Life Programming
Java WebQuest
Introduction:
What's a WebQuest? Well it's an investigation conducted on the World Wide Web.
The greater part of your future lies ahead of you and the largest part of what you do with the time of your life will be the work you choose to do every day. The great difficulty is answering the question: How do I plan to make a living?
Programming offers us advantages over many things. In the final analysis you lay out a logical course to accomplish a particular outcome. That is programming and, if you are disciplined, that is life. You will plan large portions of your future based on a logical course designed to produce a particular outcome.
Life, much like programming, is all about the output. How you write your code is largely up to you, within certain parameters; people are only interested in the output they can see. Similarly, how you live your life is largely up to you, within certain parameters, people are only interested in the output they can see.
By the end of this year you will have some knowledge of Java and ultimately know whether you want to program computers. This exercise has been constructed to introduce you to the outcomes available to you.
Task:
Your initial task will be focus your attention on Computer Programming in general and glean a overall understanding of the opportunities that are available, as well as some of the specifics associated with the day to day realities of the job.
Resources:
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The following are among the many resources that you will use during this exercise. You may refer to them easily from this Resources location at any time. You may explore these sites at any time by coming to the Resource area. These are your source sites as identified in the next secti
on of activities
Process:
For all of the activities listed below write your responses in Word and save them on disk for turn-in at the end of the WebQuest. Copy and paste questions where applicable.
Activity 1:
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Begin by reviewing Computer Programming Careers . This is an overview of the Computer Programming Career and gives you a great deal of specific information about any programming position within the United States. Copy/Paste these questions and your answers into a Word document titled "Activity 1".
1. What is the job outlook for this occupation?
Average About Average Faster Than Average Decline Not Sure
2. In what type of community does this job appear?
Rural Urban Farm Metro Area Not Sure
3. What is the nature of the work? (Write in complete sentences your paraphrased answer.)
4. Describe the working conditions for this job. (Write in complete sentences your paraphrased answer.)
5. What type or kinds of education do you need to perform this job?
High School Tech or Trade School 2Yr College 4Yr College Masters Ph.D.
6. What is the starting salary for this occupation?
7. What are some related occupations for this job?
8. List 2 sources for additional information.
9. Is this job a 9 to 5 job, or does it involve a lot of flexible hours or weekend work?
10. What type (if any) certification do you need to perform this job?
11. Is there anything about this job that personally appeals to you?
Activity 2:
Choose any two of the four websites with the yellow background. Using the site's search engine or job listing choose 10 positions from each site in locations that you would be interested in living assuming you met all the employment requirements. Copy/Paste these 20 Jobs with their descriptions into a Word Document titled "Activity 2"
Activity 3:
Select five of the 20 Job positions that you wish to do additional research on. Use any of the websites with green background to outline the certifications, degrees, time and money necessary to meet the employment requirements for the job.
Activity 4:
Select one of the five job positions that you chose and write a paragraph directly below it explaining why you selected that position. The paragraph should consist of between five and ten complete sentences.
Evaluation:
In this WebQuest you have:
Learned
generally about the Computer Programming industry.
Selected job positions of interest.
Reviewed the requirements for a variety of Programming
positions.
Identified the technical, financial, and time
requirements associated with a few of those positions.
Conclusion:
Life, much like programming, is all about the output. How you write your code is largely up to you, within certain parameters; people are only interested in the output they can see. Similarly, how you live your life is largely up to you, within certain parameters, people are only interested in the output they can see.
By the end of this year you will have some knowledge of Java and ultimately know whether you want to program computers. Whether you become a programmer or not is a great deal less important than the way you code the program of your life. No matter what the output finally is, make sure at the end you can say you wrote the very best code you could write. Welcome to Java.
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