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What i learnt from PPD

 PPD , Personal Progress Development is everything what we are doing...

In the PPD session in university, we do various activities individually and with groups during this whole year.

Tasks:-

     

     Individually-

• Speech -  what I learnt from the workshop in WSO2 

                               not only academic things but also new adventures to life

    

    With groups:

• Rocket game
• Creative ideas
• Trust task

We did all those activities with friends in PPD session and we learnt a lot of thing from PPD.

We learnt how to talk in front of other without fear and shy as well as how we improve our abilities. We were able to improve English. And  we learnt how to work with a team. And we learnt what are our successes and failures. We knew how to give our spirit to group in right time,how we connect with others, as well as how we perform as professionals in the industry. And get a lot of fun.

VANISHED MY SHYNESS-

          I was very shy to talk in front of others, I always went backward when someone told me to give my opinion. But no i have no fear to talk in front of others.

 COMMUNICATION-

        I always liked to listen to other, never say what I think about them. But when I work with team I used to communicate with others.

IMPROVED ENGLISH-

        In the PPD session Sarasi madam always tell us to use English to communicate with others. 

         So, it helped to improve my English Knowledge.

And other thing is we get a lot of fun when working with other friends. Always we argue, fought, and again laughed. When we doing PPD works our mind got relaxed. So, PPD lessons helped us to live happily and live as we want.  

The one of the best part of the PPD session was Sarasi madam guided us how w should face an interview.  Next year,we have to join to software companies for internships. So it was a big opportunity for us.

Another PPD session was curriculum vitae writing. She guided us to create a curriculum vitae by our selves. It will be a big help to create a curriculum vitae to send it to companies for internship purpose.

One of the PPD session Sarasi madam teach us about personal hygiene. Ans she told us how we keep us clean, some important tips to us in public places. Those things are very important for our lives.

So, PPD session is really important to our lives and we learnt many things from that session. All credits should go to madam Sarasi. Hats off 👒👒👒👒

Do you want join to a company...????? Ohhh then you have to sent your CV.. Let's create it....

Curriculum Vitae Writing

Before we go to the interview in a company for the job, first thing we do is send a curriculum vitae. According to your curriculum vitae they decide about you and get  the opportunity or miss it is decide from the curriculum vitae.  Then, your curriculum vitae should be perfect. Because it reflect about you.  

Here are some tips for you... Include these things..

Profile picture-

It should be professional one. Not fancy one. 

Personal information - 

Home address, Contact numbers and email address

They should be in proper way.

Personal profile - 

In the CV , you should include something about you as a description. Not technical things.

       Ex:  "An open-minded individual with skilled leadership who has proven ability to educate. Strategic thinker to develop software & web sites hope to continue the career as Software Engineer"

Educational Qualification -

You should include your latest qualifications on the top.

Ex: B.Sc. in Software Engineering

      GCE Advanced level results

Technical Skills and Soft skills - 

You should include the programming languages you know as technical skills and other software knowledge you have.

As soft skills, you should include which languages you can speak.

Professional Qualification - 

You should include other qualifications have other than academic qualification.

Ex: Other diplomas you have done.

Projects - 

Projects you have done.

Extra- curricular Activities - 

You should include other activities you have done. 

Training workshop and conferences - 

You can include training, workshops and conferences you have participated. 

References - 

You should include at least two persons who are not related to you but someone know you well.

 

These points should include when you create your curriculum vitae.

Can you trust anyone other than you....???   Trust me 😏😏😏😏😏

Trust walk

Last PPD session was the last PPD session of the year. But i missed it. The class had got super fun on that day.

Madam Sarasi had given a task which is navigate the blind person to the destination. She had instructed the class to find a partner. One of the two had to cover him/her eyes and other one had to give instructions. They had to bring the blind person through the class room where were many obstacles  on the path and they had to come down on stairs also. If any one had given wrong instructions then could happen accidents also. In some area , madam had put some small obstacles like white board marker pen on the floor. They had to won the task without fail. 

Through this task, it not only gives fun but also gives something to our lives. 

