Kids & Careers!
Who would you like to meet? • James: a firefighter engineer • Ian: a provincial police officer • Scott: a county police officer • Sean: a city planner • Dave: a senior software engineer • Kathy: a customs manager • Rosie: an international sales manager • David: a process engineer • Drew: a school department head • John: a director of computer services • Steve: a paramedic • Amy: a physical therapist Kidsnewsroom would like you to meet John! Below are the questions (Q.)we asked about his career and the answers (A.) he gave us! Q. How old are you? A. I'm 45. Q. In what city do you work? A. I work in Boston, Massachusetts. Q. What type of company do you work for? A. I work for a telecommunications firm. Right now, we focus on computerized messaging... as opposed to the Pony Express. Q. What is your job title? A. Director of Computer Services Q. At what times does your work day begin and end? A. I usually work from 8:30 am until 5:00 pm, going uphill both ways (ha ha). Q. How many days per week do you work? A. Usually 5 days per week. However, on many occasions I work 6 or even 7 days per week. That happens mostly when we have to meet a deadline for preparing a proposal for an important customer or when we are setting up a new computer system and have to overcome technical difficulties. Q. What is your office like? A. I work in a nice office with large windows overlooking the harbor. Q. What kind of clothes do you wear to work? A. I always wear a suit and tie. Q. Who do you work with? A. I sometimes work on my own but mostly with a team. As a director, I am responsible for about 15 people. Q. Tell us about your education and how it has prepared you for this job. A. I started my career as an electrical engineer. The degree leading to this was a Bachelor of Applied Science. This college degree helped, especially in the initial steps of my career, and provided a good basis for ongoing advancement. Beyond college graduation, I have not taken formal courses, but I have spent a lot of time learning many different computer languages. As time goes by, more and more computer languages are used, and there is always something more to learn. I have hundreds of computer books. Q. What should a kid do NOW to prepare for your kind of job in the future? A. First of all, be serious about your school work. See a school counselor about the best courses to take as a basis for entering an engineering college after you have finished high school. Don't take the easy courses that are not relevant. If you do, you will regret it later as you will have to make up the difference. Q. Do you have any other advice for kids who are thinking about having your type of career? A. Be sure that you are suited for this type of work. What I mean is, you should be someone who likes detailed work. Again, your school counselor should be able to help you. Q. What skills or subjects are important to your job? A. Math should be one of your favorite subjects. Subjects like english and speech are important also as you have to communicate well with others. Q. What are the top ten things that you normally do at work each day? A. 1. Check my incoming mail and e-mail. 2. Check my appointments and meeting schedule for the day. 3. Attend meetings. Usually meetings are related to outstanding problems with the messaging computers or with the strategy we will use in preparing a proposal for a customer. 4. Compose letters for formal communications. Because we develop and improve computer messaging systems, I sometimes write letters to current customers explaining the nature of the most recent computer failure and steps we are taking to ensure that it will not happen again. This lets the customer know that we have their interest at heart and want to provide the best service possible. 5. Make sure all e-mail has been handled. That means, I answer some e-mails directly and forward other e-mails to staff members for action. 6. I review the performance of the employees on my team. 7. I make salary increase recommendations. 8. Assigning work to my staff and scheduling tasks and meetings. 9. Reviewing what my staff has accomplished as far as designing systems. 10. Sometimes go out to lunch! Thanks, John! It was nice getting to know you!