Blog Post 6:Reflection on ES2007S

The journey of the module ES2007S has been both memorable and insightful for me. Ranging from brainstorming over problem solving; presenting and defending our ideas in peer teaching, oral assessment, oral presentation to writing resumes, application letters, proposals, blogs and giving mock interviews, we students have evolved from “taciturn listeners” to confident “attention seekers” dying to speak out and voice our opinion.

Although the module involved a considerable amount of workload, it was totally worth it. It helped me know how to face the real world, that is how to interact and communicate with people in different situations, how to face the job interviews and how to make presentations, all of which are important ingredients for success in this era.

I also learned about the 7’Cs; courtesy, correctness, conciseness, clarity, coherence, concreteness and completeness; which are an important aspect of the writing skills.

Before this module, I had not blogged or presented before.ES2007S helped me achieve the required skills for doing so.

The most wonderful thing about the module was that the classes were full of activities which were fun and exciting. I made a lot of new friends from different country, culture and religion. By talking to all my classmates, I enhanced my inter cultural communication skills.

Thus overall I gained a lot from the module. Of course, this would not have been possible without our supportive and encouraging tutor Ms Lim.She helped me realize my mistakes, criticized me wherever I went wrong and encouraged me to do better and learn more. Thanks maam for all your support, help and guidance.:)

Blog Post 5:Reflection on Oral Presentation

My team “Go Green” had the presentation last week on Thursday. Our topic was about “Solar Energy”. I have been studying environmental education for 2 years and this was one topic I could associate with very well.

Despite having prior knowledge in the area, I found this proposal and presentation very challenging. It involved doing lot of research, contacting halls, SERIS, OES, NUSSU SAVE for interviews; conducting surveys, collating results and finally compiling and presenting all the information to convince NUSEU to accept our proposal.

My part of the presentation involved the “Plan of Action”. I tried to incorporate all the comments of Ms Lim while practising my speech text and rehearsed a lot in front of my friends. To speak honestly, I think I did a better job this time than my peer teaching presentationJ. However, there is still some room for improvement.

While presenting, I think I spoke at a little fast pace which might have made it difficult for a few to grasp the information but overall I think I pulled it off well. I was very confident and energetic while presenting and the bright, smiling faces of my colleagues and audience helped me boost up my morale even further. I used both verbal and non verbal cues while speaking and maintained a good eye contact with my audience. I think my tone of voice was also quite appropriate while presenting.

The Q/A session was a bit difficult to deal with. We were bombarded with a lot of questions but my team and I managed to emerge successfully out of it. According to me, I was successful to a certain extent in clarifying the doubts put forth to me. I also managed to actually implement Ms Lim’s advice on how to deal with the curious audience J.

Also, this time, keeping into consideration all the comments from my classmates, I dressed up in full sleeved shirt, had my hair pinned and a smile on my face.

I hope I came out as a confident speaker and was able to convince NUSEU to accept our proposal.:)

At the end,I can passionately say that I had an enjoyable time working with my group-mates. The disagreements were solved in the most rational way possible, everyone was considerate to others and we all were more than willing to help each other out. We started out as a group and ended up a a team. This experience is what matters the most to me!

Evaluating Intercultural Behavior

Singapore is an island of miscellaneous cultures. When such diverse cultures come together, fostering inter-cultural skills, behavior and communication becomes quite essential to live in harmony and avoid miscommunication and conflicts.

I witnessed an intercultural conflict between two men, one Indian and one Japanese while sitting in a restaurant at Little India.

It was a weekend and the restaurant was bustling with people coming in to cherish the famous food. I was sitting with my group of friends having a great time eating the delicacies.Soon, two people came in, one was an Indian guy and another was Japanese. Since all the tables but one were occupied these guys decided to sit together at the last table remaining. Their table was near mine and I could clearly see their actions and hear their conversations. Both of them kept staring at each other, looking at the clothes, each other’s faces and other things and avoided communication for some time. The waiter came in to ask for their order. They placed their respective orders.