Here,

• Trust the partner -      If the blind person didn't trust his/her partner then both could be fail                                            the task.
• Be a good instructor - If the instructions are wrong then the couple couldn't won the task.                                              So,instructor must give true instructions.    
• Be a good listener -     Even though the instructions were not wrong, but the blind person                                                didn't listen to them then the both couldn't win the task.

And if there is no team spirit, then anyone couldn't win the task. And the both had ready for the unexpected things that can happen on this task. Because both didn't know what are there on the path. Both had hoped them.

In the industry we have to face this situation. Because we always assign to group projects. Then we have to trust other persons as a blind person. Because we don't know them who work with us before. and sometimes , there may have some incidents to guide other persons. So, we should give right instructions. we should gain  their trust about us. We should listen others and should think what they think. And we should work with our partners in the industry with all our effort. 

So, fun activities also give something to our lives.😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

(A Conversation) 

Look at a mirror.. 

Q: What can you see????                 Answer: A reflection 

Q:  Whose ????                                Answer: mine

Q: Is it your real reflection ???        Answer: 😶😶😶

SELF REFLECTION

In the last PPD session we had a deep discussion about 'Self Reflection'. Madam Sarasi told us to take out smart phone out, put camera on and look at ourselves for 5 minutes. She told to see ourselves very well and see what we can see. After that she told we were asked to take a selfie of ourselves. 

After that she asked 'what you can see....???'

The answer of more than half of the class was 'nothing' . My answer was 'i got a pimple on my face'. (How sad i got a little big pimple, I hate pimples 😡😡😡😡😡).

After that madam talk about what is self reflection, how it is important to us. 

The real meaning of self reflection is 'Serious thought of one's character and actions ' . It includes how others think about us, how they feel about us.  

Q: Do you really care about what people think about you???

Answer: Yes /  No

As people and as professional we are not able to live or work alone. We can't live in a jungle far from society. We need to concern about what other people think about you as well as how we impress them. For that self reflection is important. It help us to realize what we are doing, whether it is right or wrong. Because of that we never able to do wrong things. From that we can make our life more and more happier. 

If you know about you, then no one can make you feel down. You is you. See your reflection. There is no one who can see you perfect than you. But one thing always be you. Make you feel better. Do right things, then you can touch the sky. But one thing do the best you can do. Be a LEGACY to world, never exit as nothing.

That was the advice Sarasi madam gave us on that day. She didn't end that discussion. She put a coma to that discussion not a full stop. She gave us something to think. A deep thought. 

Hope you will think it also. Do you...???? 😉😉😉  

Are you a expert in any kind of area...????  Developing, Gaming, Or Time Passing as ME 😋😋😋😋😋

BE AN EXPERT

I missed the last PPD session because of some personal matter. My bad.. I missed a chance to think that in which area i'm expert.

Sarasi madam has divided class into 4 groups. And there were 5 or six people into one group. Each group had opportunity to select 3 different expert areas of group and introduce a product combined with those areas.

1 team -

   Areas - Hand made things, Bike riding, reading

   Product - Eye glass cover

2 team - 

   Areas - Taekwondo, Painting, Gaming

   Product - Taekwondo Video Game

3 team - 

   Areas -  Gaming, Playing chess, Painting

   Product - Chess Video Game

4 team - 

   Areas - Cricket, Painting, Gaming

   Product- Cricket Video Game

But those ideas are somewhat difficult. Sarasi Madam has told an amazing idea which was introduced by seniors. It is delivering chicken curry using motor bicycle for books readers. It is a combine with simple expert areas. Amazing no.... 

She has given this activity to find that we are expert in which are, how we combine different amazing areas to build a product, how release a product which suitable, useful in different areas.

USE THREAD AS A PEN

In the last 10 minutes on that day, Madam has given a bit difficult but interest task. 

She has given a pen, A4 paper, thread, cello tape for each group.

task-

write word 'VIPER' without touching pen by hand.

Some groups had done it very nicely. They have used cello tape to stick the A4 paper and threads to pen. thread has tie to pen in several places and had written it. 

The major thing we have to learn in this task is team work. Without help of whole team member, It might not be success. 

