Hi! I usually go by ‘Dom’, I’m naturally hard-working and outgoing with a positive outlook. I can quickly build meaningful relationships and I gravitate towards people who are self-motivated. Should issues unfortunately arise, I believe in fully understanding the view of all involved by discussing them openly and honestly. I also believe that there is always a reasonable solution that can suit all parties in such instances. I enjoy walking in woodland with my wife and dogs, watching a variety of sports and movies, particularly fantasy or sci-fi, reading fantasy books and trying to keep up with current affairs. I am currently studying toward a Bachelor of Commerce in my spare time, being one year into the six-year, part time degree, I have a long way to go but am enjoying the learning experience. My wife and I are also excitedly expecting our first child on the break of the coming new year, so we are spending lots of time planning for them!
I am interested in IT mainly because it dominates my life! I am totally reliant on it from my social life to tools in my workplace, shopping (click and collect is amazing), entertainment, directions... literally everything I do requires IT. I am fascinated by the apparent complexity of IT and I love the global connectivity that it provides. Since IT dominates my life so much, I am eager to improve my understanding of it.
On a professional level, I want to become involved in financial advising or accounting. Being that IT provides practically all of the tools which are used in that field, I feel greater understanding would benefit me in being a competitive candidate for jobs. I also think it could assist with job retention and management viewing me favourably if I am able to understand technical IT practices or troubleshooting without having to seek help from workplace superiors.
I am particularly interested in the implications that IT can have on sustainable living and a positive future. Although I know very little in this area too, I am excited by the fact that IT will assist in improving technologies to optimise efficiency and reduce harmful effects of technological advancement.
Growing up I was very 'outdoorsy' and have had very little learning in this area. However, I always enjoyed learning tools on the PC. I remember an information website in particular, that taught me about the solar system, and I found it so engaging and interactive. This tool was so much more immersive for me than any physical or verbal learning would have been. At the time, it was my interest in the solar system that had been increased but looking back I am interested in the tool that gave me that experience. In recent times, my interest in IT has been peaked by the overwhelming feeling that to be a successful employee in the future, I need to have some understanding of information technology.
I cannot pinpoint my interest in IT beginning to one particular event, but it became an active goal of mine to improve my IT literacy upon the commencement of my tertiary studies. It is an area which I know little about, but I feel it is imperative to any professional setting. The fear of attempting tertiary education without basic IT skills is another motivator for me seeking learning in this area. I feel studying alongside work will be hard enough, let alone if I am unfamiliar with the technical side of my primary learning source.
IT education was only properly entering the school system as I was leaving it, so I had no secondary level education about it at all. My family were not computer literate and rarely referenced or used the slow and cumbersome desktop in our living room. The lack of engagement with the subject in my youth has really led to me being completely in the dark on the topic. The depth of my knowledge is really using computers, websites and applications at face value as a customer/consumer of the end products. I have no idea about the security issues (other than a looming feeling that I need to protect myself more than I currently do).
I began my tertiary studies with Open Universities Australia, and when given the opportunity to pick an elective subject wanted to challenge myself, step out of my comfort zone and learn some valuable skills that will assist with my education going forward and my professional life. When I selected IT as an area of interest, the support liaison told me that RMIT were one of the best institutions in Australia for delivering a totally online introductory IT course and from there the decision was easy.
As I am studying a bachelor’s in commerce, majoring in accounting and taxation, I expect to learn how to keep up with global financial trends and news, how to respond to changes in those trends, how to navigate the legalities of Australian tax and how to fully understand the accounting cycle of a business. I also expect to learn valuable technical skills in ancillary areas to my primary study subjects, such as IT, mathematics, report writing and more.
The role is to regularly assess, analyse and report on the full financial position of a fruit and vegetable distribution business. The offered Is a role which I one day would like to work (being in financial reporting/accounting) but more importantly, being distributors of vegetables and fruit, the position is within an industry that I would feel good about assisting. The opportunity to audit and potentially reduce costs and carbon footprint of a business which is already providing a more sustainable food option would be great motivation for me to go to work each day and to do my job well. The position also has room for growth to management levels, which I also find important for personal motivation and goal setting in a professional environment.
