Peter Papas

What is your interest in IT?

The main thing that drove me to IT is that there is always an interesting puzzle to solve and a new thing to learn. I enjoy discovering new solutions to existing problems and always improving upon my current solution this is what got me in love with programming and web development in general. I enjoy creating interesting solutions and designs for websites but also complex programs that serve a purpose. It is also very rewarding and kind of magical to be able to see something that has just started as a simple thought turn into a full-on living breathing application that someone can use just by typing a few letters on a keyboard.

When did your interest in IT start?

My interest in IT first began after I started playing video games when I was young with my dad. I remember back then having built a PC from scratch was a big thing so we were some of the first people in my neighborhood to have a computer that could play 3D games like Crysis. From simply playing games I got impatient, and I began to want results quicker so I remember going online trying to find a guide to cheat at the game and then soon after trying to get into the game files of Crysis and changing the variables so boom! Instant results, after that something clicked in me and I realized that a computer program is just that a program that can be modified and even created soon after I started learning more about programming and the field of IT in general.

Why did you choose to come to RMIT?

My main reason for coming to RMIT is because it is one of the top universities in Australia and the world in the field of technology and in because I really wanted to pursue a professional career in the field of IT I wanted to be with the best. In addition to that, the university offers flexible learning through the RMIT online program so it fits perfectly with my work-life study balance. I am able to easily work in the morning so I can pay my bills but also able to get a top-quality education that will allow me to progress in my career and help me move to a better place in my life.

What do you expect to learn during your studies?

My main goal in terms of my overall study is to be 100% job ready in terms of background knowledge in topics that I would potentially encounter during work but won’t have the time to research or would need to background knowledge to refer to so I can make the right call. I want to sharpen my skill level in programming and IT in general and get a more holistic perspective al the whole field that way I can have more opportunities in terms of work but also potentially find a new passion that I haven’t yet discovered within the field.

job advertisement

Job description

The role is mainly front-end web development but to achieve that you should be able to have some knowledge of the products and services so it would be getting involved in more of the retail and business process and trying to find the best solution for the business needs. The part that appeals to me the most about this job is that it promotes being part of an agile and fast-paced squad. This includes participating in activities outside of coding such as being involved in the whole delivery process through tasks like early discovery work and testing. This job also supports team collaboration by helping others out with code reviews and mentoring each other.

Required skills

The role requires the following sets of skills or prerequisites are as follows:

• Having experience in a professional software development environment for at least 2-5+ Years.
• Having knowledge of Reacts and code-testing frameworks.
• Having knowledge of JavaScript.
• Knowing how to Unit test your code for front-end code.
• Being able to troubleshoot and debug the issue.
• Being able to identify possible security risks, performance issues, and accessibility issues.
• Having the ability to mentor and coach TM as required.

Skills currently possessed

The skills that i currently posses that are required for this role are as follows:

• I currently have around about 1 year of commercial front end web development experience
• I have knowledge of the react framework
• I have knowledge of vanilla javascript
• I have experience unit testing front-end code
• I have experience debugging and trouble shooting issues

My plan to obtain the skills and experience required

I am planning in acquiring further experience in the field by applying for internships, entry-level roles, and junior positions in the field. That way I can have more experience under my belt. In addition to that completing projects either through uni or by myself by using Reactjs and vanilla javascript will also upskill me and help me sharpen my skills as a developer. Also taking a udemy course or trying to complete a W3schools or LinkedIn certification in the relevant languages required for front-end web development will help upskill me and further allow me to be qualified for the role. Through that, I will also acquire more knowledge and skill in debugging as bugs are a part of the development process and are to be expected. I could also learn a bit more about security and performance improvements & accessibility by taking youtube courses or udemy courses in the subject. Lastly, I happen to have management and coaching skills due to my current role unrelated to IT but in the industry, I believe I would need a bit more knowledge and confidence in myself and my craft before I can comfortably pass it on to someone else.

Myers-Briggs - Architect (INTJ-T)

Vark-learn - Kinesthetic

Bigfive-test

What do the results of these tests mean for you?

The results of those tests show me that I am a very analytical thinker and I seem to be open to new ideas I tend to want to challenge existing ones in pursuit of better ones. It also shows me that I tend to be open to criticism but sometimes I do not take feedback on board which is something I should be keeping in mind while interacting with a team. In addition, those my learning style seems to be kinaesthetic which means I tend to put more value and learn better when I see a tangible result to my theoretical learning, and I can observe the real-world value something provides me with. Surprisingly I do believe those tests are describing my personality and learning styles quite accurately and they allow me to see myself in a more objective way and hopefully help me make better decisions in the future if I keep them at the back of my mind

How do you think these results may influence your behaviour in a team?

I believe that the results of the tests provide me with a subjective look into myself and my personality and allow me to reflect upon how I tend to make decisions and what influences my actions. If I am able to have that in the back of my mind while I actively make those decisions within a team I will be able to look out for pitfalls and personal biases that I tend to have allowed me to escape my personality traps and hopefully perform better in a team environment

How should you take this into account when forming a team?

