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Session 4 3:15 – 4:15 |
Grant
Sullivan |
Michelle
Murray |
Brenda
Fay |
Darryl Skeard |
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Title |
Competing in a
Flat World
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How to be Linked
on Linkedin
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3 PM skills that
will help your Self-employment Goals
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Test-driven Development – Stop expensive bugs before they appear in your code |
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Abstract |
The world
continues to change in rapid and significant ways. As professionals we need to understand
threats, opportunities and expectations within our fields and how they are
changing. In this presentation Grant
will share his experiences in leading two of the largest Global IT Delivery
Centers in Canada from within our region. |
Michelle will
take the audience through a guided tour of how to use LinkedIn. From the
basics of setting up a profile, to how to actually use the tool for building
a network of connections and gaining more exposure as an IT Professional. For the IT
Professional, networking is key to keep a “pulse” on
what is going on in your industry, with your clients, your competitors and
your future employers. Now even more than ever people are using LinkedIn, the
Facebook for business. Currently LinkedIn has over 2 million IT professionals
registered in Canada, are you one of them? Many people are
registered however do not use it to the full potential. Our presentation will
provide a guided tour of LinkedIn so you can “Rise To the Top” and be
“linked” on LinkedIn. Topics covered
include: •
Benefits of using LinkedIn •
Setting up your Profile; •
How to gain exposure on LinkedIn •
Adding Connections; •
Groups; As a Recruiter,
our business is based on people we know or people we can find. Over the last
year or so LinkedIn has become a key tool that our candidates, clients, and
competitors use so as an organization we have been working with our teams to
build our skills in using this great tool in order to stay competitive.
Michelle has been involved in training our Branch Managers, Account Managers,
and Recruiters across the country and uses this tool everyday. As an IT
Professional, where your role is not 100% focused on “networking”, how would
you answer : •
Are you even on LinkedIn? •
Have you harnessed the power of LinkedIN? •
Have you ever had an opportunity to have
any training? ask questions? • An opportunity to strengthen your network
and “exposure” in the IT community? •
An opportunity to understand why this is
such a powerful tool to use? Then as a IT professional who wants to strengthen your ability to
“Rise To The Top” and use every tool that is available to you, we would
encourage you to take part in this interactive session and learn how to be
“Linked” to your friends, colleagues, clients and future employers. |
We are in the age
of entrepreneurism. When graduates come out of college or university these
days, they often have the goal of starting their own businesses rather than
getting a long-term job. This session focuses on how project management
skills and processes can help self-employed individuals, and indeed all
consultants, meet their goals. All consultants
can become more successful by following time-tested project management
techniques. Come to this session to learn tips and tools you can use to
successfully initiate, plan and execute your career-enhancing projects and
plans. Learn how to: •
Get a clear vision of your end-goal •
Take what seems like an impossible goal
and make it achievable and believable •
Keep tracking your progress until your
results are achieved •
Apply project management processes to
achieve work and personal goals. This session will
be of particular benefit to consultants who are responsible for planning
their own futures, namely, self-employed consultants. After taking this
session, participants will have solid tools for reaching their goals and
valuable techniques for monitoring progress to ensure they stay on track. |
Test driven
development is primarily a developer activity, as the name implies, but I’ll
try to show the benefits TDD, and it’s grown-up incarnation, BDD deliver to
the whole team by explaining*:
•
some of the many causes of defects in
software
•
how TDD reduces defects not only by
providing a comprehensive suite of tests, but by encouraging better design
(loose coupling, high cohesion, values to value)
•
the strategies, techniques and tools used
in TDD
•
the costs of writing tests, verses the
benefits
•
why catching defects earlier in the
development cycle reduces their cost, by shortening the feedback loop
•
that TDD doesn’t replace QA, but enables
testers’ to be more effective, reducing recycling of bugs, trivial mistakes
and other unnecessary time wasters
•
how TDD automatically documents
requirements, improving maintainability of software and facilitating
communication between developer and business analyst, and between business
analyst and customer
•
some of
the pitfalls and how to overcome them (false sense of security, the
“blank-slate effect”, etc.)
•
stubs, mocks and the difference between
them
•
the important distinction between unit
tests and integration tests
•
briefly, the evolution of TDD into BDD -
Behaviour Driven Development, touching lightly on the topics of “ubiquitous
language” and “executable specifications”**
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Bio |
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As the Branch
Manager for Sapphire-Halifax, Michelle has made has made a significant
contribution over the years to Sapphire Canada’s current place as a leader in
the IT staffing industry in Atlantic Canada. Michelle combines her
progressively earned management abilities, her focus on building long term
client/candidate relationships and customer satisfaction, with her expertise
and knowledge of delivering IT Staffing Solutions within Atlantic Canada |
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