Join with me, Let's go a round to visit a company....👉👉👉👉

A VISIT TO WSO2

Last 12th, we had a workshop in the company named 'WSO2'. It is the dream company of some of us. So we gathered together at 7 a.m and took a train from Kelaniya to Kollupitiya.  Since it is morning too much crowd was in the trains. We get off in the station and Nuwan lead us to company. And he said that it is not so far to company, so we can go by foot. So all of us listened to him.  It my first visit to Colombo without parents. So i was quite happy. I felt like i'm doing an adventure. Unfortunately, my happiness vanished too early. Because it was too far to company. However, we went there around 8.45 am.

Our session started at 9.00 a.m.It was in the 7th floor. When we went inside the hall the gave us note books and pens with company label. The first part of the session was about 'Introducing Technical Writing'. Some senior technical writers were there. They explain us about what is Technical Writing, as well as important of it. To be honest, I really didn't know anything about technical writing. In the beginning, i felt it's like a grammar lecture. But end of the session i realize it is not. They explain difference between its and it's, where should we use which and that etc. They asked that we are doing some technical writings. but we said no. Then they asked about some blog writings. We all said yes because we have this PPD blog.

In the next part, they grouped us and gave a task to write a user manual for an ATM machine. Our team was Team A and members are Shehara, Sithara, Prarthan, Sujithra, Ramakrishnan and me.

After that session we got refreshments. It was really nice because they allow us to have refreshments as we prefer. Some of us have them twice 😜😜😜 . 

Next session started and it was also a lecture about technical writing. As the final session, they grouped us again and did a fun activity named 'Guess an Object'. Every team should select an object and write 4 hints and other teams should guess it. That was the task. 

Selected object of our team was 'Multi-plug'. In the first round any group couldn't guess it. But in the second round Deshanjali Guessed it.

End of the session they  said names of winner teams and gave gifts. Some teams got t-shirts.Some got chocolates. But we get nothing. Bad Luck😕😕😕. finally we had some group pictures with them.

So, it was a nice day. The people were very kind and very friendly. They laughed , played guessing game, had some chats with us together. So it is another great experience of my life. 

Do you guys know about the modern technologies... Are you interest of that field. Then, come i'll tell about it.

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY TRENDS

Time changes. Time to time everything change. So, technology change. Because of that the world is change. So let's know about the changes of the technology.

Our instructor madam Sarasi has organized a workshop on 3rd July 2018 for whole years in B.Sc.Software engineering in University of kelaniya. Our guest speaker was Mr. Srinath Perera, VP research, WSO2 (srinath@wso2.com) with Mrs. Premila Rajapakshe,President, HRM, WSO2. The workshop was about EMERGING TECHNOLOGY TRENDS.

Mr. Srinath started his speech by telling forecast about technology. This is one of it.

          "When the Paris exhibition[ of 1878 ]  closes, electric light will close with it 

                                       and no more will be heard of it"

                                  - Oxford  Professor Erasmus Wilson-

After that he explain about history of trends. What are the dead trends like corba, EDI, what are the trends that still we use like API, IOT, BLOCKCHAIN. 

API

"A set of functions and procedures that allow the creation of applications which access thw features or data of an operating system,application, or other service."

IOT

"IOT is short for Internet of things. The Internet of things refers to the ever-growing network of physical objects that feature an IP address for internet connectivity, and the communication that occurs between these objects and other internet-enabled devices and systems."


Blockchain

"A Blockchain, originally blockchain , is a growing listof records, called blocks, which are linked using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp, and transaction data. "

These things we learnt from that workshop. It was great one.

Let's cut a cake

Ohhh this is very interesting activity. 

On the same PPD session Sarasi madam had divided class into two groups and has given piece if cake with a thread .

Activity-

The activity was cut the cake into 8 pieces with 3 cuts using thread. 

One team had done this perfectly. But other team couldn't. 

Things we knew from this-

• We must take quick decision if we want to win
• We must have a proper strategy as well as logical thinking
• Creative ideas must have

And finally each member had got chance to taste a piece of cake. I miss it.😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔

Let's Face An Interview

Did you guys confused??  Don't worry.. This is just a rehearsal session to face an interview very confidently. Let's go for it.

