Virtual Resume
BY NANDINI PATEL
GOAL SETTING
ACADEMIC SMART GOAL
M: To achieve this, I will have to slightly change my work habits. I study for 3 hours on a daily basis, spending 45 minutes on each subject. Sometimes, I take longer than 3 hours to finish my school work but on a regular basis, 180 minutes are enough. I am currently in grade 10 so, I do not have any hard courses. Thus, it is faster for me to finish my work as I am used to the habit. However, when l enter grade 11 and 12, it will be tougher as the courses will be much harder and will require a lot of work. To achieve this, I might have to spend more than 45 minutes on each subject to understand the concept better and to practice/review. Instead, I might study for 4-5 hours a day, which is still not very long as long as I finish my work on time and understand all my concepts. In order to measure my progress, I will constantly see the improvements on my quizzes, tests, progress report, mid-term and final report. I will save all of these sources so I can reference back and see what I need to improve on or/and how much I have improved. For future, I will continue to do this for grade 10 and for the rest of the years in high school.
A: To manage my time, I will study for one course a day. Although I will be still finishing my homework for all the other courses, I will choose a particular course on a particular day to study for. For example, I will study for Biology on Monday, Functions on Tuesday, Physics on Wednesday, Computer Science on Thursday, and reviewing all the course material on Friday. On the weekend, I will finish my assignments from all courses along with the homework that I receive on a daily basis. Even after the school year ends, I can continue working on this goal in summer. In summer, I could review my key concepts for all the major courses for grade 11 and grade 12. This, will help me prepare for the years ahead and would also keep me busy in summer.
R: It might be difficult to achieve an overall average of 90% in grade 11 and grade 12 as it will be much harder but it's definitely not impossible. Thus, this goal is certainly realistic. It is important for me to set this goal at this time in my life as I am still in grade 10. Although grade 11 & 12 are the two years that really matter when applying for universities, it is important for me to maintain my work habits and high grades in grade 10. If I have an average of 90% or even higher in grade 10, there is a possibility of me getting 90% in grade 11 & 12. Therefore, it is important for me to maintain my work habits and high grades in all of my eight courses when I am still in grade 10.
T: The time frame for my goal is from now till June 2018. I will continue to keep track of my marks as I receive my progress every two weeks. I will continue to set smaller goals such as finishing my school work on time, reviewing my notes everyday, spending extra time to understand the concepts better, etc. Another small goal that I would like to set is to aim to increase my mark by 2% every time I receive a mark update. This way, I will have an opportunity to reflect back and improve on areas that need to be improved.
VOLUNTEERING SMART GOAL
M: To measure my progress, I will record all my volunteer hours on the 40 hours sheet. This way, I will keep track of the hours I already have earned, and the hours that I still have to gain. CVC's program lasts for about a week and after finishing volunteering that week, I will ensure that my hours are recorded. Same plan is followed for the extra-curricular at my school. Eco-Club lasts for a full school year; after each year, students are given a sheet which states their name, school year, activity they have done, the number of hours earned, and a signature of the teacher supervising the activity. If I ever change the location of volunteering in future, I will still continue to follow the same format of measuring my progress.
A: In order to reach my goal, I will have to regularly attend the Eco-Club meetings every week. I usually have time to adjust my work schedule at school because the meetings are held only once a week on a Tuesday. One earns between 1-2 hours every week and that is sufficient as by the end of the year, I can earn about 30-45 hours. CVC organizes its programs during summer as students are more likely to come. This program lasts for about a week and could be continued. In order to reach my goal, I will have to regularly attend this program. This program is an everyday activity which requires one to come to CVC area and perform different activities based on their interest. If I continue to this for 2 weeks, I can roughly receive about 70 hours as one can earn 35 hours by the end of 1 week. And this, exceeds my goal as by the time I graduate high school, I will have about 170 hours.
R: I have already earned 60 hours of community service and according to my goal, I still have 90 more hours to earn. I will accomplish most of my goal during this summer as I will join the CVC program. After finishing the CVC program, I will receive about 60-70 hours and I will only have 30 hours left. The remaining hours can be earned during the regular school year when I am in grade 11. By the end of the grade 11, I would have accomplished 150 hours or even more. Thus, this goal is realistic. My goal is to finish all my volunteering hours by the end of grade 11 as grade 12 will be much harder than the junior years and volunteering might keep me busy from my school work. It is also important that I have volunteering experience because when applying to universities, it would show that I am well-rounded and have gained experience at different activities.
T: The time frame for my goal is from now till the end of grade 11. I will continue to keep track of my volunteer hours. For Eco-Club, I will record my hours after the end of every school year and for the CVC program, I will record my hours weekly. I will continue to set smaller goals such as attending meetings on a regular basis and participating in other events organized by the same organization/club. Another small goal that I would like to set is to earn 10 additional hours during the school year in grade 12. If I don't have time, I could achieve this by volunteering in summer before entering university. As a result, I will have 180 hours before I graduate from high school, which exceeds my original plan.
