From the second-class meeting, I heard from Richard that New York Artwing agency is looking for web-design intern. Since I was having trouble finding internship position, I emailed agency to check if there is an available position. I received an email from them. They wanted to see me. I met a guy named Scott at coffee shop called bean and bean in Manhattan, because his office was being renovated. I showed him my resume and portfolio, and explained my works. After that, He told me that his company is fashion photography agency, but now trying to launch another production company called Big production. He needs a simple web site for that.

Interview was pretty short than I expected. He asked me to see some sample sites that he is going to send me, then let him know if I can do that. When I came to my home, I came up some questions that I should have asked such as where do I work or who work with me, and etc. I should ask by email or next meeting.

Today is September 29, it has been a few weeks since I started interning at City Tech Visual Communications. I have adjusted quite nicely to my work schedule and to the people that work at the Visual Communications office. Mr. Vargas is a cool supervisor, he gives me great things to work on. The first two weeks, I worked on masking out the backgrounds of the Dura Project and City Tech photos. There was one photo of the Dura Project where a woman was holding a solar panel. The solar panel had the reflection of the sky and I had to use the clone tool to get rid of the reflection.

This past week Mr. Vargas gave me a new project. I had to create a sign using a symbol and typography to show City Tech Wi-Fi. The sign is to tell students, where there’s Wi-Fi at City Tech. Last week on Tuesday and Wednesday; I did research on Wi-Fi symbols and thumbnail sketches. It was a long process; I did a lot of thumbnail sketches before I got to my final sketch. No, complaints though because I missed doing this and I enjoyed every moment of it.

This week I started working on the sign in Illustrator CC 2014. I m nearly finished, I have to add the final touches and might have to make a few revisions. I have to say it was a challenge working with typography, such as finding the right font, placing the type in the symbol and positioning it. To make things a little easier Mr. Vargas scanned in my thumbnail sketch and I used it as a guide. It definitely made things easier, I was able to work faster with the type.

This past week I took the procrastination quiz, personality test and did a few readings online. Let’s start with the procrastination quiz. The results surprised me; I thought I was a professional procrastinator. However,  the results say that I’m an average procrastinator. As for the personality test, I found out that I am open to new experiences and I’m in between disorganized and conscientious. The results also, showed that I’m introverted, agreeable, nervous and high-strung.

One of the readings I did this past week was called How to Get a Job by Thomas L. Friedman is an article in the New York Times. The article tells us that a Bachelor’s degree “is no longer considered an adequate proxy by employees for your ability to do a particular job- and, therefore, to be hired”. I agree because the world we live in nowadays nobody cares about your degree. What interviewers seek in an employee is how they can help them add value, what they can do and how they can continuously reinvent themselves.

The other reading I did was When G.M. was Google by Nicholas Lemann an article in the New Yorker website. The article tells us that G.M. (General Motors) an automobile manufacturing company was once as successful as Google is now. General Motors in its earlier days was “an acquirer of small companies”, they were the No. 1 car maker and company of the 19th century. The car manufacturer went bankrupt five years ago, the reason is because General Motors ad delivery system was not at the level of other companies, such as Google they’re a success because they knew how to advertise to target potential costumers. The second reason is because Google’s “business model constantly adds more information and more search features”.

In the article “Gross Domestic Freebie”, it says that Skype has reduced the amount of money because of free Smartphone  apps.  The new technologies have always driven out the old ones.  However, this is good for us. These apps help us a lot, are fun and help us save money.

I remember that several years ago, I also used Skype to talk with friends, but now I am not using Skype any more.  There are  a lot of free Smartphone apps that I can download from the Play Store.  I am using  WeChat and Whatsapp  instead of Skype.  It is very useful and helpful.

In my situation, the free apps can help me save money.  Usually, I am not using my phone to call or text to my friends if I can use Wi-Fi.  It is because to text message and calls are not unlimited. Whenever I call or text to my friends, it will automatically deduct  minutes from my phone.  Usually, I buy one thousand minutes for one hundred dollars.  For me,  I can use it for half a year or longer.  Certainly, it depends on how much time that I use my phone.  You can imagine how much money I can save.