I missed last PPD session. On that day class has been given a chance to act the interview scenario. Class has been divided into 3 teams. Three members of each team have been given the role of interviewers.  Other team members acted the interview candidate roles.

And they were encourage to ask expected question what both interviewers and candidates may ask.

But in this activity, my class mates had done some mistakes like,

• giving qualification file was not very politely. 
• wrong sitting method
• speak very slowly and not very much politely

Our instructor Sarasi madam had correct those thing. As well as she admire some questions ask by team when acting like,

• salary question asked by interviewers

Because of this they had learnt the nature of the interview .

Get ready for the big hit.... For internship we have near to one year only... 😱😱😱😱😱😱

Facing An Interview

In the future we are going to industrial world as employees. For that we have to face interviews. But how we face it.. CHALLENGE... Okayy... Then let's go for it..

You get a call from a company and they says 'Congratulations! you have been selected for the interview'. Then You have to go and face the day they mention.
Get ready for the interview....

PREPARING IN ADVANCE

1- Research the Company-
   
    FIRST THING FIRST. First thing you should do after you've been asked to interview for an position at a company is to research the company. Find out what is the mission of company, What they do? , how long it is been around? , how many employees work there? what type of a position would it be if you got the job?

Because interviewer may check your feelings about their company first. If you know about them, then you can impress them at the beginning. It may be a Yellow light for you.

2- Find about the interviewers if you can-

    Before go to interview spend few time to find out about your interviewers. Who is he/she? , where he/she worked before?, Is there some thing common between you? Because this may helpful you to get an extra advantage.

• You can check their LinkedIn profile or any other professional profile to get someinformation. But don't get too personal.

3- Prepare to answer common question -

    Interviewers may different , but there are some common questions that many interviewers commonly ask. So it's good to have some answers prepared. 

These are some questions that they can ask..

         1-What are your strengths?   

                Pick one or two strengths that shows why you would be good to that position.

         2-What are your weaknesses?

                Pick a weakness which not very important and not harmful to that position and shows that                    you are working to improve that weakness.

         3-Why do you like to work at this company?

                Tell several things that shows reasons to work there. Don't tell that is the only company                        who call for an interview.

4-Prepare to ask two questions-

End of the interview most probably they will ask if you have any question you want to ask. You can ask two question which you prepared before.

        1- Ask more details about the job.
        2-Ask what their favorite part of working for an company is.

5-Practice with a friend-

If you want to feel confident going into that kind of a job interview, then you may want to practice with a friend or with someone who related to your field. Because if it is the first interview you are facing in your life, you may feel nervous. Then you will feel secure when you face the interview.

6-Prepare to explain why you would be a good fit to the company-

You must prepared to say why you'd be good fit to company. Before go to interview find out what type of employees work in their, how your position effect to that company values.

Strong Communication, team work are the most valuable things for companies.  You should prepared to say you are available with these.

7-Prepare to bring everything that you need-

You should prepared to bring every thing you need for interview like resume, cover letter and certificate folder before your big day. So you don't need last minute preparation.

• If you bring your certificate folder you must put your latest certificate in the front. It,s the most important thing. 

And should well organized your things. Because it shows how organized, neat and tidy person you are.

INTERVIEW DAY

8-Dress Professionally-

If you want a good impression then first thing is dress professionally. Don't overdress but dress neatly and cleanly.  And also pay attention to your hygiene. If you put make up put a light one.

9-Arrive at least 10 minutes early-

Showing up before few minutes for the interview shows that you are punctual and you truly care about the job. As well as you have time to be relaxed and you can do small touch up.

It you are too much early then stay out side. Don't show up. Because it may gives another meaning.
As well as don't hangup with phones.


10-Introduce your self with confidence-

When you go to interview room stand tall, make eye contacts and smile with the people who are in that room. Walk with confident . Don't look around the room. Do handshake confidently when you introduce your self. If your hands getting sweating all the time , keep a tissue with you. Use it before handshake.

11-Answer questions very confidently-   

Answer questions very confidently. Don't use words like 'um' or 'like' too much.

