Instructor Blogs

Instructor Blog #6: Usability

At its heart, usability is such a commonsense notion that it is amazing how long it took to break into the corporate mainstream. The basic concept of usability is that documents and products should be usable in the real world environments where they function. This can be more difficult than it sounds, however, as we all know from bonehead products that defy our basic needs as users. Some things don't work the way they're intended, they don't account for our needs, they don't work the way we expect, or they're simply more difficult than they need to be.

Instructor Blog #5: Design

Design is much more crucial than many people realize. It is not merely something that dresses up information; design is how users interact with data. In technical fields, we sometimes make the mistake of thinking that we can get something to work and then just make it pretty and useable later. This is a major conceptual flaw, and it is a significant reason why whether you love or hate Apple, you have to admit that they are financially successful and culturally significant.

Instructor Blog #4: Technical Instructions

The prevailing notion about technical instructions is that they are superfluous, and only for those who are unable to understand a particular process or product. Often, users never read technical instructions at all. Jim Gee argues in his book What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy that successful video games teach people how to play as they are playing. After all, few people crack open their copy of Halo III or Shadow of the Colossus and read the instruction manual first thing.

Instructor Blog #3: Cover Letters

Now that you've written a resume, the next step is to complement that information with a cover letter. One of the biggest mistakes people make with the cover letter is just repeating information that can be found on the resume. What's the point of that? They already have that information in an easier to read format (hopefully), so you want to build off that, not repeat it. The cover letter is a great opportunity to flesh out some aspects of your professional experience that aren't easy to convey.

Instructor Blog #2: Resumes

In this blog we'd like to discuss ways to make you stand out from the crowd. Good application materials can help you score the job you want, or at least give you a fighting chance. The last thing you want to do is send out a mediocre or terrible resume. Without hyperbole, we can say that a resume is one of the most important documents you will ever produce. The irony, of course, is that it will be read in 10-30 seconds, and if you don't make that cut, you get thrown away. 10-30 seconds: that's all the time you have to survive the first cut, so you better do it right.

Instructor Blog #1: Getting a Job is Hard Work

Getting a job is hard work. It can be one of the most frustrating and time consuming endeavors you ever undertake. Many people say that getting a job is as difficult and time consuming as having a job. We wish great job searches on all of you throughout your lives (as you'll probably have to undertake many, according to labor statistics), but if you have a rough job search experience, know you're not alone. When you look for a job, you are competing against hundreds, sometimes thousands of other candidates.

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