Monday, May 5, 2014

Researching and Networking



Hello Students,
Your next assignment is to research web designers and developers that live in Santa Cruz County. Developing skills in networking is essential to future opportunities beyond school and college. After researching your designer you will contact them and ask them to visit our class as a guest speaker or to participate in an informational interview either by phone or via email. Hopefully we will have a good number of willing participants to visit our class.

Networking is a valuable skill, it can give you insights into different industries and open job opportunities that may not have been available to you.

Researching and Networking Project:
  • Use the internet to find and research 2 local web designers, developers, programmers or IT specialists. You can use google to refine your search. You could even try looking in the phone book. Look up their website, portfolio or even if they have an office location in town. They could be web designers, coders, IT specialists, engineers, developers, product developers etc. Take time doing the research and find someone who's work interests you
  • List the persons name, website and links to any work they have done as a post on your blog
  • Contact them via email or telephone, refer to the script below as a guide to introduce yourself and ask questions, above all be professional. 
  • If they can't make a public appearance, ask them if they would be willing to give an informational interview either on the phone or via email. Type up the results of your interview and post to your blog.
  • We want to know how they got their training, what is their education, how long have they been working, who are their clients and how do they find new clients, how do they keep their skills current? We also want to know what kind of skills are currently in demand and where do they think the industry will be in 2-5 years? What skills will be in demand in the near future?
  • If you are conducting an informational interview, here are some more questions you can ask
  • When you have completed your research or informational interview create a dossier and email it to me to get credit for the assignment.
Introduction Script:
Dear _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
My name is (your name here) and I am a web design student in the Regional Occupational Program at Santa Cruz High School. I am researching local web designers and IT experts as part of a class assignment. I really like your work and would like to ask if you would be interested in being a guest speaker in my web design class. Our class meets M-F from 9:45 to 11:15 AM, just let us know what date would be best. If you are unable to make an appearance than I would like to conduct an informational interview with you either through email or on the phone if possible. Thank you very much for your time and I look forward to hearing from you.
                                              - Sincerely
                                                 (Your Name Here)
                                                 (Your Email Address Here)
                                                  Santa Cruz High School Graphic Design Student
                                                  http://ropwebdesign.blogspot.com