While they were waiting for their food to come, they started a small conversation by introducing themselves. However, they had a hard time trying to pronounce each other’s names. After much struggle they succeeded. The Japanese guy was named Daichi and the Indian guy was named Ravi.

Each had trouble understanding the accent and pronunciation of the other one while talking in English and were basically communicating only through hand gestures which made conversation all the more difficult .Soon the food came in and they were saved from their awkward situation.

While eating, Daichi lifted the soup bowl to his mouth and started making weird loud noises of sipping the soup. Ravi couldn’t understand what was happening so he just continued eating silently. He soon realized that Daichi was making those weird noises while hiding his face behind the bowl and then smiling at him. Ravi misinterpreted the situation and thought that Daichi was mocking or being rude to him. He first requested Daichi not to make the sound but Daichi was unable to understand what Ravi was saying because of his speed, so he continued making those noises while nodding in assertion to what Ravi was saying without understanding it.

Ravi got very agitated and suddenly got up from the table to leave. Sensing trouble, the waiter came in to enquire about the situation. Ravi explained to the waiter about the situation; meanwhile, Daichi couldn’t understand what had frustrated Ravi so much. The waiter on realizing the situation told Ravi to calm down and further explained him about the Japanese culture that they lifted the bowls to not spill or waste food and made those slurping noises to praise the chef/cook for their good food .Ravi realized his mistake and immediately apologized to Daichi and things were back to normal again.

After this small incident, the atmosphere at their table completely changed and became quite lively and vibrant. Both the men were suddenly very interested to know more about each other’s cultures, traditions and practices. They had a long discussion ranging from food, language, accent, clothes to art and literature.

This small incident just tells me how important it is to be good at communication. It requires patience, being an active listener and an efficient speaker to communicate your message across to the other person successfully. If both Ravi and Daichi had been a little more patient and had good communication skills, they wouldn’t have faced difficulties due to speed, accent or pronunciation.

This situation also tells us about the different cultures we have in this world and how each is different in its own way .The way of praising a chef for someone might be rude for another one. It is thus very essential to have respect for each other’s cultures and religions.

Application Letter

Job Advertisement

Advertised on 27-8-10.

Application deadline on 26-9-10.

Software Engineer

(Singapore[Map])

Responsibilities:

• Software Development in .NET/J2EE Architecture Platform, driver, application and utilities development works
• To work across a wide range of countries, people, solve business issues and liase closely with partners
• Help drive strategic business growth in region by understanding products, solutions.
• May be required to perform pre/post-sale support and training.

Requirements:

• Diploma/Degree in Electronics Engineering/Computer Engineering /Computer Science/Info-Communications
• At least 1-2 years' experience in application development using Java/.NET languages
• Strong understanding of OODC, n-tier application development
• Strong skills in C#, ASP, ASP.Net, Javascript, Visual Basic (COM+), VB.Net,ADO.Net,.NET Framework, Web Services/SOAP and HTML
• Proficient in C/C++ Programming
• Understanding of current RFID technologies, architectures and topologies are added advantage
• Independent, dynamic and technologically-inclined.
• Able to front customer, present solutions and articulate well.
• Fresh graduates with good knowledge in RF and Java/C or with relevant industrial attachment experience are welcome to apply

Application Letter

37 Prince George Park Residences

Residence #4 – 15-4L

National University of Singapore

Singapore 118430

(65)83039870

Kripa.agarwal@gmail.com

September 1, 2010

Mr. Chen Su Lin

NEC Asia Pacific Pte Ltd

1 Maritime Square

#12-10 HarbourFront Centre

Singapore- 009253

Dear Sir

Application for software engineer

In response to your advertisement for a software engineer on the website http://www.jobstreet.com.sg/jobs/2010/8/n/20/2354169.htm?fr=J on August 27, 2010 please consider my attached resume for the post.I have read about NEC a lot in magazines and on internet and would definitely like to work here. Even though I am a fresh graduate in Computer Engineering with the degree of Bachelor of Engineering from National University of Singapore, my resume will illustrate that I possess the required skills for the job.

