Cathy Salvi – Counsellor & Founder of SLCC
This issue Cathy talks about change and how it affects us….
Change is an emotional experience. The most significant change to all of our lives has been Covid-19. How did you feel when words such as: CV-19, pandemic, lockdown, social distancing, self-isolation became the norm? Worried, depressed, sad, angry and stressed-out? Or were you excited, happy to work from home, motivated, energised, and perhaps optimistic about staying at home?
Maybe your feelings were both positive and negative, the odds are you felt something.
Cast your mind back.
Can you remember the change? It is possible there was an emotion attached to that feeling.
Understanding Normal Emotional Responses Is Often Negative
This negativity can block our acceptance of change.
Change Always Means Loss
Negative reactions to change is that people always lose something. Although it is possible to gain something, normally a loss always is involved. Covid-19 affected our lives and lockdown meant school closures. For some, the closures have been a gain but the reality is you lost so much; valuable social interaction with your friends, gaps in our learning, motivation to study. You lost your freedom and autonomy.
With Loss, You Need to Learn Acceptance
You need time to accept this change – not just to throw a switch to say, “Well, that’s just fine.” You need to identify the change/loss, the first step is to understand what it is. Acknowledge your feelings, you have taken a giant first step towards acceptance. Take time to develop a plan.
Accept that your exams might not happen in 2021,
Accept you will have to work harder for weekly assessments and tests,
Accept this is the only way teachers can evaluate an overall grade for you,
Accept you might be better at sitting exams and that opportunity might pass you by,
Accept you might not get into your chosen University,
Accept your plans for traveling might not be possible,
Accept that this Pandemic and outcome is out of your control,
ACCEPT THAT YOU CAN ONLY DO YOUR BEST
And remember, everyone is so proud of your efforts.
Stay calm and change will happen.
Best of luck,
Cathy
When you are no longer able to change the situation, you are challenged to change yourself. And that changes everything. Marc and Angel
A Day in the Life of …an App Developer.
Mobile applications are growing exponentially and so it’s no surprise that there is a growing need for qualified mobile app developers.
They are responsible for developing the applications we use on our phones, both on Android and iOS. These roles provide great salaries and brilliant job prospects, with a range of £85,000-£150,000 and more depending on which company you work for.
What is a Mobile App Developer?
A app developer is somebody that creates functional and aesthetically pleasing apps for people to use on either iOS or Android devices and then looks after the maintenance.
If you are having thoughts about turning your hand to App development find out more about what that entails. A successful app developer tends to start the day checking out what broke overnight, so for the first half an hour of each day looking at what bugs came out overnight is key. Then looking at the customer support tickets that have come in. Many app developers say that this helps them to see their app through the eyes of their customers, the app users.
Unsolved issues can grow and what would have been a small job in time turns into a total rewrite if you let it go long enough.
Keeping in touch with colleagues and clients helps to ensure that everyone is working efficiently and that everyone is working on priority jobs.
Designing the code and looking at ensuring the front and back end of the App work smoothly is all part of the day.
If you train to develop Apps you could consider the following job roles: iOS developer or UI/UX designer.
To help you get onto the right path choose your curriculum subjects carefully.
You could do a foundation degree, higher national diploma or degree in:
Computer Science
Software Engineering
Computer Applications Development
Mathematics
Financial Technology
Entry requirements
You will usually need:
1 or 2 A levels, or equivalent, for a foundation degree or higher national diploma
2 to 3 A levels, or equivalent, for a degree
You can complete a software developer higher apprenticeship.
You may be able to do a creative digital design professional degree apprenticeship.
Entry requirements
To get onto an apprenticeship, you will find it useful to have:
- 4 or 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C) and A levels, or equivalent, for a higher or degree apprenticeship
Take a look at the following sites to help you:
Professional and industry bodies
You could join The Chartered Institute for IT and the Institution of Analysts and Programmers, for professional development and training.
Learn App Making
Core Mobile App Developers
Proto.io