Since I have no qualifications or experience with accounting, my first goal is to complete a bachelor’s degree in commerce, majoring in accounting and taxation. This is a basic requirement to be accredited by ASIC, the governing body for accounting practices in Australia. Once I have completed my degree, I will look to obtain an internship, so that I can learn key areas of the industry with guidance from experienced professionals, gain experience with budgeting and cyclical reporting get to know useful day to day tools and build toward the 3 years’ experience required by roles such as this, which I would like to work in one day. In the meantime, if the internship does not provide experience with Lettus Distribution system or BI/BO, then I will watch YouTube videos or access industry forums to enhance my knowledge of such products. I could also enhance my knowledge of agriculture or horticulture by taking a vocational break, volunteering with fruit picking seasons in the regional areas of my home state.
My results describe many traits that resonate with me, particularly the strong sense of community I feel when working in a team. The strengths which the test has highlighted are my ability to connect with others, my sensitive and caring nature toward others and my ability to complete everyday tasks routinely and thoroughly. My weaknesses that the test highlights are that I tend to be vulnerable to criticism and peer pressure, I can tend to be too selfless and reluctant to innovate.
In a group setting, I should really focus on if I am utilising my strengths to the best of my ability. I need to speak up if I can see someone is struggling and use my strong communication skills to motivate others. In response to my weaknesses, I need to ensure that I respond well to criticism, maybe asking for more in-depth evaluation of my performance so I can find out exactly what went wrong. I also need to ensure that I do not take on too much work in attempt to help someone that is struggling or in attempt to seem impressive to my peers. This is the most important consideration for me as I regularly notice myself displaying this weakness at work.
I should seek teammates who offer different skill sets to me. Since I have poor abstract thinking ability I should look to pair with creative people. I should also look to add someone who is thoroughly organised and an unemotional thinker to my team as they would provide some structure and critical problem solving to the team.
The results of this test are surprising to me as I thought I would be an activist but that was my lowest score. This might mean that where I have tended myself towards activities in the past because I enjoy doing them, I may not be drawing as much learning from those experiences. I should think about looking for more theoretical learning experiences and taking time to understand and reflect on those experiences.
These results will have me think about this learning style as a potential strength for me. Where I may have jumped at the chance to be the person involved in the activity or conversation directly, I now think I may not be the best person for that role and so should maybe sit back a bit more and research the topic being discussed or reflecting on the thoughts and contributions of others.
When forming a team, I should look for teammates who have different learning styles to mine, that way as a group we should be able to more quickly interpret or learn from any challenge, experience or piece of information that is given to us. Compare this with a team completely comprised of theorists that are asked to learn from a physical teambuilding exercise, they may struggle to learn as much as a group who has an activist as a member.
The results of this test are fairly similar to the Myer-Briggs test result, with my top attributes centralised around the happiness of others and appeasing the masses. My weaker attributes were also consistent with creativity and bravery scoring quite low. In contrast to Myer-Briggs, this test also highlighted that I have other strengths such as gratitude and self-regulation, and other weaknesses such as zest for life, appreciation of excellence and spirituality.
Similarly, to the Myer-Briggs, I should be sure to focus on my strengths and ensure I am utilising my strengths to the best of my ability. I should speak up if any team disputes arise and help those involved to overcome differences and refocus on the task at hand. I should also ensure my weaknesses aren’t getting the better of me. An interesting observation I have had is that when someone is feeling overwhelmed, instead of using my strengths to ease their load, I should try to focus on my weak appreciation and direct that towards them. It might motivate my team members to get back on track without overwhelming myself.
As with the other tests, I believe I should seek teammates who display different strengths and weaknesses to me. A diverse team is much more likely to be able to overcome unforeseen challenges and complications, where a team of like-minded people may be incredibly efficient at one task, but at the slightest hurdle they could completely collapse and require significant external help.
My project idea is to create a real time, map-based, geolocation app, where a user can notify other local app users that there is an area of natural land, such as a beach, park, or river that requires multiple people to help clean rubbish or waste that has accumulated from human activity. In its basic form, the app would pin-drop the users GPS location to a shared map when prompted and send a notification to other users within a specified area. This app would have development potential to include a calendar for scheduled cleans which people can join and a volunteer list from which organisers can send invitations.
