priority. This helps you to avoid feeling overwhelmed by too many goals, and helps to direct your attention to the most important ones.

Write goals down: This crystallizes them and gives them more force.

Keep operational goals small: Keep the low-level goals you are working towards small and achievable. If a goal is too large, then it can seem that you are not making progress towards it. Keeping goals small and incremental gives more opportunities for reward. Derive today's goals from larger ones.

Set performance goals, not outcome goals: You should take care to set goals over which you have as much control as possible. There is nothing more dispiriting than failing to achieve a personal goal for reasons beyond your control. In business, these could be bad business environments or unexpected effects of government policy. In sport, for example, these reasons could include poor judging, bad weather, injury, or just plain bad luck. If you base your goals on personal performance, then you can keep control over the achievement of your goals and draw satisfaction from them.
Set realistic goals: It is important to set goals that you can achieve. All sorts of people (employers, parents, media, society) can set unrealistic goals for you. They will often do this in ignorance of your own desires and ambitions. Alternatively you may set goals that are too high, because you may not appreciate either the obstacles in the way or understand quite how much skill you need to develop to achieve a particular level of performance.


References:

http://www.time-management-guide.com/planning.html

http://www.mindtools.com/page6.html

http://www.pathwaystotechnology.org/jobs/jb_29.html