When forming a team I should try to keep in mind my strengths and weaknesses based on those test and try to identify some of the things that I would tend to do based on my personality.

Zenful Friends

Overview

My project idea is about a mental health wellbeing tracking mobile app that provides the users with daily or weekly challenges or goals that need to be completed for them to acquire points that translate to budges. The app can have challenges such as 5-minute meditation that includes videos or audio content that needs to be listened to and a variety of different ones such as walking for 15 minutes a day or even custom challenges that are created by the individual user or by the community.

Motivation

Data suggests that 1 in 10 people worldwide and 1 in 5 Australians are affected by mental health disorders. Currently, on the market, the top 3 apps that help support mental health have a combined download of only 11.5 Million on the Playstore so there is a huge opportunity for reach and usability. The goal is to provide more options to relay the information and create a positive and supportive environment that encourages and promotes social sharing and gamify the process. Thus allowing to showcase the message about mental health and the importance of personal well-being to people in need and hopefully get onboard those that have previously hesitated to reach out due to stigma or those unaware of the available support services and the impact that small lifestyle adjustments can have to one’s mental health.

Description

The app at its core is a mental health awareness platform disguised as a gamified challenge achieving mental health tracker. It greets the user with a self-asset test that tries to find what type of challenges the user would need to participate in. For example, anxiety reducing challenges. The user should also be able to add different characters based on different categories if they choose to and the test should only serve as an initial guide. The app would provide daily, weekly, and monthly challenges that relate to that category, for example 2 minutes a day of meditation and it would notify the user at a specific time and provide them with an audio or visual meditation program. In addition daily motivational quotes related to the challenges to keep users focused and engaged would be included. Relative daily content such as articles relating to general mental health but maybe targeted a bit more towards the users’ needs would also be included and general information about support services based on the user’s countries with relevant and up-to-date information would also be included. The users should also be able to share their completed challenges with the rest of the world through social media platform sharing links and appropriate budges and points should be awarded. The goal would be to eventually partner with companies that are able to match individual users’ earned points with actual money and the user could have the option of supporting a mental health charity of their choice and the partner companies would match their points in cash. The app will have some basic challenges and assign them some points-based system but partner companies and other users would be able to later create their own challenges for the rest of the users to partake in.

Tools & technologys

Some of the tools that I would require to build the project would be firstly react-native or flatter as a base framework to build a quick hybrid capable mobile application. On top of that for efficient development and speed I would probably make use of an open-source UI components library, possibly react-bootstrap or native base if going with the react option. In addition to that for extra customisation and in hopes of speeding up development and trying to follow a singleton model I would use tailwind CSS and bootstrap. For the state management of my components, I would use redux and or recoil. In order to store and interact with relevant user data I would make use of firebase-Realtime database. Cloudinery will be used for simple image and other generic content that may be used on the app. In order to authenticate users Auth0 will be used. To communicate with my database I would make use of Axios and graphic. Finally, for content management, I would use Concertful or strapi CMS. In addition to that, some miscellaneous software possibly used during development would be Git / GitHub for version control and collaboration, Jira for project management and tracking, VScode or a similar code editor. Outlook, Microsoft Teams, Slack, Zoom, and miro for team meetings and organization.

• React-native / Flatter
• react-bootstrap / native base
• tailwind CSS / Bootstrap
• Redux / Recoil
• Git / GitHub
• Firebase
• Auth0
• Axios / graphQL
• Contentful / Strapi
• Cloudinery
• Jira
• Vscode / Atom / sublime

Required Skills

Thanks to the internet thankfully all relevant information regarding how to build this project should be readily available online. A basic understanding of the following programming languages and frameworks would need to be had but YouTube videos and Udemy courses but also step-by-step articles and official documentation furthermore websites such as StackOverflow also will provide a great start-up and a guide when blockers arise. JavaScript/Typescript/JSX would need to be brushed on and basic HTML and CSS skills would also need to be up to speed. In addition to that, an understanding of API calls and backend development and particularly with graph and Rest API calls. Lastly and most importantly, excellent communication skills and teamwork coupled with good presentation of code and justification will go a long way.

Outcome

With the potential success of the project, users or their loved ones affected by mental health will have quick and easy access to a valuable toolset at their figure tips that will encourage them daily and remind them to look after their mental well-being. It will also try to remove some of the negative stigma surrounding mental health as it gamifies it and encourages social sharing. In addition to this the simple act of downloading the app and interacting with it would hopefully act as a gateway to seek professional help for people who may need it but have not yet realized it. As an ultimate goal the app through the user’s challenge completion would be able to donate to mental health charities of the users selection through partnerships with companys that would match the user’s points with actual monetary valued donations. This would benefit the community as a whole as more programs would be able to be funded and more people would be able to get the awareness and help that they need. Ultimately reducing the number of people with mental health in Australia and also the rest of the world. So everyone can live happier and more fruitful lives.