With increasing support for sustainable living practices this application would have immediate practical uses and would be well received in predominantly young communities. It not only encourages future focused people to utilise their spare time in an effective and fulfilling way but offers a unique opportunity to connect with likeminded people who they may otherwise have not met. ‘clean connect’ should be adopted by businesses, local government authorities and councils because it can access a volunteer pool who have the potential to relieve costly waste removal programs. Active participants would also be removing potentially hazardous materials which would in turn provide a slight relief to local health services.
‘clean connect’ will be accessible on all mobile devices because accessibility whilst on the move is vital to its relevance. Upon creating an account, it will require a warning message to be accepted, notifying users of the dangers involved in collecting potentially hazardous waste. Upon entering the app, there will be a small tab on the left which can open a menu bar, but the main screen will display as a clean white background with a round green button that says ‘connect’ in the middle. The side menu will have app information, calendar for scheduled cleans, advertising space for local charities looking for donations, edit your profile and settings, such as ‘online status’ and the distance of which the user would like to receive notifications from (e.g. ‘connect me to cleans within 5km’). Once the home screen ‘connect’ button is pressed it should have a nice transition to a map showing the users location. This will have created a pin-drop that other users can see, and other users within their parameters are alerted of the clean. The pin-drop creator can then add a message or picture to the pin-drop to give other users clarity on location or to try and connect by making it sound inviting. I would like to involve a chat function in the pin-drop also, this way connection can still occur even if users are spread out covering a large area of parkland or beach. The applications map should include local bins marked clearly so that users are able to easily dispose of the waste which they collect. The calendar function would be used for creators to schedule cleans in advance. Once a scheduled clean has been confirmed, it will create a clearly marked pin-drop with the time and date of the clean attached. This will prevent double bookings and find a wider reach of potential users for the scheduled time. The creator will also have the ability to invite users whose range reaches the pin-drop of the scheduled clean. Creating your profile will allow an opportunity to add a picture or avatar and a brief description, which might be used to promote other environmentally friendly or community-based work which the user supports. Ethical considerations I must give to the project are primarily to the physical and cyber safety of the users. The users must be warned of the dangers of collecting unknown waste, including carcinogenic materials and sharp objects, but they should also be made aware of the dangers involved with sharing your location with strangers, especially if they are in isolated areas and alone. Though it is not the responsibility of the app to ensure safe practices are followed, it should be noted in case the user isn’t aware of the dangers involved. This leads to the topic of user age restrictions. Part B.57 of the Australian Privacy Principles guidelines state that if an APP body cannot reasonably ascertain on a case-by-case basis whether a person under 18 has the ability to comprehend the information being consented to, then they can assume that persons aged 15 years or older are able to consent unless there is something to suggest otherwise. That said, I think the app should have an age limit of 15 years or above. Other ethical considerations extend to large congregations of app users, as was seen with ‘Pokemon Go’. Scheduled cleans should come with a warning, reminding users not to trespass and to be mindful of their environment.
I would look to be the software developer of the project and use GitHub and Atom.io to create the script. I will need to incorporate a maps system such as Google Maps and because it needs to be available on mobile devices I should ensure I incorporate ‘Google Maps API’. I would use outdoor geolocation technology such as A-GPS or GPS. I would want to make sure that the app has an appealing UI/UX design so that it is user friendly and engaging, which would be essential to the primarily young audience which I am aiming for.
I would need to seriously improve my software development skills as I currently would not know where to begin, to the point where I might be better suited to contracting the work to experienced software developers. I would need to improve my understanding of integrations with components such as ‘Google maps API’ or ‘Network Security Configuration’ and ‘App Transport Security’. I would need to employ a lawyer to ensure that all ethical considerations had been covered and appropriate measures had been taken to ensure the safety of users’ environments in which they operate the app.
The desired outcome of the application is to create a fulfilling and connective experience that facilitates cleaner and safer communities. It would also look to be an effective revenue driving app so that future environmentally friendly ideas could be funded. I would look to sell advertising spaces to sustainable practice companies and to partner with companies looking for a future friendly PR image. As ‘clean connect’ promotes outdoor activity it also has potential to be an advertising space for activewear also. It could develop later to have a purchase extension for a fitness component also.