CTP Skill Center

Today I worked with Frank to set up our second network for the lab assignment. I was not here yesterday so there was a lot of catching up to do task wise. We had to use a project computer that re-images off the network image. However, we did not connect it to the CTP network and used a different network address. It took longer to complete but we did manage to create a local area network using just a switch with no router by setting up a static IP. Unfortunately, both did not work with ping. So, we set up network discovery and shared some folders to determine that a laptop and a desktop can see each other. When we verified it was working I added a router and used its DHCP to get the IP address dynamically. Then we connected it to the CTP network to have internet access. Everything worked out pretty well.

Today for the Lab Assignment we were asked to create a network by rehabilitating a Project PC and using that as a host. I also had my one-on-one check-in with Alex. As always it was an interesting and fruitful conversation. Unfortunately, I had to leave early to go an appointment and was unable to start working on the lab assignment with Frank.

Today Alex shared a lot of utilities and tools that we can use. Tools such as Bar code readers and QR code scanners that are useful for technicians to verify information and and record keeping. Even taking pictures using a smartphone to document and create a timeline of actions for reference. Utilities that help in transferring information within software applications. Documents may contain formatting information and simply copying and pasting information may not give the desired results. Pasting without formatting or using a text editor with no formatting such as Notepad can retain the information needed.

We also looked at the Event Viewer which shows the log information of events within computer processes be it hardware and software. Looking at this log files can give a picture of how the computer is performing and can help a technician in diagnosing a system. Finally, we use TeamViewer for a Remote Desktop connection which is a very valuable resource to add in a Computer Technicians tool belt.

Today we worked on practicing interview skills related to answering questions with the STAR method. Situation, Task, Action, Result. This method of answering questions helps highlight what kind of a worker you are in a variety of situations by giving examples of times when you solved problems with different circumstances. We also researched the Mechanic’s Bank for our upcoming mock-interviews next week in the classroom. This makes me a little nervous still having to answer questions on the spot is always challenging. So I will try to spend some time in the next week getting some answers ready.

Today we had two assignments assigned to us at Employment Services. First was to answer 3 Behavioral interview questions using the Star method and a Company Research Assignment on Mechanics Bank. Mechanics Bank will be doing the mock interview for us at CTP on the 22nd. Also, we practiced the additional behavioral questions with different partners.

Today we learned what a DevOps operator does. Then we continued working on the mBot robotics project. There is still a lot more I want to explore with this project.

Today Alex discussed briefly what Operations, Development and DevOps are. DevOps is an interesting field where one is a jack of all trades in both hardware and software with generalized skill set. A sort of fixer that bridges the gap between hardware and software needs to create IT solutions.

Next, I helped out my CTT colleagues in the Coding Robotics Assignment with mBot this week.

Watched a TED talk about the Customer Service bar being extremely low. Learned about the two radio stations WIFM/ WIFO (what’s in it for me/ others). Working with the PRO students is always interesting, we did a group exercise where we role-played to be workers that had to tell their clients NO! (Link to TED talk) https://youtu.be/yuuk3pStM24

Today the CTT students spent the day with Jacob and the PRO. We had an interesting session where we practiced saying no to a customer in a polite way and sort of hold our ground to the company policy. The objective is to deny the customer request and offering alternatives and not just turning them down. Each one in the PRO and CTT class got their turn to play this role in fromt of the class. Next we watched a Ted Talk titled Realities of Memorable Service by Alex Cabanas that emphasized that is easy to go the extra mile because the bar is so low.

The last hour was reserved to finish the CTT Robot Coding Assignment.

Today Alex continued our journey into logic by asking us to help create pseudo code for a Number Guessing Game. It was fun trying to think of the errors in the code which often programmers may tend to forget satisfied that one has a working code but not might be fool proof. We continued with the Coding Robotics Assignment using mBot and I was satisfied with our progress.