Chris Milliner

Personal Information

Name

Chris Milliner

Student Number

S3965755

Student email address

S3965755@student.rmit.edu.au

Nationality

Australian

Education

Diploma in Early Childhood Education and Care, Certificate 3 in Early Childhood Education and Care

Languages spoken

English (fluent/native), Spanish (some words), Arabic (some spoken words), German (some words)

Hobbies/interests

My passion in life is finding joy in the small moments. I like to enjoy these moments through walks which give me the opportunity to explore the moment. I really enjoy gardening and DIY projects. I’m also a lover of gaming. The game which I play most often is Minecraft.

Most memorable moment

My most memorable moment in my life would be when I was an educator and teaching the children Spanish. I had a lot of parents approach me that week asking what certain words meant because they had no idea what their children were talking about.

Interest in IT

What is my interest in IT, were did it come from and when?

The earliest memory of IT I have that also sparked my passion for IT is as a child (possibly around the age of 12). I remember my father showing me how MS DOS works and how to see the files on the family computer. This sparked my interest in how technology works. From this, I became interested in Qbasic and got my first taste of basic early programming. As my use of technology increased and IT became a larger part of my life, I began questioning how I can do things easier and how I can use the skills I gain to find solutions to problems I found. I began a career in early childhood education and saw the extensive applications that IT has in the education industry. Through my experience I found not only these application for IT not only from a teaching perspective but also as a directive, management, and member of staff perspective. I quickly began seeing innovative ways IT could be applied to the education field to solve problems I found as an educator and make teaching as a team more efficient.

IT experience

Although I have no formal qualifications or employment in IT, I have experience through hobbies and interests which I have self-taught. As I mentioned in previously, programming sparked an interest for me early on in my life. I began with some Qbasic at this stage and learnt the way computer files are structured in some programs. Later in life I branched out to explore the use of administrative software such as MS Office and Childcare Management Software (CMS) when I performed my role as an early childhood educator. As my time in education came to an end, I developed an interest in gaming. I became very interested in a game called Minecraft which prompted me to begin to create videos on YouTube about my gaming experiences. This led to gaining experience in graphic design, video/audio editing software, java programming and social media.

Why I chose to go to RMIT?

I chose to attend RMIT and study a bachelor of IT for several reasons. I had already studied early childhood education and very briefly architecture through Open Universities Australia (OUA) and found the flexibility of online learning to be the most appropriate way for me to learn and study. After reading through the modules, I would study and discussing my options with a student adviser from OUA, they helped me enrol in a bachelor of IT through RMIT.

What I expect to learn during my studies

During my time studying at RMIT, I expect to learn the basics of IT and the IT industry which will give me a great insight into the details of the IT roles and the role that IT plays in different aspects of life. I’m also hoping to achieve the skills and knowledge required to gain employment as part of a team solving complex problems and making process, tools, and procedures more efficient or easier.

Ideal Job

Click here to view job on Seek

This job first caught my attention because it calls for someone to “design, develop, manage and install” the required software. This would indicate to me that the role would be involved in the project from the forming the groundwork all the way through to monitoring the performance and managing fixes of software. It also calls for someone that will be able to define the functionality and gather user requirements. This information means to me that the role would be working with the company to identify and solve problems that are related to the software that’s developed. From the advertisement, I would describe the role as a position that builds, develops, and evaluates well-made software and is responsible for the technical aspects of this as well as managing a team to assist.

The skills called for by the employer would include working within a web framework which, from my research, is a framework that makes the development of web applications possible (Wikipedia, nd-c) namely PHP which is a general scripting language (Wikipedia, nd-b) for Magento which is a commerce software (Wikipedia, nd-a) that the company uses. The role also calls for at least 10 years of experience as a software engineer as this is a senior role. As a senior role, a responsibility is also to manage an internal team and external team to assist. Managing a team would require teamwork and communication skills. To fulfill the role successfully, time management would also be a required skill of this role. Although no formal qualifications are called for in the advertisement, my research through Seek (nd) indicates I would require at minimum a relevant Bachelor degree.

Currently I’m lacking in nearly all the essential skills called for from the advertisement regarding technical knowledge and needed to research to explore further what knowledge I would need to obtain these skills. Regarding formal qualifications, I currently hold no qualifications that are completed.

Personal Profile

Results of Myers-Briggs test

Protagonist

Extraverted (73%)

Intuitive (63%)

Feeling (77%)

Judging (53%)

Assertive (60%)

Education Planner Learning Test

Auditory (20%)

Visual (25%)

Tactile (55%)

(EducationPlanner, nd)

Favourite Types of Work test results

To me these results show I favour investigative, empathetic, emotionally driven, and kinetic projects. This means that I tend to favour tasks I’m passionate about that can benefit others, are practical and involve problem solving. My behaviour in a team could be affect by the fact that I’m connected to my emotions and benefiting other people. This could mean I could favour as tasks that reinforces a belief or value of my own or take on task which I feel would benefit the team, but I would not be able to complete. It also means that I would tend to take on the investigator role and find solutions to barriers for the team. The results would also mean that I would work well with a team that needed an investigative view or an empathetic view. I would also do well in the physical implementation of tasks. A team would compliment me if they had traits that could manage workloads appropriately and a team that were skilled in evaluating their personal beliefs and values against the tasks involved.