12-Don't share too much about personal things-

If they asked many things about your personal life then you can say. Otherwise don't share too much of things about your personal life.

13- Make sure to thank your interviewer in person-

When the interview is over make sure you are grateful for giving his/her valuable time for you by thanking him/her. And when you leave the room handshake back, make eye contact, smile and put the chair you sit in right place. This shows that you're grateful about the opportunity.

DO NOT DO

1. Do not ask about salary before confirm the job.
2. Do not bad mouth if you have current job.

This is the way to face an interview. 

Practice for it.

Hii Guys... Do you guys like to listen the stories... Then how about write a story as a team... Let's do it...

STORY WRITING

In the last PPD session we another interesting game called "Story Writing".

Our instructor Sarasi madam grouped us into three groups and tell us to turn away to the board. And told us to write and complete a meaningful story.

Task-

Buid a story. Every one should not look at the board. When your turn comes a member of a group should write a word on the board at once. Everyone should write it. But the amazing thing was, you only see the story when your time comes.

Goal-

Our goal was to write a meaning full story as a team.

Learning Outcomes-

• In the industrial world, we not always get fresh project to do. Sometime we get half done works. We have no chance to get to know what other person have done or how he or she done it. But we have to complete it.
• And in this game we don't know what other person have written. But in the industry this situation may be come. But the main thing is work. It should have a flow.
• It it is a team work then every member should give his or her bet support to the work.

It is amazing.. No.. See you again with nice work... 

Hello guys.... After a long time...😄😄😄😄 I'm back to see you... Have you been well...???  Okayy... Then let's go for it...... 

ROCKET GAME🚀🚀

Last PPD session day was one of the amazing days. Because we played a game which we used to play since our childhood. Have you pass paper rockets to your neighbor class in your school time while there is a teacher who is teaching..??? 😜😜😜YES or NO..?? If the answer is YES, then i'm sure you guys had a great school time..  Same game we did in PPD session.

Task-

Our instructor  Sarasi madam divide us to two groups and gave 6 half-sheets to each group. Our task was to make rockets as much as we can from those sheets and do fly then through out the line which madam drew.

Target-

Our target was to make rocketss as much as you can than other group and pass the through out the line.

Goal-

Madam selected the one who pass the rocketss in best distance.

----One of groups made 36 aircrafts... but only 24 rocketss were successful. 

Things we learnt-

Madam gave us a chance to do trial pass before start real game. That shows we have to do trial version for the best outcome.

This activity was a team work. But finally able to show talent individually. That means in the industry you have to work as a team as well as you have to prove your ability individually.

Any way ... Your life test you in different way.. Be STRONG and Be SMART... Face challenges and WIN....😊😊😊

LOOKS BACK

It's the time.. Now we are in the end of the  year as Software Engineering Level One Students...  👶👶👶  💻💻

The day we started our path as undergraduates of Software Engineering, we had various failures as human being. But day by day we were able to turn those failures to success. Because in this whole year we learnt not only coding but also life. As university students we got that chance because of PPD session.

Since first day Sarasi Madam told us to do various activities. We were able to improve our attitudes because of that. Come....... let's go through some memories........

Present something in front of others without fear

I was always shy and fear to speak or present something in front of others. Every time I went back when I got a chance.

As professional we will have to do presentations in front of others, lead the team, share ideas with others in the future. I was worried about it a lot.

But in the PPD session every time we had to present something to class. Sometimes Sarasi madam told us to do a speech about ourselves, sometimes we spoke about barriers we faced and how we won them and we shared our future goals with others.  Because of those activities my fear and shyness vanished.

Listening And Accept others point of view

As software engineers we will have to work as a team in the future to build software.We cannot do it alone in companies. But we will have to work with people who have different ideas. In that situation arguments also can risen. What I do in that situation...????

In the PPD session we did lot of activities like Egg protector, Cultural show, Paper Tower as teams. In those times we had to work with other members. As a individual person we had different ideas and views. But if we did those activities in one person's view. there were many chances to fail. But this session always tough us to listen and accept others views. So we got many chances to won.

