Degree Over Certification

The ETHOS for my DOC 2 is that there are many ways that a person can get their foot in the door in the IT filed at a company.  However I strongly feel that without the degree on your resume, there is a strong chance you might not even make it to the interview stage to tell the people about your certifications and how knowledgeable you may be or how dedicated you may be.  The degree will show your drive, will also show how you are able to see a task from the start to finish.  The degree shows your dedication no matter at what cost you are willing to go to become sucessfull, and not only gives you knowledge, but also the foundation of the knowledge in that field.

IS IT BETTER TO GET A DEGREE OR CERTIFICATIONS

I already knew I would end up changing my DOC 2 paper, and changing the subject.  So with that being said my new topic is the highly debatable is it better when trying to get into the IT field is it better to go for your Bachelors degree or is it better to get a bunch of certifications?  This paper can go many different directions, I have always been the own to believe that there is no substitute to a College degree.  That is my stance the degree gets you in the door then you have time to go get certified in different areas, such as Microsoft, Primavera, Share Point, and other widely used programs.  Well I guess it's back to my paper and starting over from the ethics approach.  This paper is turning out to be harder than I thought.  The hardest part is this more of an persuasion paper with your opinions, this makes it harder to find references to support your stance.

Ethics In The IT World

DOC 2 here we go!! So on our next document we are writing for class is the evaluation of issues occurring in our future career choice.  There are many issues arising in the Computer Science field, especially the IT field.  The issue I will take my stance on is the ethical dilemma that is occurring in the IT field.  With the access to the internet so easy these days in the corporate world at work, too many employees are utilizing the internet for the wrong reasons while at work.  However these same sites they are being criticized for accessing are the same sites that the managers and owners of these corporations are using to base some of their hiring off of.  Is this not a catch 22?  Facebook, Instagram,  Twitter, among st other social media sites.  I feel like your off hours outside the job life should not affect your status at work unless they interact with each other.  I will go in depth more once I start writing my paper.

GOOD EVIDENCE VS BAD EVIDENCE

When it comes to gathering data or evidence in this case for a paper it is very important to gather your data or evidence from credible resources.  Students usually want to finish their paper as fast as possible with the least amount of effort or work possible.  The first step they take is usually the Google search, and of course the majority of the time your Wikipedia of the search will pop up.  This is the easiest source for the student to use so they go to reading and sriting immediately.  Wikipedia can be a starting point to at least get you familiar with the subject then enhance your search and find credible sources.  The best source when searching is the Google Scholar search.  An example of good evidence or data is reading the articles and evaluating the credentials of the author who wrote the journal or article, usually if the author is credible he has been referenced many times within other articles.  Another mistake students make is immediatley referncing or utilizing the data when statistics are given.  This is also not a great tool because when statistics are given, we never know if the numbers are biased.  There is a chance that the data was derived from a biased source in return relaying the numbers.  The only way to really use statistics is when you know where the numbers derived from and what models were used to get these numebrs.  The final say of good vs bad evidence is really also in the eyes of the reader, what the reader want to believe and what the reader wants to either disoute or just flat out not believe.

DOC 2 ISSUES IN THE IT FIELD

There are various issues one may face when entering the IT field.  This week I am still contemplating on which I will be writing my paper on for document 2.  The first issue is dealing with the ethical factor, when is too much security too much or not enough?  Companies today want to tighten their network security, but at what cost financially or at what cost production wise?  The problem the industry is facing is the social media craze.  Employees are constantly going on to social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, among the many others.  Employees are opening the networks up making them vulnerable to possible hacking or viruses when they are accessing these unsecured social sites.  However these same companies are also using these social sites for advertisement, promotion, and even seeking to fill positions within the company.  Another major issue and the issue I believe I will investigate for this next paper is what is the best route to get in the field?  Would it be better to get your degree first and then try to get a job at a company or is it better to get your foot in the door and get the on the job training and learn about the business and IT field that way?  The issue I see that will always affect he industry is the rapid pace of technology and the different programs in the IT world.

Stereotyping by Appearance

Everyone is guilty of it from one view or another, when we see a person and he or she is dressed a certain way, or look a certain way, we immediately classify that person in a certain group.  This may be the case whether we see a person wearing shirts with the rebel flag and jeans most will probably say he is a redneck.  Then there is the person who has dreads or gold teeth in his mouth is automatically classified as a thug or a gangster.  Finally we see people dressed in all black and wearing vampire lookig clothes we immediately think satan.  These are just very few of the many stereotypes out there.  I am guilty of the first stereotype, whenever I used to see a person wearing jeans boots, shirts with rebel flags I immediately thought oh this must be a racist redneck, the main reason is this is what I was basically taught growing up in Riviera Beach, Florida where there is no rednecks.  However once I went to the military and interacted with different groups of people I found my thinking to be completely wrong.  I quicly learned that not all rednecks are racist.  I now associate with all kinds of people and learn a lto from being around the different variations of people. 

