Information Technology ( IT ) Mini Projects - Tips and Latest Trends

The wide range of information, data, and knowledge for problem solving and decision making are dealt with Information Technology. Demanding needs of users has always been fulfilled by Information Technology with establishing trends. Before starting with the projects, students should be aware of authentication, and integrity features in their projects. Breaking of passwords and hacking can be avoided using these techniques. Anyhow, the various trends for projects are based on the emerging software technology.

Flash Technology

To add multiple types of external data to the given text, images, video, XML and to interact with web pages, Adobe Flash is used. It provides multimedia platform. The main purpose of this technology is to be used in advertisements and games. Both audio and video streams are supported by flash. One of the Object-oriented languages called ActionScript is the language used here by the developers. Flash player includes ActionScript Virtual Machine (AVM). The compiler, Just-In-Time (JIT), is used for MP3-based audio and bitmap graphics. Flash CS5 is the latest version of Adobe flash which was released on April 12, 2010.

Microsoft Silverlight

Microsoft Silverlight is developed on web framework and is similar to the functions of those in Adobe Flash. In addition, it also integrates multimedia graphics and interaction with a single runtime environment. Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) and its development tools are supported by Silverlight. The processor x86 with streaming SIMD Extensions (SSE) is used by Silverlight. Also the other processors which support Silverlight include the Intel Pentium III and AMD Athlon XP. Any of the .Net Programming language is supported for Silverlight applications. The developing tools for the application can be used along with the .Net language but should be aware that they can target only the Silverlight core CLR for hosting the applications and not that of the .Net Framework CLR since both differs in their own functionalities. 4GDR1 (4.0.50524.0) is the latest version of Silverlight and was released on 03 June 2010

Open Source Software

Open source software is newly emerging trend which is one of the best options for the students. The source code can be modified by the students as per the objective of project. Hence Open source is much flexible than closed version software. Open source software is mainly developed on peer to peer production by collaboration of end product, source material. Open source software can be enhanced by anyone and if you join some open source developers community, you can learn a lot of things directly from the most knowledged persons in the developers community. Even the top companies like Google who are paymasters gives lots of importance to candidates who have worked in open source projects during the interviews.

http://sourceforge.net is one of the biggest open source community and you can engage in one of the groups or even start a new project.

Cryptography

Cryptography is the practice and study of hiding information. It also refers to confidentiality. It is often seen as a “black art”, which means something others don’t understand but you need to understand. Cryptography is one of the essential aspects for secure communication. There are many aspects of security and applications ranging from secure commerce to private communication and to protect passwords. Cryptography is necessary for secure communication but it is not sufficient by itself. Here, the text is encrypted first; i.e the plain text is changed to inarticulate garbage. The end user does the reverse process i.e decryption, where the original text is retrieved. There are a lot of algorithms in this area which is used in real time for data protection in sectors like banks, Research, Password Protection and so on.

Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology is the study of controlling properties of an atom and molecules. As the name indicates, it deals with the study of structures sized between 1 and 100 nanometer. It is said that, nanotechnology has a tendency to create new materials and devices which can be used in future in a wide range of fields such as medicine, energy production, electronics and bio materials. As they are very small in size, nano structures have a tendency to change its state for transformation of energy. The two main approaches used in nanotechnology are Bottom-up and Top-down. In bottom-up approach, materials and devices are built from molecular, a component which later assemble themselves chemically and follows the principles of molecular recognition. In top-down approach, nano-objects are constructed from larger entities without any atomic level control. Biotechnology is the best example to show the use of nanotechnology in various fields.

Conclusion

The upcoming trends mainly focus on security and hacking. Mobile application for iPhone and Android are great areas to explore with good revenue opportunities as well. If you want to stand out from others, instead of going for some courses, try to contribute for an open source project.

Interview Tips and Placement Tips For Freshers

The most anticipated dream of every fresh graduate is to get into a job. An excellent first job will make way for a rewarding career. A systematic approach is needed to get you into your dream job. Here are some tips to stand out from the rest during interviews or campus placements.