Therefore, the new technologies, free Smartphone apps are good for us,  and it is useful and helpful.   Now, I can use these apps for international calls, video calls, text messaging, send pictures and more.  If these apps did not exit, our world would be different.

Fourth Entry: September 26^th.

The past week has been close to a nightmare, with one employee resigning and another faced with a family emergency a lot of the coverage had to be negotiated between my staff and I. I have to find the time to do interviews to staff appropriately for new device launches and the Holiday season to come. The experience is very reminiscent of the “How to Get A Job” article by Thomas L. Friedman.

In the article it states that the resume, degree, and HOW they achieved their knowledge is not important, as many employers DO NOT care about your degree anymore if you can’t bring something new to the table. As a manager, who has to review applications on a day to day basis, I completely understand this. In present day culture, most knowledge can be self-taught via the internet. It’s the references and experience to the job weighs heavier that just their degree.

Employers receive hundreds of resumes and can’t always find the time to interview all of their applicants. A majority of the applicants are handpicked for a phone interview based on their resume. A select few are chosen according to their degree and experience listed on the resume. Even though the degree is not very important, the employer will base their decision on whether they have a degree and skills to get a chance of interview. Employers want to employ a person who has experience in their field. Training an employee on a new procedure can be revenue impacting because its time consuming.

A new iPhone was launched yesterday and of course the demand for the latest and greatest is no different this time around. The 6S brings to the table better Aluminum to prevent the bend-gate issue of its predecessor, along with 3D Touch, Live Photo’s, and 4K Video. I personally enjoy the haptic feedback from a force touch on the mail or phone icon, as the submenus provide a new peek-and-pop to quick commands. Well done Apple.

Moving a long…

Due to the newly achieved and unforeseen work load, I missed my meeting with the Astoria Media group, which I would’ve had me Interviewing with one of the supervisors to create flyers for nearby business. That opportunity is still on the fence, but I may have found another option for interning within my Sprint, for the department that handles Marketing for NYC. The gentleman’s name I got in contact with is named Ryan Cobb, and he handles much of the social media ads and publications for Sprint. He’s need of a designer, so this may be the best option.

I’m starting to believe that only I can only view my Blog entries and not that of other classmates, which is a shame… I’m curious to know how everyone is fairing in their search. From our last class meeting, the Web Majors had difficulty finding their internships, which came as a relief to me since I’m still on the hunt as well. My fingers are crossed, on Ryan’s callback; in due time.

In the article of “Creation Myth”, there are two things that get my attention.  “Steve Jobs” and “Apple”.  In my mind, Steve Jobs and Apple are one entity, they are not separate.  He was a businessman who was best known as the co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc.

Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with cancer in October 2003. He announced to his employees that he had a cancerous tumor in his pancreas.  At the end, he died in his home on October 5, 2011.  When Steve Jobs died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 56.  It was so sad to say he died at 56 because he was very young.   He was a successful entrepreneur.  We lost a genius in the world.

Even though he was a billionaire, he could not save his life.  Sometime, people say that health is more important than money.  It is true, no matter how rich you are, you cannot save your life.  If you are a billionaire, and you were to die today, your money would be useless.

However, I think money can extend your life.  You would be able to buy precious food such as ginseng, that is good for your health, or some medicine that can extend your life.  On the other hand, it is very expensive.  Normally, it is not for us, because we do not have extra money to buy it  I believe that money cannot cure your illness, but it can extend your life.   Another way, you can extend your life is do more exercise.  It is good for your health.

One sentence in this article of  “When G.M. was Google” that I would like to talk about is “Google was designed never to have unions or pensions; the expectation was that most employees would not plan to stay at the company for decades”.

