Summary
The structure of IEEE computer society website contains many parts and navigations on several useful sections. It contains the homepage, the main sections, and the sub-sections. The site categorizes information in its homepage for easy navigation. The homepage links include publications, conferences, digital library, build your career, e-learning campus, certification and training, communities, and store. Thus, it is clear that the main purpose of this website is to promote and sell its products and services, which entails information about software engineering. The subsections are where most of the website content is displayed is one click access from the main section. However, it is not easy to tell what the website is promoting just by the look of the homepage and thus, visitors with less time might not be interested to click to the sub-sections and so its should be improved.
General Review of the Website
The IEEE website contains learning resources that are helpful to those interested learning software engineering. Its online digital library contains magazines and books based on software engineering topics such as IEEE internet computing, IEEE Software, and IT professional. The library is accessible to registered members only, although the non-members are allowed free access to table of contents and abstracts, but can also purchase articles containing subjects of their interests online.
The IEEE computer society also provides e-learning options to students, where they log in and learn. These online courses are provided using 10 different languages and so, students who cannot learn languages such as English can learn through other languages that they understand. Training is done through classroom training or distance training. The registered colleges such as Roe Hulman Institute have been listed. Others include, Purna Career Solutions, which is in India and provides Oracle learning services. Similarly, Pressman asserts that United Training Centre provides the distance learning through live instructor led training, which contains detailed information as well as answers to questions (210). United Training is one of the best in IT training and is based in North America. The books from leading publishers are provided to the students through Safari Books Online. The members also get free access to the exams and certificates are also available. Some of the members do these exams to become Certified Software Development Professional (CSDP) or Certified Software Development Associate (CSDA) examinations. The CSDA certification is for the students graduating as software engineers as well as software professionals which CSDP certification is for those members whose aim is to advance their careers.
Helpful Links
There are very helpful links, such as the one leading to job trends, which shows where to find jobs. For example, the site advises members on the new opportunities that are expected to open up in US and Canada. The site also notifies members about the hot sectors such as Mobile Applications innovation because is a new technology that is usually ignored due to its dynamic nature. However, better and only a few professionals are interested in it. The website has also posted interviews for Members, for example, Sumi Helal who has advanced their career and has found innovative ways in software engineering field.
Usefulness to Software Engineers’ Professional Resources List
The site is helpful because it contains many events such as conferences, which address major issues such as software maintenance and evolution. Many professionals meet and share ideas on vital software maintenance issues or problems. The geographically varied conferences and workshops provide many inventive forums that allow many views on diverse knowledge and thus it benefits its members. The conference calendar also shows the date of the conferences. The IEEE computer society enables professionals to find new jobs on different sections such as programming and software development. The IEEE computer society publications provide computing specialists with journals and books and other career advancement materials.
Moreover, IEEE website offers spaces for advertising where there are opportunities where people can post banners and newsletters. In the FAQ section, there are the frequently asked questions by new members such as cost of examinations, how to become a member and acceptable methods of payment. It also has the frequently asked questions by members such as membership renewal, IEEE policies and change of address. The social networking applications are also available and professionals use them to exchange ideas and collaborate more easily as compared to emails. It enables the professional to interact, hence helping them to advance in software engineering field. Social networking can be done through discussion rooms, video sharing and podcasts.
Bottom-line Evaluation of the Site’s Value
The IEEE computer society is a helpful website because it has helped the software engineering professionals to build their careers. Its digital library is essential because the members can access the materials online. With its e-learning campus, it has overcome the diverse geographical location distance challenges and its members can access its resources as long as they are connected to the internet – it is easy to build career at any place. In general, the website has highlighted on important issues such as career watch, training and education, new technologies and career advancement. Therefore, it is a helpful website for those aspiring to be software engineers.
Works Cited
IEEE. IEEE Computer Society. 2011. Web.
Pressman, Roger. Software Engineering: A Practitioner’s Approach. Boston, Mass: McGraw-Hill, 2005. Print.
Weiss, Eric. “Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers–Computer Society (IEEE-CS).” Encyclopedia of Computer Science. John Wiley & Sons. 2003: 881, Print.