FOCUS: Covenant University

Top ten qualities of the perfect programmer

1.      Analytical- the ideal programmer can understand the problem, translate and express ideas in clear and readable code, has an analytical and logical mind

2.      Personality – the personality type that perfectly describes the ideal programmer is the melancholy, due to his perfectionist and detail-oriented personality. Some element of the choleric can also be seen in the perfect programmer, i.e. his enterprising and usually independent nature.

3.      Expertise - knowledge and experience for solving client’s problems in the specific context with chosen technologies

4.      Motivation - cares about work, shows enthusiasm, interest and love for programming, he is not just working for money, but he loves to implement interesting ideas in spare time without pay.

5.      Maturity – knows and uses sound software development principles, practices and approaches as agile, design and architecture patterns, domain-driven design, unit testing, re-factoring

6.      Realistic – the ideal programmer must be realistic and understands what is possible, loves simplicity and avoids over-engineering; understands business goals, keeps touch with reality and focus on what should be done.

7.      Synergy - listens, accepts that other people could have better ideas, supports team goals without hidden agenda, shares ideas and knowledge and coach others

8. Communication - effectively communicates and exchanges ideas, supports knowledge and decisions about the system with clear explanations, justifications and answers
9. Constantly improving - has professional goals, good learning skills, curiosity, adaptability and performs constant self correction 
10.  Visionary –the ideal programmer sees the big picture, understands context, trends and people, aligns actions with team and company implicit goals, contributes into building shared vision for the software system.   

 

10 distinguishing attributes of the best musicians

•  A musician should be sociable, musicians like to perform with fellow musicians who are easy to get along with. This camaraderie transcends to their performances which is in turn felt by their audience. Also a good reputation will get you great referrals when you need to audition.

• Musicians  should be creative and in touch with the inner self, since most music attempts to communicate with the soul; music is a language without barriers; a language which speaks to all listeners, even if in different ways.

• A musician must remain optimistic - Remember that you got into music first and foremost because it was inspiring and FUN. Look on the bright side of things, take criticism constructively, and enjoy the process of "getting there".

• A musician must also be very creative in his composition, interpretation and improvisation, and he must be analytical. He must understand the form, structure, theory and style of the music.

• A musician must be able to balance long hours of solitary practice with times of intense teamwork and ultimately, public performance.
• One attribute that differentiates mediocre musicians from high-flying ones is an entrepreneur mentality. To be a musician at the top of his game, you must be self-promoting, innovative, creative, and a net worker.

• Musicians should be adventurous - Learn to love the adventure of driving around the country, sleeping in various places, and playing in dives. Take it all in stride.

• A musician that is really serious about going far in the music industry must be sensitive to emotional content; his ability to convey emotions deeply musically must be on a high.

• A musician must be very patient - From the studio to traveling to rehearsing to making business calls, being a musician requires attention to detail. It takes a lot of practice to get it down perfectly. Being patient and relaxed about the inevitable delays is necessary.

• Encapsulating all, a musician should learn to be thick-Skinned - From the time you first perform in public, some people are going to judge your music harshly. This might come from a label rep or a departing band member or a publisher, but you can't let it get you down. Keep believing in yourself, and move on to the next thing.     

The second day of the career seminar

first day of the career seminar

What makes the best of Lawyers!!

• Before becoming a lawyer, you did a sincere self-analysis and as a result, made a personal and conscious decision to go into law, not because it is a high paying job or due to pressure from external parties(e.g. friends, parents, etc.).
• As a lawyer, one attribute that stands out about you is your undying thirst for knowledge. You love to read A LOT. 
• You also are constantly updated on current happenings in your country and the world generally. 
• Consequently, you are a voracious reader of newspapers, you never miss the news everyday on CNN, and any other means that makes you aware of current happenings, you are in touch with. 
• From your high school days, subjects that really interested you were subjects like History, Literature, and Economics. You generally did well with subjects that were theoretical in nature.
• You are a very hard and smart worker who loves doing research a lot. You also are analytical as you do not take any report or explanation at face value(i.e. the way it looks).
• You are interested in a lot of things and you seem to know something about everything as a result of extensive research. Even with this, you have a plan on what aspect of law you want to specialize in and become an authority. 
• Your ability to appeal to people and their soft spots are on the high side. This is evident in your excellent negotiation skills and your ability to persuade people.
• Attitudes that stand out about you are; firstly your passion for people and to help people, you are a very selfless and caring person. 
• You also are very honest at all times as you aware of the fact that lawyers that engage in shady practice never go far in their careers. 
• You are very orderly and understand the importance of prioritizing tasks. 
• Encapsulating all, as a lawyer who has become a professional, you eventually discover that you really do not have to be a “talkative” to excel in the profession, instead, you noticed that the best of lawyers were not just those who knew how to “talk” but those who knew how to TALK RIGHT. You also noticed that these ones that talked right, above all, were EXCELLENT LISTENERS. Hence an attribute that distinguishes lawyers from lawyers is the ability to listen and deduce the right conclusions.
  

Engineers

As an engineer, you have always loved math and science, especially having a special love for physics. Physics class is usually your most interesting class(except, of course if your physics teacher was really boring and uninteresting). One other subject you equally love is math. You specially do not like to leave any math problem unsolved and you could go any length in research to just get the solution to the problem. You may or may not be so good in Biology or other social sciences, e.g. Economics, but maths and physics are your strengths. Your analysis skills are on the high side and creativity, (i.e. the ability to fashion out solutions out of nothing) is on your side.
Particularly, you are very meticulous in doing things generally, i.e. you pay attention to details. You in some sort tend to be a perfectionist in majority of the things you do, YOU HATE MAKING MISTAKES!
You have an open mind to learn new things. You also are a considerably effective communicator as you know how to convey(pass across) clearly ideas to be implemented. You are a very analytical and logical thinker and a hard worker.
The resultant effect of your “perfectionistic” attitude is that you never give up and can stay for hours, even days on a particular problem till the problem is solved. Notably, you love solving problems.
You usually do not have any problem working for long hours at all and many times may not really have problems with monotonousness. One other strength you have is your ability to work with people. You are a considerably good people-person though this is one of many traits which is more of learnt than inborn.