Pre-preparative phase

Running around at the last moment in order to prepare for an interview is not a wise decision. You need to prepare well in advance. Start by making an impressive resume. Browse the net and go through a few outstanding resumes. Try to grab some knowledge on what makes those resumes outstanding. Make a clean layout of your resume. Keep away from colours and decorative fonts. Don’t use too many unnecessary words. Too much wordiness will spoil your resume quality. Chart out all your achievements, abilities and outstanding qualities. Highlight your curricular and extra curricular abilities in catchy words. For example, ‘Was the topper of my whole graduate class’, could be written as ‘Topped my class in graduate level’. Keep it an important point to add things about you that will make an interviewer to decide about you. When you write about the internships, trainings and projects that you have done, describe your contribution in it. Make it a point to write each and every point in one single sentence. As said earlier, cluttering words will render the quality of your resume bad. Throw light on the extracurricular activities where you have outranked. Initially make a rough draft. You can sharpen it further by making a reliable professional in your field like your lecturer or your Training and Placement Officer (TPO) to read it and make constructive changes in it. You can also make some more well wishers read and make suggestions to incorporate. If you some someone who is working in big corporate, don’t forget to ask their suggestions as well.

Keep in touch with your Training and Placement Officer. Collect information about the companies that are going to visit your college for campus interviews. Try to know more info on the role of these companies and their process of selection. Keep abreast of all the training and placement cell info.

Preparative phase

1. Prepare for the interview. Start by reading materials over the internet about interviews. You can make a collection of common questions asked at interviews and prepare answers for those.
2. Try and study about yourself. Recall incidents till now and reflect on them –the things that excited you the most, the happenings you felt good about, the events that made you unhappy, etc. This will give you a study on yourself. You need to know about yourself first, only then can you tell someone else about you.
3. List your strengths and weaknesses, long term and short term goals, skills, motivations, career interests, etc from interview point of view. This kind of listing will make you answer promptly when you are asked about your abilities, disabilities, etc. If you take time to answer when are questioned, your reliability will be doubted by the interviewer. So will be the case if you blurt out a badly constructed answer. When you give clear and quick answers to such questions, your good decision making ability will be revealed and you will be rewarded suitably.
4. Seek the help of your well placed senior friends who are your well wishers. Ask them if the answers that you have prepared for the list of questions are acceptable.
5. Prepare for written tests. The problem with some graduates is that they perform well in all other parts of the interview except the written test. So prepare well. Practice writing on a paper whatever you have read. This will help greatly in verbalising your knowledge and in managing your time. Doing well in the written test will greatly help you getting the job offer.
6. Get prior information on who is visiting your campus and get acquainted with the info of their company in terms of their business, man power, etc. Knowing the interviewing firm will also help you in determining the kind of questions that you will be asked. In case, you cannot make out on what would be asked, be well prepared on a few of your favourite subjects. Some firms would want to know how good your knowledge on your own favourite field is.
7. Practice group discussions with bright fellow students. You may collect some tips by browsing on how to perform well in GDs. Learn tactics so that you can insist your ideas firmly but without being aggressive. Also make it a point not to be too meekly while you put up your ideas. Practice makes perfection. So practice well to strike a perfect balance of the above said parameters.
8. Also, develop good knowledge of facts and know about recent happenings. Watching daily news, reading newspapers and magazines, etc will help you have a sound awareness of current happenings.
9. Collect more information about the company where you are going to attend the interview. When you have well furnished details of the company, and you say you want to work there, it reveals that you are really interested. Browse the net to know details of the company’s location, history, goals, changes, products or services, major news in the past few months, etc. You will get less number of technical questions if you divert the interviewer by speaking more about the company.
10. Dress right for the interview. Both for men and women, the best dress code for an interview is being conservative and formal. Avoid decorative and fancy stuff. Brush your hair and wear only a light make up. Look clean, fresh and impressive.
11. Collect all your educational and extracurricular certificates and neatly arrange them in a file and take them with you for the interview. It would be better if you hold the file in your hands. Present it to the interviewer when you are asked to.
12. Be confident and look confident. Don’t utter words of disbelief to your friends or colleagues at the interview site. Avoid words like “I don’t think I will make it this time”, “I’m not sure”, etc. If you don’t want to say you did well, then keep quiet. You need not say anything at all.