2. Introductions
● Can everyone in the room share the following?
○ Name
○ Place of work
○ Experience level in the software industry
3. About IdeaNova
● “IdeaNova is a software company with a decade of experience in IT security and secure
video streaming.”
○ Essentially, we provide the “Netflix” service of aircrafts.
4. About Us: Education
● Part-time software engineer interns here at IdeaNova.
● Undergraduate computer science students at North Central College in Naperville, IL.
○ Small Division 3 liberal arts college.
● Time after time Dean’s List Students.
● Fun-fact: PJ Hyett, one of the four founders of GitHub, is an alumni of North Central
College.
5. About Us: Jimmy Tomaszewski
● Intern at IdeaNova since January 2020.
● Previously an IT intern at Reyes Holdings in Rosemont, IL.
○ Also caddied at multiple golf courses for 5 years.
● Senior at North Central College, with graduation anticipated in May 2020.
○ Minor in Mathematics
● Resident Assistant
● College Scholars Program
○ Currently working on a thesis project, developed in Python.
● Career goals: Software Engineer or Front-End Web Developer
linkedin.com/in/james-tomaszewski/
6. About Us: David Ruiz
● Intern at IdeaNova since December 2019.
● Former Retail Associate at Menards.
● Junior at North Central College with anticipated graduation of May 2021.
○ Minor in Finance. Possible major if I can fit it in next year
● First-Generation College Student
● Career Goals: Full-Stack web application engineer.
○ Planned to return back to school for an MBA or MSCS after years of
workforce experience.
linkedin.com/in/druiz7/
7. Overview
1. History of programming languages
2. Popular programming languages
3. How programming languages are taught today
4. How to help entry-level employees who are stepping into the workforce for the first time
8. What is a Programming Language
By definition: A programming language is a formal language, which comprises a set of
instructions that produce various kinds of output. Programming languages are used in computer
programming to implement algorithms.
This means that a language must follow a discrete syntax
so that the program is valid.
9. History of Programming Languages
● Machine code is read by the computer’s central processing unit (CPU), and it
consists of binary numbers.
● Assembly language is a low-level programming language that is designed for a
specific processor.
○ Can be produced by compiling code from high-level languages (such as C or
C++), and also can be written from scratch.
● High-level programming languages are languages that are mostly independent of
the type of processor/computer that the programmer is using.
○ Examples include C/C++, Python, Java, and many others.
10. Popular Programming Languages
● Python - great language all-around, and used a lot for scientific/analytical
purposes.
○ Often used for data mining and machine learning.
● Java - also a great object-oriented language that has a variety of uses.
○ For example, Java is the language used when developing Android apps.
● HTML/JavaScript - used for client-side web development.
● Other popular languages:
○ C/C++
○ C#
○ PHP
11. Current Trends in Popular Computer
Languages and Frameworks Most Liked Languages by Developers
12. How Computer Science is taught to
students today
● At North Central College, concepts in computer science are emphasized just as
much as learning any language.
○ When NCC students study computer science, they start out learning about
basic programming concepts (conditional statements, loops, basic data
structures, etc.).
○ They apply those concepts to basic programming assignments/tasks.
● Once students learn about basic programming concepts, and how to apply them,
students are taught about more advanced data structures and algorithms.
● From there, students can take a variety of electives in topics such as networking,
data mining and machine learning, databases, web applications, and more.
13. What a Computer Science Student Misses
Out on in Education
Since we are mainly taught the theoretical/fundamental parts of computer science, there
are some technologies/practices we would have to learn on the field:
● Docker
○ Way to deliver products as containers
● Modern JavaScript frameworks
○ Angular
○ React
● Unit Testing
● Stress Testing
● Encryption
● Security
14. How Employers/Employees can Help
Computer Science Students Transition into
the workforce
● Warm welcome
○ New hire should feel comfortable in their new workplace
● Mentorship
○ Being able to mentor a new hire is important for their growth
● Being given smaller tasks until they feel comfortable
○ Bite sized tasks that gradually snowball into larger tasks as they gain
experience.
● Promote collaboration
○ New hires == new eyes
● Training
○ A good mix of training/learning and independent tasks is great for entry-
level employees.
15. Summary
1. History of programming languages
2. Popular programming languages
3. How programming languages are taught today
4. How to help entry-level employees who are stepping into the workforce for the
first time
16. Final Thoughts
Questions for us?
Question for you all: How were your guys’ experiences in your first jobs in the industry?
What could’ve been done to improve it?
