Honors Foundation Interview

Honors Foundation Interview

Tim Thornburgh

Software Engineer

Interviewed by: Brayden Anderson

Background

TiM's

Mine

Tim had been a software engineer at IBM for 17 years as a Quality Assurance Lead and Technical Head. IBM is a leading software company and the largest research company in the world.

Computer Science Major at Kennesaw, prospective Software Developer

Questions

How do you use Critical Thinking in your job on a more daily basis? What things do you have to critically think about?

In what areas of your job do you use leadership? How do you specifically use it, and how has it changed the way that something gets done?

How are creativity and innovation used in your workspace? Do you often get space for it to be used? Time off, time to relax, etc.

What times has effective communication staved off disaster, and what times has ineffective communication created it? How important would you rate communication?

At what times have skills from other jobs or things you have learned outside of your job helped you in your job?

Where do you use information fluency? That is the ability to critically analyze information and draw conclusions about it (think scientist with the scientific method, or someone reading a book and grasping its underlying meaning).

How do you appreciate diverse perspectives in your workplace? Where is that helpful in the workflow process?

Critical Thinking

Response

Application

Question

Resource allocation is a vital part of working as part of a team in this field, both with manpower and with time. You must think critically of hte problem to evaluate how to split it up.

Deciding where to focus efforts in a given project, given that software is always improving and you must maintain updates to respond to that new software.

How do you use Critical Thinking in your job on a more daily basis? What things do you have to critically think about?

Honors Foundation Interview

Tim Thornburgh

Software Engineer

Professionalism

Response

Application

Question

Make sure that work is the time where work gets done, and if priorities on a project shift I too should shift mine. Acknowledge problems, and move past.

Making sure that time at work is time that you are working, and remembering that when at work, priorities can shift but you remain dedicated to them. When the team has difficulties, acknowledging them helps.

How do you use professionalism? How has using it increased your team's opinion of you, or how have you used it to make the job flow smoother?

Leadership

Response

Application

Question

Uses 'Scrum': Sprint Planning, Sprint Retrospectives, Defect Triage. Ensures every team member has opportunity to provide input. Makes sure everyone understands how and why, and ensuring why isn't "We've always done it that way"

In what areas of your job do you use leadership? How do you specifically use it, and how has it changed the way that something gets done?

Scrum is a thing I should learn to help develop leadership, making sure to keep channels clear for communication and everyone should know how to do their task and why its important.

Creativity and Innovation

Response

Application

Question

They take ideas from product management and make them a reality. Quarterly 'Hackathons' to come up with new ideas and innovations to improve software

How are creativity and innovation used in your workspace? Do you often get space for it to be used? Time off, time to relax, etc.

Hackathons are a great idea, promote creativity and teamwork. These result in new features for software.

Honors Foundation Interview

Tim Thornburgh

Software Engineer

Communication

Response

Application

Question

When product management provides ambiguous requirements and the development team accepts them without getting clarification, time and money are wasted in development. Communication is the most important element in effective teamwork.

What times has effective communication staved off disaster, and what times has ineffective communication created it? How important would you rate communication?

Be clear and concise in requirements, and clarify if they are unclear when given to you. Communication is vital.

Interdisciplinary Learning

Response

Application

Question

Daily. Written communication skills from undergrad degree, Army taught clear and concise verbal instruction. Degree in software engineering gave jargon and experience. Helps interact with everyone in the company equally.

In what areas of your job do you use leadership? How do you specifically use it, and how has it changed the way that something gets done?

Learn many skills, they all can be used to great effect in the software development and leadership fields. Communication is KEY, but learning jargon is also highly important.

Information Fluency

Response

Application

Question

Define the idea you're trying to solve, research a definition, then deciding on the approach after comparing several directions.

Where do you use information fluency? (Elaborated with further question that you can see in 'Questions')

Taking time to make sure you ask the correct questions and set up a good foundation is critical to finding a solution.

Honors Foundation Interview

Tim Thornburgh

Software Engineer

Diverse Perspectives

Response

Application

Question

It's helpful when designing UI and UX to have many different people of diverse backgrounds and perspectives take a look, make usre there are accessibility features.

How do you appreciate diverse perspectives in your workplace? Where is that helpful in the workflow process?

Take into consideration features to allow all users to experience your software.

Quotes

"There is always a scarcity of resources (time or people) in software development"

"Questioning any process where the 'why' is 'we've always done it that way'"

"New features are the result of creativity and innovation"

"Communication is the most important element in effective teamwork."

Conclusions

Personal

Professional

Clear communication is crucial to all parts of a group, creating and following through on projects is effective and helpful. I could use more work on appreciating different perspectives and information fluency.

This profession is definitely what I want to do, and many of the honors foundations are applicable in this job to very different parts of it. Professionalism is a large part of good leadership.