Career Beyond the Cutting Edges

As I realized a lot of readers of the blog are mostly college students. I would like to share some stories I gained this summer and winter. An IT internship, not in a cutting edge IT business, but is still interesting to peek and explore.

This summer and winter break I interned with McDonald's home office (headquarter) located in Oak Brook Illinois. I really enjoyed both the work and the internship events that they organize for us, over a hundred interns from all around the United States: New York to Los Angeles.

So what kind of work are available? I, myself, work in a department called IT Restaurants. Basically this department develop an idea and do a lot of testing for new hardware or software that can potentially be implemented in McDonald's restaurant around the globe. I specifically worked in Retail Technology, and my manager is a product owner for store controller (Server) and Global Handheld Product (their mobile ordering device). So during this past summer I tested their mobile ordering system according to their test requirements and also build a new Kitchen Video System (KVS) related to the current store controller capability. This project was fun, my manager even brought me along to Microsoft home office in Seattle last summer to build a lab over there. So I got to meet some people that made a new server product for Microsoft. BUT, their internship/ careers does not stop there. Most IT people worked in the Plaza building and IT itself covers about 5 out of the 8 floors in the whole building, which actually surprises me because I didn't expect that much IT involvement in a fast food chain restaurant. Then I realized that IT careers or opportunities do not only come from IT businesses like Google or Apple, but also McDonald's or other retail businesses!

Surprise! Surprise! Unlike other companies, the hugeness of McDonald's itself allow them to divide the IT department into: Global and US. I worked with the Global side of IT, which is why I got a manager in the US but his manager is located in Paris and we also got to work with another employee located in the UK, Australia, and Malaysia. Some of the other departments available in McDonald's are IT Foundation, IT Change, US IT, and many more. For example, some of my friend worked for the business intelligence and data warehousing, so there are opportunities for data fans! My job mostly deals with system development life cycle, a lot of documentation and requirement gathering. My other friend works for the learning system, which also requires a lot of documentation. Lastly and interestingly, I also have a friend who tests hardware whether it can survive the cold of the freezer or the heat of an oven, because you know that in a restaurant environment those screens better stay for a while! Other careers beside IT are accounting, restaurant architecture, marketing, global inclusion, public relations, social media, or legal even. There are a broad range of choices you can go about.

Beyond work, life and social interaction there is also very pleasing. Day one of orientation for interns, I already got a lot of friends and fun people that I hang with during and even after internship. The program also provides us meeting McD's CEO and took picture with him, wally ball, and some volunteer activities for different intern groups. I also got to visit McDonald's innovation center together with a group of intern. For an even extra point, I do not only socialize with interns, there are a bunch of McDonald's events such as Golfing and Dragon Boat race that allows me to socialize with McDonald's employees and consultants as well. To sum it up, it was a really precious experience. Which is why I am writing a post to encourage you to take a peek at their career or internship opportunity!

After the three or nearly four months I spent in McDonald's I have learned so much than what people think was 'flippin a burger'. I learned about server and hardware, requirement documentation, building relationship in work place, and learning to still have fun.







If you are interested in the internship program, I believe they are accepting application now until the spring. If you would like to know more about the program click here
And if you would like to know my personal story on my internship life, click here

I hope you best of luck! Remember, IT career can expand beyond the IT businesses cutting edges!

CA.

Police confirms that Apple Maps are dangerous

The fact that the iOS map app is a completely mess is not a news anymore. Apple itself recognized this fact and encouraged its users to use other similar applications. However, this was not just a friendly advice, it was a very serious warning especially since Australia police is trying to persuade people to use Apple maps because they might have some very serious problems otherwise.

This aspect was possible after a few cases of motorists were rescued by the police because they had to save their  lives after they followed the directions from this app. They were trying to get to a city, to Mildura, but they have been directed towards the national park. The problem, according to the police is given by the fact that Mildura, which is a small town, in the middle of the Murray Sunset National Park which is situated approximately 70 km away from the location.

This shows us the fact that the map is not only inefficient but it could lead to very serious negative effects.  The tests of the police have confirmed this aspect and the fact that this was not just an error of the system, the map is really designed in this way , and everyone should be very careful about this aspect. They have specifically stated "Anyone travelling to Mildura or other locations within Victoria should rely on other forms of mapping until this matter is rectified." (Musil, 2012).

