Arden University

Computing With Foundation Year

Introduction to Academic
Skills and Professional Development

STU97458

Mohammad Ahmad

1895
Task 1:

Soft Skills for Computing Graduates

Soft skills are an important aspect of a graduate’s work life, and identifying
which ones are the most important is essential. To do that we’ll go through
some articles to provide us with some potential answers and potentially
discover new things about soft skills.

 Entry 1:
o Lauren Katalinich, L. K., (16/12/2020), Five essential soft skills for
the computer science of the future.
o This article as the name suggest, describes five essential soft skills
of computer science that any graduate should know for their
future in computing. It tells us how employers now are looking for
more than just good test results and that it is thanks to soft skills
that someone might be chosen for a position. A very nice and
informative article that aims to inform graduates looking to
improve their skill repertoire. In the end the author lists each
individual quality a graduate is expected to learn to improve their
chance in their future career, which include: Communication and
presentation skills, Empathy, Curiosity, Business acumen,
Adaptability.
 Entry 2:
o Will Erstad, W. E. (09/11/2017), The perfect balance of hard and
soft skills employers are seeking.
o The article begins by asking what an employer might be looking in
a potential recruit, it then goes on to explain this by analysing the
top skills employers are looking for during the hiring process. The
author then goes into detail about a number of skills both soft and
technical and explains how graduates must find a balance
between both types for a well-rounded toolkit of skills. It then
makes a point that while difficult, it is likely that a graduate
already has the skills that employers are seeking and should do
their best to start from the basics if they are to advance further.
 Entry 3:
o Jennifer Schoenle, J. S., (09/04/2016), Soft skills advice for
computer science students: Start cramming on interdependence.
o This article opens up talking about how an IT career works in the
real world and what how students could better prepare before
joining. The author then proceeds to explain how technical
knowledge isn’t technical skill, companies seek to cultivate
technical skills, and thus there isn’t a need to waste time on extra
classes that cultivate your technical skills when you can focus on
your other abilities that could help graduates in other areas. The
conclusion it all comes to is that, since most companies are
looking for people that don’t self-implode when they enter the
work environment, its necessary to grow in your soft skills as to
keep up with the ever-changing work environment.
 Entry 4:
o Vasu Kamboj, V. K., (28/09/2021), Computer science skills to put
on your resume.
o An article that talks about the kinds of skills one can put on their
resume for a higher chance at employability. It starts by listing off
different skills from each category such as Hard skills, soft skills,
and coding languages. The audience in this case are the fresh
graduates looking to improve their CV to better impress future
employers, and to do that they are given examples of what skills
to put in their papers that would appeal to a potential company.
In the end the article does a good job at listing a multitude of
options one can add to improve their resume.
 Entry 5:
o Pavan Vadapalli, P. V., (21/01/2021), Top 10 skills for every
computer science professional in 2022.
 o The article explains that companies are always on the look for
professionals to join their ranks, and that if you wish to enter this
industry you should have a few prerequisite skills to increase your
chances. Though mostly aimed at true professionals rather than
fresh graduates, the skills described by the article are completely
viable and more than likely necessary to fresh graduates. After all
points are addressed, the author closes off by saying that although
these skills are important, willpower and perseverance alongside
everything else that was mentioned is required to truly improve
beyond one’s scope.

Task 2:

Job Offer at Vestigo

Description:

After looking through many applicable offers as a graduate data analyst, I came
across an offer that provided me with the best information about my potential
work and its requirements. The offer was for a Graduate Analyst at Vestigo, a
credit risk and data analytics position. To start off, the job description provided
a lot of helpful information about the company, its benefits, and other details. I
used this information to familiarize myself with the company and to see if I had
what it takes to apply. As far as technical skills required, the soft skills the offer
seemed to be more interested in were the ability to problem solve, a desire to
learn and strong communication skills, all of which I already possess meaning I
was on track to fulfil every criteria. Of course, given that I did not possess a full
diploma yet, I unfortunately could not say I qualified for this position.
Feelings:

Going through the offer had left me a little excited at the prospect of potential
challenging work but also a little anxious if had all the prerequisites ready. The
company thankfully seemed pretty relaxed and understanding, making me less
anxious about things as I read through.

Evaluation:

To evaluate this experience, it was very informative when it came to telling the
things a company is looking for in a graduate. There is obviously a few number
of expectations from a potential employee, and surprisingly enough the part of
the offer that talked more in depth about the required skill focused greatly on
soft skills. It was a really enlightening to realise how much emphasis companies
put of soft skills but also a little frustrating that I couldn’t get details on other
types of skills they might find helpful.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the emphasis on soft skills in a job offer is much more important
than the level of said skills tends to be. Although technical skills are important
for a graduate to have when entering a new workplace, soft skills can help with
bridging the gap between applicant and company much easier, and it helps the
integration process as most are personal skills that can help you in your day-to-
day life.