PREPARING FOR TRANSITIONS AND CHANGE
FUTURE RESUME
Nandini Patel
24 Peach Drive,
Brampton, ON, L6R0W5
Cell: (289) 401- 0477 | E-mail: patelnandini26@gmail.com
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Objective:
To attain a full-time position at Microsoft Corporation as a Software Development Engineer.
Education:
- University of Waterloo: 2022-2024
Master of Mathematics (Computer Science)
- University of Waterloo: 2018- 2022
Bachelor of Computer Science (BSC)
- Louise Arbour Secondary School: 2014-2018
Ontario Secondary School Diploma
Skills:
- Strong work ethic
- Positive attitude and behaviour
- Able to adapt oneself to new surroundings
- Have experience using Microsoft Office programs
- Have experience with following software: Java, Python, C++, Pascal, HTML and .Net.
Work Experience:
- Software Developer Tools and Analytics, Intel Corporation: 2027-2030
Software Engineer
- The Steele Group: 2024- 2027
Web Developer
- General Dynamics of Canada: 2021-2024
Part-Time Software Engineer
Internship Experience:
- Federal Express Canada: 2022-2023
Programmer Analyst
- Clearbridge Associates Limited: 2021-2022
Mobile/Cloud Developer
Certifications/Awards:
- Certified as a Java SE 8 Programmer: 2023
References available upon request
COVER LETTER
Nandini Patel
24 Peach Drive,
Brampton, ON, L6R0W5
(289) 401- 0477 | patelnandini26@gmail.com
____________________________________________________________________________________________
June 13, 2016
H&H Systems Software
Company
Microsoft Corporation
950 Meadowvale Blvd
Mississauga, Ontario
L5N 8L9
Dear H&H Systems Software:
I am writing is response to the available Computer Programmer position at Microsoft Corporation advertised online. I recently graduated from University of Waterloo with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer science and am now, interested in working for Microsoft Corporation. I have a great experience with multiple computer languages, including Perl, C++ and Java. Additionally, I have over 10 years of experience working as a programmer. I am an individual who is eager to pursue a successful career in IT, and this position is perfectly aligned with my skills and interests.
You will find me to be a positive, motivated, and hard-working person who is always ready to learn and contribute to the opportunities you may have to offer. My technical skills are combined with excellent communication skills that allow me to work effectively and positively and get along well with others. As you will see from my resume, I have a well-rounded background, through my university education and practical experience. With a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, I have a full understanding of software development. My experience includes customer service and support, programming new applications and web pages, software quality testing, and process improvement and documentation. Although I am currently living in Waterloo, I am willing to relocate at any other location in order to pursue my career.
Thank you for taking your time and considering my application. If you would like to meet me in person to discuss my abilities for this position, please contact me at (289) 401-0477 at any time and I will arrange to meet at your convenience any weekday. I look forward to speak with you soon and to contribute opportunities at Microsoft Corporation.
Yours sincerely,
Nandini Patel
Enclosure (resume)
CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS
As a programmer, I will face many challenges and will have to deal with them by taking appropriate actions. To start off, designing a program is one of the biggest challenges a programmer faces on a daily basis. Almost all programmers know how to program but the hard part is to put the programs together in a certain way, which can make it easier for one to understand in future. In order to overcome this particular challenge, I will need to keep up with the technology because the more knowledge I have about programs, the easier it is for me to design programs. A programmer should never stop learning because there is no end to programming so, one could independently, explore programs as much as they like. This way, they will gain more knowledge about the variables, pattern and the overall structure of software. If I am familiar with the different concepts of coding, it will be easier for me to design programs or to even complete other projects. Therefore, it is important for me to have a strong understanding about the different computer languages so in future, I can easily design programs.
Furthermore, as a programmer, I will have to provide a great customer service by understanding what the client really wants. Customer service has been one of the biggest challenges faced by IT workers because they think different from ordinary people. Thus, it is sometimes a big challenge for programmer to write programs for other people as he/she has to meet their requirements. To overcome this challenge, it is important for me to thoroughly understand the customer's requirements because at the end, the customer is the one deciding whether it is good or bad. Many programmers often write programs based on what they think is good, ignoring the client's needs. To overcome this problem, I will ensure that I deliver a great customer service by meeting the customer's needs. As mentioned earlier, the customer is the one deciding whether one's project is good or not so, it is important for me to meet the client's requirements of the product and add additional functions of my choice if required. To conclude, there are many other challenges faced by a programmer however the two major ones were explained above. The two major challenges are to design a program and to provide a great customer service. Although these challenges could be solved overtime, it is important for one to never lose hope because programmers face failure quite a lot because of a mistake as small as adding an extra alphabet or even a number to their programs. Besides that, programming has several advantages and a passionate individual like me would really enjoy this as their life-time job.