Respect

R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Find out what it means to me…. Aretha Franklin said it best in her song. Most women and other minorities for that matter, just want to respect and fair pay in life and the workforce. They want to feel like they belong there and are welcomed. The tech industry is no different than other, in fact the tech industry might have the smallest population of women. However, this is only just becoming public knowledge that there is such a lack of diversity in companies. For example, Google only began releasing their stats within the last 2 years. Since then, their company amongst many other tech companies have rightfully been the target of pressure from society to start fixing this problem and implementing minority programs. These programs are created to benefit women, African Americans, and Hispanics, the three least represented groups overall in the industry.

One of the major obstacles that these groups feel is a sense of not belonging. In a way it is not the tech industry’s fault. Women haven’t been in the workforce in general in that long and for tech as such relatively new industry it is not that surprising that the number of women joining in is just now beginning to grow. We can’t expect that just because in general the numbers are beginning to even out that this will be the same for all industries, especially new ones. However, I think that people in the tech industry should be welcoming to all people and should try to expand their horizons. Another obstacle that these groups must overcome is not being scared away by the stereotypes. When computer science first started those stereotypes were probably true, or at least some element of them were, and even now there are probably some people that fit them, however we cannot make general accusations and should not be afraid of those. This is in the fault of the people running away. Nevertheless, if people were more open about computer science and what it is really about and what goes on in the day to day job, maybe less people would be afraid.

I think continuing to implement minority programs and just being more honest and open about the tech force will continue to attract more and more people. As it is, the numbers have already been rising. I think that right now, as we talked about in class, many of the people became interested in computer science because a relative or close family friend got them into. I think the more that computer science is talked about the more attention it will gain and the more people it will spur on.

Classic School Slump

I find that I really relate to this question for many ways. I have yet to have an internship in the field in which I desire to be a part of after graduation. However, this will all change this upcoming summer, when I begin a 10 week internship as an analyst at an Investment Banking firm. People usually cringe when they hear this because it is commonly known in Investment Banking that the hours are miserable and that usually after you sign on for 2 years, you will be burned out and will accept any other job than to continue working in this field. Going into the recruiting process I did not quite understand why. However, just from a semester full of emails, calls, information sessions, and interviews I feel burned out. I think that I became both physically and mentally burned out after this semester. On top of my school work and extra-curriculars, I had a whole different and in some ways a more important thing to care about that took anywhere from 1 to 4 hours of my time per day. This caused me to stay up to 5 am at least 3 times a week. Of course any person that is getting such little sleep is going to get exhausted and burned out. Mentally, trying to balance that schedule and think about what is the best decision career wise and school wise and fun wise is draining. Needless to say that spreading myself to thin last semester and having constant pressure of making important, life changing decisions, amongst little sleep burned me out.

Come back to school after a rough first semester and a month of doing nothing but lounging on the couch watching reality tv shows, I have found myself in a junior year slump. I am unmotivated to do anything school related. It is hard when you already have obtained one of the main reasons you come to school. However, slowly I am regaining my motivation by recognizing that there is merit in learning things for the enjoyment of knowing more. Hopefully, I will soon regain my full motivation.

As mentioned above, it is known of investment banking that many of their analysts become burned out and leave the field. Obviously, this is not what employers want, especially if their top analysts are leaving because they are over-worked. In addition to leaving the company, the Harvard Business School article also stated that people who are overworked can have a harder time performing day-to-day tasks that any job requires, such as interpersonal communication, making judgment calls, and/or reading other people’s faces. Output can only increase up to a certain point of hours put in. Once the maximum hours is reached, output becomes slower and less effective, the quality declines. “Now, this is not to say we can never pull a long day. We just can’t do it routinely.” (The Research is Clear: Long Hours Backfire for People and Companies). One of the main things that investment banking companies have done to try to change the overworked analyst is to give them protected Saturdays. This means that all analysts get every Saturday off, any exception of this has to be cleared by the Managing Director. This even means sending emails. Kids in this role should be taking a break and resting. This has greatly helped the work life balance of investment bankers and there has been a turn around in the past year or so of more kids sticking in the field.