ALL POLICE ARE CORRUPT

This week one of our post in the blog has to be about logical fallacies for our Doc 1.  I chose to go with the fallacy that since the media is showing the killings of Michael Brown, Tamar Rice, and Eric Garner, some are assuming that all cops are bad.  This is not true just like any other aspect of life, some cops are corrupt and bad while others actually are good and act responsibility on their job.  The  best way I can describe this fallacy, would be telling about my real life interactions in Riviera Beach, Florida where I was born and raised.  In Riviera we have a cop named Culry To they call him, everytime he comes around the block he immediately searches up at the park, and searches for drugs and calling for backup.  He first does the normal pat down and then reaches inside your pants actually and then after reaching inside your pants, he makes you open your mouth and seearches with the same hand inside behind your tongue to make sure you wasn't stashing any drugs in your mouth.  If Curly Top finds drugs instead of just arresting you he usually takes all your money and drugs and then the next day makes you buy everything back extorting you.  This is a everyday event.  The fallacy would be since Curly Top does this every other coip in Riviera Beach must be as corrupt as him which is not true.  There is a cop named Williams who is always out shooting basketball at the court with us sometimes, hell talk to us and help us out if we need it and is always doing good deeds for the community of Riviera Beach.  This just shows that not all cops in Riviera Beach are bad and corrupt.

PEER REVIEW

This week we were assigned to review each others group's papers for Doc 1.  I wasn't in class unfortunately so I didn't get to participate.  However I have has similar assignments having taken Mr. Hamon class before. The peer review is a great way to write a better paper for many reason.  The first reason is who better to have for an audience then your peers, someone who will criticize but in a good way meaning you wont get feedback like this paper sucks, or I don't know what you are writing this paper for, and other abusive constructive criticism.  Another great reason for peer review is the help with editing and proofreading your papers.  I look forward to next week being in class so I can get the constructive criticism on my paper.

WHAT IS A THESIS

What is a thesis?  Whenever we write a paper or read a paper, the first step to always take is t identify what the paper is about or what point or conclusion the author is trying to get across to us.  There are often times where the author will unveil the thesis or the main topic of the paper or article we are reading; however there are also some writers who will play keep us in suspense and not really give us the thesis or main topic until the middle of the paper or article, there are even those who leave the thesis to the end of your readings.  The thesis is the center foundation of the work, it brings the reader full circle and lets them know the purpose of that paper or article being written.  The thesis of my Doc 1 will be are the police getting away with cold murder? I cant wait to read the different teams in the class papers and identify their different thesis, I want to see the different angles which will be taken on the papers, and also see the different views each has on police using excessive force.

CAN TECHNOLOGY SAVE US FROM POLICE BRUTALITY

Technology vs Police Brutality


http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/18/us/police-cell-phone-videos/

The following is an article on CNN that talks about cell phones and other technology being used to fight the police and their over agressive tactics being used.  There is a strong question gong around the nation that after the Eric Garner case, does video taping the police have any bearing?  I feel like it does to an extent because maybe some cops will adhere to their training and actually respect the rights of a citizen knowing they are being filmed; However after seeing the last couple cases in the media and the cases being tried in front of a jury one still ahs to wonder are the police just untouchable?  The Eric Garner case specifically shows the altercation from start to finish, with all those cops around, there is no one that can convince me that they had to choke him out like that.  This was all being done while different people was watching making the comments of let him go he cant breathe, also no to mention the recording was also being made by bystanders.  There is even an instance where the cops attempt to tell the people to stop filming, and even threaten to apprehend their phones.  If you read the report the person who filmed the altercation was actually detained by the police that day.  Does this no violate not only are rights as citizens, but now the police even feel they have the right to violate our constitutional rights.  I see these types of altercations happening everyday in Riviera Beach in my neighborhood, there is no trust in the police, I'm not saying that the police are wrong in every case, but it seems more and more the police are becoming untouchable no matter who sees whats going on.

http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshhz3h207lFuD16aG6Z

No matter media, what training these police have, or what side the person decides to take there is no reason what so ever for this police to hold these teens at gun point for a snowball fight.  I guess his response was going to be I was in fear of my life the snowball may have got thrown at me to kill me.

WHO HAS AUTHORITY

This week one of the topics we had a discussion about was WHO HAS AUTHORITY?  First what is authority?  Authority is defined as the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience.  With this being the definition, I feel personally like everyone has authority in a certain type of way.  From a child there is always something you control, whether it is controlling when you eat, what you eat, what you wear, all the way through to the board meetings and being the presenter at the meeting, a teacher teaching class.  There is a million ways to show authority.  The way I demonstrate authority on a daily basis is with my kids, but also with my job as a car sales consultant.  Everyday I am taking control of the sales process, directing the customer to the right car, presenting the features and benefits, and presenting the price.  Authority can be gained by anyone, I feel the main ingredient to gaining your authority is confidence.  With the right amount of confidence and no fear you can have authority as much as you want.