Be a Active part of the team

Team work is the best option to achieve goals. But, how we give our full support to the team to achieve common goals??

In the PPD session we did activities like Lava river, Barter puzzle. In those activities we needed help of every members to complete those activities as well as the most important thing was team-spirit. Sometimes without working as a team, we could not win. 

And the best part of the PPD session was Out Of Bound training  in Trinco Naval Base. Those two days is the amazing days in my life. As Software Engineering students that is the unforgettable days for us. In That training we gain lot of things not only fun memories but also some lessons to our lives. 

As well as being friendly, sense of responsibility, being unselfish, honest, flexible are the some of attitude that we had gain from PPD session.

And we learnt how to plan properly. As software engineers we must design software with the competition of other companies. So we must plan quickly and creatively. PPD helped for it.  

PERSONAL PROGRESS DEVELOPMENT session tough us to achieve our goals in best way..👍👍👍👍💪💪

So... It's happy to looks back... but this is not THE END.. will come back soon...👌👌👌😊😊😊😊😊

LIFE FREE FROM CODES

Can you imagine to be a soldier for two days... 😱😱😱
Very strict time schedule....😱😱😱

We did it... ohhh yeahhh....😜😜😜



In the last PPD session we went to Navy Institute of Trincomalee Navy Camp for the Out Of Bound Training..

As undergraduates of Software  Engineering, we spent our whole time with codes. Whole the time we sit in front of the computer. We have no other life. It is rear to do outdoor activities. But because of PPD session we got experience of a Out Of Bound Training in a Navy Camp.

Our whole team was 2nd year and 1st year Software Engineering undergraduate students and 2 instructors and Sarasi Madam. 

DAY 1st-

We went to naval base at 10.00 a.m and got one hour time to change. 

After that we wend for lunch. After those things at 1.00 p.m our training was started. As first they divided us into 4 groups and named alpha, Beta, Gama and  Delta. Then we walked 1 KM  distance to the beach as teams with navy officers. 

 The Activities-

   Go through the high tension square-

8 members of a team chose to go through the high tension current line. They were smallest in a team. There were many rules to follow. And there were many mistakes which we have done.

• There wasn't a one leader to guide us. Many leaders were there.

   Passing a ball through pipes-

10 members of a team chose for this game. We stand as a line and we have to pass that ball through pipes to the end line. For That game most wanted thing was a Leader to guide us to right path.
Sometimes the ball was fallen down from us. But finally we did it.

  Go as a line with keep a wood piece between two members-

10 members chose for this game. We kept wood piece between two of us and went to end line. Many time we failed to do that as a team.

• We didn't listen to our leader very well. 
• Didn't work as a team

  Filling a tube with holes with water-

All members participate for this game. we have to fill a tube with water by getting sea. But the difficult was there were many holes in that tube. So we lie down a member and put that tube on the stomach of that member and ran to sea, got water to mouth and hands and ran back and filled that. Our team won that game. Because,

• We had a good leader
• We worked as a team.

 Play Volleyball with little hat-

 Each team got 20 chances to do that. 4 members of a team pass that ball at once and there was a member in other side to catch that ball.

 Tug of War-

All boys of team participate for that game and two teams of girls participate that game.

Time was 5.30 p.m and they said us to go , change and come back for camp fire. It was awesome. There was a variety show. We showed our skills to them. We sang. We danced and did dramas. We had dinner by sitting near the beach.

We went back to accommodation hall.

DAY 2nd-

We got up at 5.30 a.m and went 6.30 a.m to get breakfast.

After that they gathered us together and divide us again in to 4 teams. And we did an activity to get more experience.

Compass March-

Each team got a Compass and a Map. We got a place and direction and we went to that  place through the jungle. In some places we got helps from officers who came  with us. In that journey we met an injured  person(a officer who acted like injured) and we had to help him.

After that we went to see the Naval museum. We learnt lot of thing after watching it..

After that we had lunch with them and came back. It was their 67th anniversary. We are happy to join with them to celebrate it.

In that out of bound training period we learnt,

• When we work as a team we want a leader to guide us in the right path.
• Team spirit is very important.

However we got unforgettable memories from that training....😊😊😊