Action Plan:

For my future action plan, in case I come across offers as interesting as this one
I will make sure to polish my soft skills alongside my technical skills now that I
know how important they are for future job prospects. In the short term I aim
to discover more uses that soft skills can have, and in the long term I hope to
have mastered the ones I am most good at plus be able to perform adequately
even in the skills that I am not so great at.
Task 3:

Description:

During the course of this module, I’ve been introduced to quite a few concepts
of academic skills and how to professionally develop. Each lesson provided me
with a number of different topics to think about on how to better understand
the kinds of skills I will need to develop for the future. Among these there were
some parts that stood out in particular.

Lesson 1, the introduction to the whole module. In here I began learning of the
different skills one can acquire such as transferable skills, skills that could come
from any area of one’s life such as sports or volunteer work, they help identify
a personal problem and find a solution for it, and with general problem solving.

Lesson 2 introduces many different types of computing roles that a graduate

can aspire to become, which gave me many ideas as to where I could go and
specialise in the future. It also helped with understanding how one can grow
and develop using well thought out plans, plans that can help you accomplish
your daily tasks while also improving yourself.

Lesson 3 provided ways to search for important information whether it be on

the web, books, or academic journals. The different ways to search information
both academic and non-academic is useful for more than just work skills, as in
our daily lives we could need to use certain bits of information and finding out
how to search for those bits can be very helpful.

Lesson 4, academic writing and reading. This last lesson explained quite well a
form of writing that is useful to use both in and out of work, a way of writing
that is formal and easy to understand, includes evidence for the reader to
reference and focuses on the question asked. There are many types of
academic writing, but these are some of the common traits they possess.
Feelings:

During these lessons I felt quite intrigued by the different skills just one role in
computing could require. Learning of all the prerequisites was important and it
showed when looking at how many places desire these types of skills in all the
potential employees who apply, and it did make me happy to know what I did
have already and what I lacked.

Evaluation:

To evaluate this experience, I would say that it was informative and intriguing.
Both because it provided me with necessary knowledge about things that I’m
going to need in the future, but also because it gave me the chance to test out
and see what I need to improve on.

Analysis:

Analysing each piece of information was hard, but it did show minor skills can’t
be taken lightly and are very likely to help me if I polish them. Among gaining a
plethora of ideas of what skills could help where, the lessons also introduced a
lot of new concepts that will definitely help in any given career.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, these lessons were helpful in understanding the structure of the

job market and what each individual company could be looking for in a future
applicant. This along with general understanding of skills used in a workplace,
and skills used in day-to-day life, guarantees that I will be able to tackle any job
offer knowing full well what is important to have and to present to my future
employers.
Action Plan:

Thanks to this, I shall begin focusing on certain parts of my skillset, growing the
ones that I already possess but also trying my hand at others as they will all be
very important both on and off the job. I will try and set up a timetable that
will allow me to continue my day-to-day work but also work on improving the
skills I find myself most lacking.
 Reference List:

Lauren Katalinich, L. K., (16/12/2020), Five essential soft skills for the computer
science of the future. Available at:
https://www.london.ac.uk/news-opinion/london-connection/feature/five-
essential-soft-skills-computer-scientist

Will Erstad, W. E. (09/11/2017), The perfect balance of hard and soft skills
employers are seeking. Available at:
https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/technology/blog/5-soft-skills-
programmers-need/

Jennifer Schoenle, J. S., (09/04/2016), Soft skills advice for computer science
students: Start cramming on interdependence. Available at:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/soft-skills-advice-computer-science-students-
start-jennifer-schoenle

Vasu Kamboj, V. K., (28/09/2021), Computer science skills to put on your

resume. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/computer-science-
skills-put-your-resume-vasu-kamboj

Pavan Vadapalli, P. V., (21/01/2021), Top 10 skills for every computer science
professional in 2022. Available at: https://www.upgrad.com/blog/skills-for-
every-computer-science-professional/

Vestigo Partners Ltd, Graduate Analyst / Credit Risk & Data Analyst. Available
At: https://uk.indeed.com/viewjob?cmp=Vestigo-Partners-
Ltd&t=Graduate+Analyst+Credit+Risk+Data+Analytic&jk=b5141cb31af8a9b9&
q=graduate+data+analyst&vjs=3