Chris Choing's Blog

Data Centric Application Development- MIS3501

On the more technical side of being an MIS major, we are required to take a programming class. In Data Centric Application Development or MIS3501. This class taught us how to write script in PHP or Personal Home Page. PHP is an open source programming language that is available using XAMPP and Eclipse. XAMPP is bundled with Apache, a web server application, and mySQL, a database application. Eclipse is used as a workbench to write, troubleshoot, and view your work!

The beginning of the class taught us the basic language structure and we ran basic projects to gain a better understanding of how things worked. As the class progressed we started to tie things together and develop more advanced php based website parts. I learned how to create forms, pass information using GET & POST, use Cascading Sysle Sheets code (CSS)  and integrate the three layers together : Database, Business, and Presentation.

It is a great class that really challenges you technically and will prepare you with the skills needed to become a programmer.

In the Summer of 2011, I was given an awesome opportunity to work at AstraZeneca in Wilmington, DE for 3 months. The 28 mile 45+minute commute was a minor detail compared to the experience of working at a big corporation. I had the job title of US Information Services Intern and it having intern in the title did not mean get coffee and dry cleaning for upper management.

My task for the summer was to research a knowledge repository tool and make a recommendation to upper level management. I was overwhelmed at first, but I had to adjust quickly because I knew the importance of the task. I conducted stakeholder interviews, gathered requirements, developed case studies, did system testing, gathered content, created a Wiki site, and made a recommendation to upper level management.

Team work was very critical in this internship. I collaborated with other interns to present to an audience of 150+ employees about our experience and what we did over the summer. With diligent practice and preparation, our team succeeded and we got great feedback.

Temple also offered a summer class called Co-Operative Experience SUM11. For this course, we provided our instructor status reports that we created bi-monthly as well as  goals and any problems we encountered. This was a good chance to reflect on my work in a fast paced environment. I was able to take a step back and prepare for the next two weeks as well as talk about my accomplishments for the time period.

Below is an attachment to the presentation that was required once we returned to school the following semester.

MIS 3581 ChrisChoing Presentation

Change Leadership- MIS3535 

Formerly known as Project Management, Change Leadership has taught me how to plan, manage, and lead business change. The first half of the class started by learning the skills necessary to become an Alpha Project Manager. These skills include having the right attitude and belief, communicating with your team, approaching the project with extreme preparation, building relationships, and demonstrating leadership. The early part of the semester was a reality check. For the MIS class of 2012, these skills are a must have in order to succeed in such a competitive workforce.

The second half of Change Leadership worked in tangent with the first half. It focused and taught us how people changed their organizations, good and bad, what worked and what did not. Our class used the book The Heart of Change by John P. Kotter and Dan S. Cohen. This book consisted of articles and real life experiences. It also stressed the 8 important steps needed to successfully implement change. The 8 steps are :

• 1.Increase Urgency
• 2.Build the Guiding Team
• 3. Get the Vision Right
• 4. Communicate for Buy In
• 5.Empower Action
• 6.Create Short- Term Wins
• 7. Don’t let up
• 8. Make Change Stick 

I enjoyed this part of the class particularly because it shows how important change is and how difficult it is to implement. The Heart of Change is a great book and being able to hear about the experiences of people on every level of the organization allows you to relate to many different perspectives.

What if you had an important event or assignment due? but…. you’re on Xbox playing Call of Duty and lost track of time.. Heres an idea for a application that would remind you with on screen notifications once its approaching! Read Here for more.

What if your Kindle had a GPS tracking where you can track it if it was ever stolen or lost?? Read more Here. This is only a hypothetical idea, but if this could work, imagine what else you could track! It may be hard for this to happen because of security and other questionable uses..

Ever feel like you can’t talk to anyone in your class for help because you don’t know them or it just feels weird?? I had an idea for the App Store to offer a application that allows just that, a means for communication for just students!

Heres a new flash assignment regarding the security of Cloud computing. Do you know where your data center is? Do you know who has access to your data?? I would be scared… but anyway heres a fictional letter to the CIO of a beverage company.

Heres an exciting technology that speeds up recovery time after a hard drive has crashed, or setting up new labs, and workstations in a quick amount of time! Bare Metal Restore, not only saves the business time and money, it makes life much easier!

Please share your comments, thoughts, concerns!

Every couple weeks, I have to write a “Flash Research Assignment” which basically is a quick persuasive paper that a internal or external IT position has to write to convince the CFO to fund the new project that benefits the business in some form.

Heres an assignment on a Tier III Data Center that my IT Architecture class had to do. We had to play the role of a Chief Technology Analyst and persuade the CFO to dish out the money to fund the new project.

Please comment with any comments, thoughts or concerns!

Welcome to Chris Choing’s Blog

Senior
Expected Graduation Date : May 2012
e-mail: Christopher.Choing@temple.edu

Education History:

Major: Management Information Systems
Temple University’s Fox School of Business
Philadelphia, PA

Professional Information

ECC Computer Consultant
Member of Association Information Systems
Philadelphia, PA