In the last four years at NUS, I have done ample of CCA’s which has improved my potential and existing knowledge. I was the IT Director of Corporate Social Responsibility Movement, a student interest group at NUS. As an IT Director I made a whole new website for the committee using my skills in HTML, DHTML, and ASP.NET with C# and PHP. Also, being a Director I learned how to communicate and work effectively in a team. Besides, I have also served a role of Marketing and Web Designing Executive of Tembusu College for last two years. I now possess the required qualities of teamwork and a strong knowledge in web designing along with software engineering.

I have been doing programming in C++/Java since last 3 years which has given me enough practice to take it at a professional level already. I have also proven my communication skills through being an assistant chair for World MUN.As an assistant chair, I communicated with delegates from all over the world and helped organize the whole event. This ability of mine will help the company to liaise with partners and clients from all over the world. Thus, I have proven my ability to manage large scale projects, consistently keeping within the time and budget constraints.

In review of your company’s objectives and demands for the job, I believe that I can fulfill the requirements of the software engineer well. I will look forward for your interview call.

Thanking You

Yours sincerely

Kripa Agarwal

Interpersonal Conflicts in Life(Part 2,Just for fun)

I just came up with two stories while thinking about what to write in my blog post and i thought why not share both of them with you all.This is my unofficial blog but it's pretty interesting to read.So here's my blog,just for fun.

Conflict is part of every relationship. If you have a relationship, conflicts are bound to happen. The most important point is how you react and respond to those interpersonal conflicts and up to what level are you successful.

I faced a similar interpersonal conflict recently with my friend from junior college, back in India named Rahul.

Rahul was the cool guy of the college, good at playing football, captain of football team, lead guitarist in a band. Despite being the famous guy in college he was a down to earth fellow, and both of us got along very well as friends. I, on the other hand was a girl focused on my studies and least bothered about guys and relationships. Since Rahul and I were great friends, my colleagues were always under the impression that there was something going on between us. Both of us never paid attention to these rumors because we valued our friendship more than anything else.

After a few months in JC, some of Rahul’s friends apparently made him believe that I liked him a lot and since he never approached me in that way, I was hiding my feelings from him.

Rahul believed his friends and once when we were chatting on Gtalk, he started flirting around with me.

He said all the nicest things possible, about me being pretty, sensible, simple and that he liked me a lot.

First I was a little surprised on reading his messages but then I apparently thought he was just fooling around and joking as always and I decided to play along with him. So, I replied with all the romantic answers possible to his messages. We both didn’t realize that anything was wrong.

While chatting he had asked me out on a date to some posh restaurant and I had replied “Sure, why not! That would be great”. I really didn’t think it over before replying. I thought he was just flirting.

So, on the day when we had decided to go on a date he actually came over to my house all dressed up and I got the shock of my life seeing him. I just started laughing without even bothering to ask him whether he was serious. He got too embarrassed and sad and left without a word. After he left, it struck me that he might have been hurt.Now, the situation was reversed, and I thought Rahul liked me and I had hurt him by laughing on his face and he thought that I along with his friends had played this dirty joke on him.

Over the next few weeks, both of us avoided each other and never even talked about what had been the actual problem.

Sometime later, in one project we were put together as a group and had to work together. It was during that time that we started talking to each other a little and then finally I gained my strength to apologize to him about the incident that had occurred and I told him that I didn’t know that he liked me. Rahul was quite surprised on hearing this and said that he had come on the date because he thought I liked him and that’s why I had agreed on dating him online and then after reaching there he had finally realized that he was made a fool.