It is true, if the company provides pension plan, most employees will stay at the company longer.  It can help them to save money.  Most people do not save money for their future.  Honestly, the money from the social security is not enough for us after retirement.  That is why the government wants us to save money.   If you buy a retirement plan, you can deduct it from your tax return and I think that is a good way for us to save money.

There are many of retirement plans that we can choose.  The common plan is IRA, we can buy it from any bank.  There are two different IRAs;  traditional IRA and Roth IRA.  Both of them have their advantage.  Traditional IRA can deduct from your tax return, you may pay less tax.  Roth IRA is different.  It does not deduct from your tax return, however, when you take the money from bank, you do not need to pay any tax.

Whichever one is better for us depends on your situation.  In my opinion,  I prefer to buy a traditional IRA, it is not only deducts from your tax return, but you can also get credit that according to your income. Usually, when a person retires, they do not have much income.  So, when they withdraw the money from the traditional IRA, they still do not have to pay any tax.

In the article of “how to get a job”, I agree that most people are poor for their writing and grammar even for graduating students.  For foreign students, like me, the native language is not English. Even with four years of college, it is not much time for them to learn grammar and how to write. However, I think for those who born in the American those who or English is his or her native language, is better for them to get a job than foreign people who come from other countries. I recall me the first day I entered into United States, English was difficult for me. In my country, I did not have much time to learn and speak English. I was a person who was deaf and mute. I could not understand what people were talking about and I did not know how to communicate with them.

Also, in the article it says that the resume, degree and how to get the knowledge is not important and many employers do not care of it, this I do not totally agree with it. If an employer receives hundreds of resumes, I do not think they can interview all of the applicants. They may only choose some of the applicants for an interview. They may choose according to their degree and what information they put into their resume. Even though the degree is not very important, the employer will base their decision on whether they have a degree and skills to get a chance of interview.

Certainly, I agree that experience is very important. Most of the employers will employ a person who has experience in their field. They do not want to train the applicant.

September 21, 2015 Once again I am unsure of what to write about, but I will try my best. The last time I wrote, it was about my redesigning my website so it can be more responsive. Currently the design that I have in mind seems a little bit too restrictive at the moment. However, thankfully it was something that could be fixed with a few angled adjustments, so it was not a big deal. As to my resume and pdf portfolio there was some pieces I decided to take out due to them either being incomplete or generally not up to par. I decided to add a lot more print pieces to it since I have more of those pieces than I do for web design. Which is frankly kind of sad, since I once preferred web design to graphic design I still do I suppose, but one must do with what they have. In between redesigns and coding, I look for web design/graphic design internships and bookmark them for later use. When I get tired of coding, I usually go through my pdf portfolio and see what can be done there instead of relaxing for a bit. I see that some of my business cards need some updating and so does some of the graphics in the portfolio. Since the portfolio cover is based on the old design I once had for it, I decided to bring in the design from my website to tie the two pieces together. Becoming an electrician is starting to look really good at the moment.

Today is September 17, 2015 I finally started writing my journal but I am honestly not sure what to say. A few weeks ago I got some advice about my portfolio and resume, they need some touching up before I should arrange any interviews for my internship. I have decided to start on my website portfolio due to it being my one of the ways I will be showing my portfolio. I started off by thinking if whether my website would be responsive or unresponsive. I decided to go down the responsive route since I was not sure when and how the website would be viewed. So far I have finished designing the homepage, about, resume, and portfolio page all that is left is the coding. Along the way I was debating on whether I wanted the website to be one page or just a regular website, currently I am leaning more towards a regular website. However, halfway through I had to stop and take a break, while on that break I begun to think about my future, my career. “Did I want to keep doing this until I was 50? Do I even love Web Design anymore? I liked coding websites, but that was it.” The more I started thinking about it the more I realized that I probably do not like Web Design anymore. Maybe when I’m done with college and my internships I should take a break from it for a while, maybe I will fall back in love with it…Or maybe I’ll just become an electrician or plumber.