This is perhaps one of the most obvious aspects that reveals the capacities of this app and the fact that using it, might lead to very negative outcomes. The example of the motorists that have risked their lives because of this app is not the only one, but now an authority is able to show these aspects and certify the fact that the app is very dangerous, at least in that case. There are many other examples however, so many that even Apple had to recognize this aspect and could not hide it no more. However, considering the latest aspects revealed by the police, I think it is necessarily for Apple to stop providing this service, that puts in danger the lives of the people, and they should do this at least until they are able to solve their problems. 

Source: cnet.com
MO

Top Gift Ideas for the Holidays

As I researched many websites for the best tech gift ideas for the holiday season, none really caught my eye, nor did they really feel like gifts that I would choose for the top tech gift ideas.  So, I feel the need to offer my top five gift ideas for the techy in your family.

5)  DVD/Video Game

Plain and simple, right?  Who doesn’t like a good movie to watch, especially with The Dark Knight Rises just being released.  Everyone could do with a little more movies in their collection.  It is a cheap, easy gift to find for anyone in the family or any friend.  And with all of the video games out there (Halo 4, Black Ops 2, Assassin’s Creed 3) any guy would love to unwrap their copy of the newest video game to add to their collection.

4) Sound Bar

Let’s face it, HD TVs don’t necessarily have the greatest sound quality.  Most of them have their speakers in the back which prevents them from producing a loud enough sound without turning up the volume all the way.  The sound bar is the perfect solution to this problem.  You are able to point the speaker wherever you please and it is a cheap alternative to a surround sound system. 

3) Camera

Even with the technology available in today’s smartphones, they still do not provide the greatest picture quality.  I for one still carry around my camera to any important even that I know of beforehand.  I prefer it over my camera’s phone because I want to make sure that important events are captured in the highest quality to be remembered forever.

2)  iPod

Let’s face it, everyone wants an iPod (except for me, I guess).  The iPod provides users a quality listening experience for their music.  With the multitude of apps the iTunes App Store provides and the ease of purchase of many songs through the iTunes Store, owners of the iPod are able to take any form of entertainment on the go.

1)  Amazon Kindle Fire HD

This is my number one gift idea.  Any tablet is great in my opinion, but the Kindle Fire HD is affordable and does the tasks users need.  This is especially a good idea for any reader out there.  Amazon Kindle Fire HD is a great gift for anybody of any age.  If you are willing to pay for Amazon Prime, you are also able to browse a multitude of books, magazines, television shows, and movies.  This is very beneficial for any reader or college student looking to purchase books for the eReader portion of the tablet.

This is my opinion of the best technology gift ideas for the techy in your life.  Now, keep in mind that this is just my opinion and I do not know what you or your friend/family member likes.  These gift ideas would provide the most entertainment to anybody.  Happy holidays!

DJ

Not just Apple, Android, or Windows 8

After all the releases of phones such as iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S3, and Windows 8 phone on Nokia series, we seem to forget that there is still another rather powerful label that might enter the competition: Mozilla Firefox. After competing in the browser area, now all these developers are competing with smart phones and potentially tablets. Mozilla developers is currently promoting its new development: Firefox Operating System running in smart phones.

It seemed that the war between open source movement and Microsoft is not quite done yet. Based on what Mozilla's director, Andreas Gal, said Microsoft will probably be the one losing in the competition for this area, and perhaps Mozilla, Android, and Apple are the ones that are going to stay strong in the competition.

As of now, Firefox OS is the only big operating system that uses open source; even Android is half way to open source. Currently Mozilla developer have created some applications such as payment applications on the Firefox OS, but the developers are hoping that users are actively creating applications for the phone, and can distribute it directly to other users, unlike how Apple store works.

While first seeing this OS running on Samsung, I thought I have forgotten Mozilla for a while and the fact that it owns a relatively decent browser. This operating system looks just like Apple iOS and Android's system in the way they organizes the menu and the four icons on the bottom. It looks like they have a great graphics and resolution. However, looking at the video I feel that there is not much to be offered in the phone as far as features and capability. They seem to provide just as much as other phone out there without improving some features or capability that can attract users to switch to their operating system. It is great in which now developers or users perhaps can easily learn and distribute their own application and customize the operating system. However, I still do not see the demand from people or end users, especially, to modify or even get access to the source code. It is great for businesses and their computers, but unfortunately the mobile market is not quite there yet. So, I do not believe this product might be able to be as competitive as the other three giants in the smart phone OS market. But who knows, perhaps in the future it is not just Apple, Android, or Windows 8, but also Firefox.

Source: cnet.com

CA