That was the moment of clarification and after that we both realized what had actually happened. We had a hearty laugh about that incident and we returned back being good friends again.

I just wonder if actually we wouldn’t have been put in group together what would have happened. Any suggestions on what were our mistakes and what should we have done earlier to resolve it?

Interpersonal Conflicts In Life

Every relationship undergoes its phase of interpersonal conflicts which either strengthens the bond of the relationship or weakens it completely. I saw a similar conflict between two best friends in my college, back in India.

I had two classmates named Varsha and Rita in my batch. Both of them were very intelligent, smart and close competitors in studies. Despite being close competitors, they were best friends. The only difference between them was in their nature; Varsha was a friendly person with high emotional intelligence who could easily associate and mingle with people around her; on the other hand, Rita lacked the social skills and kept to herself.

Soon after the JC started, the college was buzzing with the news of student president elections. The fact that the president was to be chosen from our batch had aroused much enthusiasm from my colleagues and all had been excited about the upcoming event. Rita and Varsha were amongst the people who got nominated by the teachers for the post. They were both quite excited on being nominated and desperately wanted one amongst them to win.

A few days later, the campaigning for the elections started. Both the girls worked very hard and tried their best to gain support from the crowd of students.But,seeing Varsha attract more people due to her social skills, pangs of jealousy started rising within Rita and she started behaving rudely with her friend. Varsha, on the other hand just ignored Rita’s weird behavior thinking that campaigning might be stressing her friend out.

On the day of results, it was announced that both Rita and Varsha had had a very narrow gap between the numbers of votes but Varsha had emerged out as a winner finally. Rita felt miserable at her loss and left the stage without congratulating her friend.

Meanwhile, Varsha decided to throw a party for her success. She went to invite her best friend first for the celebrations but Rita mistook Varsha’s gestures for invitation to the party as a mockery on her failure and she rudely snubbed Varsha away saying that she didn’t want to attend any useless party. Varsha felt very bad after listening to such harsh comments and left without a word.

A rift was created between the two friends.

The main problem seen in the above situation is the lack of emotional intelligence in Rita and the misunderstanding/miscommunication between the two friends. The lack of emotional intelligence in Rita makes her showcase her jealousy, anger, sadness(lack of “Self Management” and “Social Awareness”) in front of everyone which makes her all the more unpopular. Also, she mistakes Varsha’s friendly invitation to celebrate success with her as a taunt on her loss which causes a misunderstanding to crop up between the two friends and they walk away from each other.

According to me, to solve this, the best way could be that both of them meet up, talk to each other and try to understand the emotions and feelings of each other. Varsha, being the one with high EQ should approach first and try to understand Rita’s reasons for being rude and explain to her the real purpose of the party invitation, and Rita, on the other hand, should try and figure out her own fault and listen to Varsha’s arguments.

What do you think will be the best way to solve this dispute?

Importance of Effective Communication

In this world, effective communication is crucial in all aspects of life, be it business, job, or friendship. The ideas that a person possesses, no matter how brilliant they are, would turn futile if that person is unable to share them with others. Therefore, to achieve success in all endeavors, it is essential to communicate effectively.

I am pursuing a course in computer engineering. After graduating I would want take up a job in some big software company (e.g. Microsoft).To get into such a big company would involve not only excellent technical skills but also effective communication skills; skills to write an excellent job resume, application letter and give an outstanding interview. The competition in this era has increased so much that companies seek people with good communication skills as their first choice in job interviews since the technical skills are more or less same for everyone. Doing well in interviews involves not only knowledge in the subject but also no nervousness or stammering in voice, right facial expressions, correct use of gestures, nonverbal cues and a confident look; all of which comes if you are good in your communication skills. Also, working in software companies involves teamwork, presentation skills and writing concrete project proposals which are again a part of effective communication.

Therefore, it is extremely important for me to be good at communication and be able to convey my message across to others even if they are from a different culture or country; or possess a different accent.