Going into this field, I am aware of these characteristics, but I also know that different banks value their employees differently and that the field as a while is trying to change the reputation of being over worked. I am confident that the work life balance will continue to improve in investment banking and so I am going in cautious, but am not scared that I will be overworked to the point where I burn out.

 

Project 01

Please find the Project 01 link below.

Project 1

Project 01-Response

Project 1 (PDF of Manifesto and Portrait)

Blog Response:

Being a non-computer science major I believe that our manifesto does a good job of accurately portraying the role a computer scientist plays at Notre Dame. Notre Dame is not like MIT in computer scientist. The kids do not only live, breath, eat computer science, they do know about other topics they do explore their other interests. Notre Dame does not computer scientist that are only good for coding, the students are able to act as a bridge between the computing world and the business world. I think that our Manifesto depicts this and is almost a retaliation against everyone at Notre Dame thinking they are nerds that only talk computing.

In terms of the Portrait I do not identify with most of it. Again, it is difficult for me to fit this since I’m not a computer science major, but I know that when we were going through and thinking of the stereotypes for kids in the major, the people in our group did not fit most of them. I think that computer science kids get a bad rap because it is a new field and so does not have much respect yet. People used to scoff at the businessmen of the world and now look how we treat the Mendoza students. I think it will just take time for people to come around to understanding that computer science kids are made up of more than just computing, and in fact do not only sit behind their computers all day coding.

I think that stereotypes are very significant to how the world views people. I do not think there will ever be a way to eliminate them and some stereotypes are not bad to have. I mean all stereotypes, whether people like to admit it or not, have some truth to them. Stereotypes allow people insights into different groups and are made to give generalizations. I do not think that in this day and age people take rumors or stereotypes they hear about a certain group of people and apply to everyone in that group. Our society is too smart for that. So, if they hear a stereotype and understand that this is not true about everyone I think this can be a positive thing. I think it is a good way to distinguish people in the world and differentiate people’s likes and dislikes.

Along that point, I think the presence of a Manifesto or Portrait can be helpful. I think it gives everyone and anyone a voice. It allows people to explain their point of view and set things straight. If there are untrue rumors floating around, a Manifesto or Portrait allows for them to be set straight.

A Business Spin on Jobs

As a non-computer science major, I probably have not had the same experience as many of you taking this class. I am also only a junior, so I have only just landed las semester an internship in Investment Banking. This career choice is pretty unique as most people know it comes with rigorous hours and difficult tasks as an analyst. Usually people that going into banking work for 2 years as an analyst and then try to land a job in Private Equity. Now, many banks are in the process of trying to change this route, but this is still the typical path one takes. Personally, I am considering taking this same path myself. This is not as easy as it sounds, though. Some banks are very open about trying to get you the best job you can get at a Private Equity company. This is because some companies believe in the relationship they have made with a person and think that even at a different company that person can still bring in new clients and work since Private Equity and Investment Banking are super interconnected. Yet there are other companies that do not believe in this and actually scold you if they find out that you are recruiting for Private Equity jobs. I know of kids that have had to lie and say they cannot come to work because they are sick when actually they are going to an interview. Who is right in this sense? Should companies be open to trying to get their employees to the best Private Equity firm or should they try to scare them into staying with their company? It is a hard thing to know, but I think that it should be a balance between not screwing over the company you work for but also not screwing yourself over. In the end, you do need to look out for yourself.

But when you enter non-competes and trade secrets into the mix things get even tricker. In one way, it makes sense to have these because especially in my industry, deals can sometimes go on for years. What if I have heard information about a deal and then decide to leave the company and work for a rival company that could easily benefit from this company and steal the client. This obviously seems to be extremely unfair. However, on the other hand, how can someone define another’s “know-how” knowledge and from that force them not to use their special talents and abilities. The “How Companies Kill Their Employee’s Job Search” article mentioned how some companies are trying to cover both the company’s concrete secrets, but also an employee’s knowledge and skills they picked up on the job. To me, this seems extremely unfair. This is too limiting. People go to school to learn a ton of knowledge and find a job, are the schools trying to prevent the students from getting a job? No. So, why are employers trying to limit innovation and hold this world back by blocking employee’s from using their gained talents and skills. Another point to make, specific to my industry is that a lot of kids go into Investment Banking because they are unsure of what they would actually like to do. Of course they are some what interest in it otherwise they would not put themselves through all of that work and hours, but a part of them also does it because of the great training and experiences involved in banking. If anyone in banking were to be limited by non-competes or trade secrets, the whole industry would fall apart. This is one of the truly helpful things about banking, it would ruin it to take it away.

Overall, I think that companies should limit against true trade secret, but should not have control over someone’s knowledge and skills. That is too much of a gray area and limits our world and people’s special place in it.

Reading 01

When one thinks of a hacker, a negative connotation of a nerd in a hoodie sitting behind a computer for hours trying to infiltrate some website or break some code for malicious reasons comes to mind. However, this is not the reality. Sure, some hackers might be hacking for the wrong reasons, but hacking can be used for good too. Sometimes by exploiting the weaknesses in a computer system, we can actually make it stronger and protect our country from outsiders obtaining our secrets. Or someone could be hacking in a more playful sense to achieve a certain goal.

In addition to this, I think it is important to break down computer scientist. On one end of the spectrum there are mathematicians who are focused on the algorithms and figuring out code and computer based things primarily focusing on math. Moving towards the middle there are people who look at the history of computers and study the behavior of routing data through networks. And then finally at the other end there are hackers. Hackers are merely trying to write software.

In this sense, hackers can be compared to painters. Both are trying to make things, good things. Just as a painter uses an easel and paintbrush to achieve their beautiful work, hackers use a computer as a medium to write beautiful software. “The hacker modifies the machine to make it self-destruct, or programs it to frustrate its owners, or opens its usage to those who don’t own it”. The hacker tells the machine exactly what to do, and the machine does it.

I would not particularly define myself as a hacker. I personally do no think that I spend enough time dealing with code and making small tweaks or writing my own to be considered a hacker. However, I would say that I participate in writing beautiful code and use code to achieve a goal. So, from that standpoint I could be considered a hacker, or rather a baby hacker. Maybe I am still on my way to becoming a hacker but am not fully there yet.

Despite not considering myself a true hacker, I still believe that it is not fair for hackers to get a bad name because some people abused their power and have used hacking for criminal or malicious use. There are many hackers out there that have used their skills for the betterment of society and for good. Hacking should be looked at in a more benign way. It should be seen as a way for people to create something beautiful, even if it is not understood by a majority of people.

Introduction

My name is Hannah Nichols and I am a junior majoring in Economics with a Finance Concentration and minoring in Computing and Digital Technologies. I am originally from Wilmette, Illinois a northern suburb of Chicago. I am the fourth of six kids in my family and ever since high school I have been interested in both Economics and Computer Science. My mom has a degree in Computer Science and is the one who initially sparked my interest. I like the logical, black and white nature of it combined with the creative side of writing your own code. Studying people’s behavior from and economical standpoint has always drawn my attention. Being one of the middle children in my family I have learned to connect with various people and observe their behavior. This has made thinking through economic problems easier. Aside from my family and academics, I play on the club tennis team here at Notre Dame. I have been playing tennis competitively since 7th grade and because it has been such a big part of my life I wanted to continue in any way possible in college.

I want to learn more about intellectual property and the laws behind hacking in this class. Last semester I took a course on the First Amendment in this ever-changing digital world and we briefly discussed anonymity and hacking and that was by far my favorite unit. I want to learn from more a technical standpoint the ins and outs of what is allowed.

Going off that, I think that as our society today becomes more and more reliant on software and more digitally involved one of the biggest ethical and moral issues deals with the information that we are able to retrieve on the internet and the information that others can retrieve on us. If a person does not know that much about computers it would be easy for some to hack their computer and view everything that they are doing. Obviously this poses a lot of threats to people and creates worry for our society. Learning about situations like this and gaining an understanding of how they are treated is something I want to walk out of this class knowing.