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Antonio Souza opened the door to being a PhD student through the MS-EE program

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Antonio Souza opened the door to being a PhD student through the MS-EE program
Antonio Souza had an extensive background in engineering prior to being admitted to the MS-EE on Coursera program. He has been a course facilitator for the program since spring 2021. Antonio has a background in Embedded Systems and has been accepted to CU Boulder’s Ph.D. program in Photonics & Quantum Engineering.

When did you enroll in the MS-EE on Coursera program?

Mid – 2019

Were you in the non-credit version prior to enrolling in the for-credit version?

I took some not for credit courses then I transfer to for credit when I am sure I can finish in 8 weeks. This is a good thing because then if you find out in the middle that you cannot finish, then you do not have to withdraw. The first class I took was in the Sensors specialization.

What was your educational and work experience background before you enrolled in this program? 

Before enrolling, I was a supply chain manager at Pratt and Whitney, an aircraft engine manufacturer. I worked in a facility that made maintenance for those and I was responsible for bringing in the materials, planning the production, and making sure the supply chain worked. 

I had some technical experience in the beginning of my career because I was an aerospace engineer. For the first 5 years, my work was more technical but then there were some financial incentives to veer towards supervision and management positions. 

What attracted you to this program in the first place (e.g. faculty, curriculum, performance-based admission, Coursera platform)?

I was interested in enrolling in the MS EE program because I wanted to get back to the more technical side. 

I picked this program over the others because I liked the performance-based admission. 

How did you learn/hear about CU Boulder’s MS-EE on Coursera program? 

I think it was on Google, I was looking at Universities that had similar programs and decided on this one. 

Can you tell me how the MS-EE on Coursera program fits into your life? 

It is tough when you are working to adjust your schedule, and when you have kids, it is even more challenging, but I left my previous job and focused on this. I was looking for other jobs and then the opportunity for a PhD came up and for me I think it is the best time to do it. All my kids are grown up and moved out, so I do not have to take care of kids and our financial situation is better. I have a lot of life left to live and I do not agree with the concept of retirement. I think if you do not challenge your mind your brain shrinks. My brother retired and he is bored. You meet a lot of interesting people and learn a lot while working. If you stay at home, you lose a lot of this interaction and learning. 

What are your favorite parts of the program (e.g. Favorite classes, projects, faculty members, etc.)?

The field programmable gate arrays part was really interesting, it was a new concept on how to do stuff. Programming hardware instead of software is interesting and you use the device to do that. 

Power electronics was very well organized. I like that the professor follows his textbook, so you have a good reference and don’t have a patchwork of different stuff that you have to work hard to connect. I like the textbooks because there is a beginning, development, and end and can connect everything. 

What do you hope to do with your MS-EE degree?

I hoped to get the full knowledge and a deep understanding of electronics and then find a job. Now that I have chosen to continue to a PhD this might change, I will see how research is and how academic life is and compare and decide to get a job or go the university way. 

What benefits have you seen?

You learn a bunch of technical things and I got a job teaching at a Community College here because I have taken these MSEE courses. Now I am leaving the teaching because of the PhD program but I will keep going once a week to help with the students in the robotics club that is a part of the CU space grant as they are simulating a rover that would go to Mars. 

Would you recommend this program to others? Why or why not?

I would recommend this program, but they would have to work hard because many answers they would have to find by themselves because the professors, lectures, and material give you a direction, but you have to go after it yourself. It takes time and it takes effort. 

What’s 1 tip you have for students who are starting?

I interacted mostly with course facilitators. I think students do not take advantage of the office hours. You save a lot of time, sometimes you get stuck in something on your own and they can clarify stuff in minutes. 

Expect it to take more time than the website says to complete the homework and studying on your own.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

I saw a lot of older people in the program which is a good thing. Even some people who have kids out of the house and I think this program was a good thing for these people because it is easier to balance.

What made you interested in getting a PhD?

A lot has to do with the challenge. Now, during the summer, I am doing some work here in the lab and studying some stuff my advisor has given me to hit the ground running in the fall. 

What was your study style for the classes?

I watch the video, then review the slides, then do the homework, and watch it again. Usually, I think I watch it once or twice. I will go back and forth between the homework and slides. I also sit and focus just on that, if you try to multitask while doing it, it will take 3 times longer to do. 

Alison Publisher Spotlight: Graham Van Brunt

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Alison Publisher Spotlight: Graham Van Brunt

Engineering is a vast discipline with many streams you can follow. The engineering field is where critical thinkers and problem-solvers unite to explore how things work and find practical solutions to science’s discoveries. This month, we’re shining our Alison Publisher Spotlight on Graham Van Brunt. He spoke to us about his engineering experience and how he has taken his Power Systems Protection Training from the floor and into the virtual space.

Please share with our learners a bit about your background.

I graduated from Queen’s University as an electrical engineer specializing in power. I spent the first 25 years of my career as a protection and control engineer with Ontario Hydro. Subsequently as a Director of operations and maintenance with Churchill Falls Labrador corporation. I then worked for then retired from Siemens Canada.

How did you get into teaching?

I started teaching early in my career as a continuing education instructor for Confederation College in Thunder Bay Ontario. I spent two years establishing a training school for technologists and engineers in protection and control in Tarbela Pakistan, set up by CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency). I also worked for Georgian College, in Barrie Ontario as an electrical instructor.

For those just learning about you, please tell us more about Power Systems Protection Training.

I am an electrical engineer with over 35 years of experience in the field, included in that as an instructor. My forte is related to electrical power. Although retired, I keep in contact by providing a series of modules that I am in the process of delivering via streaming videos on over 21 platforms internationally.

What’s your take on online learning when looking at the future?

Online learning has been available for quite some time, but as of late, there has been an exponential pick up of online training. It definitely is the way of the future for training.

How has being a self-publisher on Alison changed or impacted your life?

Being a self-publisher has allowed me to reach an international student volume. I have switched from in person training which reaches at most only a couple of dozen students at a time to streaming my courses online and reaching thousands of students continuously.

How should learner’s approach remote video tutoring and learning?

Students should search specifically the courses that they are interested in and if seeking accreditation should pick a platform that provides certification for completed courses.

The engineering sub-discipline is widespread. Can you share with our prospective learners what the potential for growth and longevity is in this field?

Technology today is changing at a very rapid pace. The sub-discipline of engineering is no different, especially in the field of electrical engineering. Regardless of what type of engineering you intend to learn. It is important to get a solid foundation in the basics. This you can find in my remote video courses.

Who should take your courses?

My courses are structured to fit a wide variety of students. Entry-level students will find my basic courses as well as the advanced courses easy to understand and succinctly laid out. They are also structured for the advanced engineers that want to take more advanced subjects or do a quick review of the basics.

How would you advise learners to master precision throughout their studies online?

Learners are poised to proceed slowly through the videos, and it would be a good idea to halt the video and back up and review any difficult areas. It is also advisable to jot down notes as you go along.

Please share with our readers about your courses on Alison.

My courses are primarily about electrical power. They range in difficulty from the simple entry level topics such as DC circuits to the more advanced subject matter such as three phase fault analysis.

What feedback have you received from learners about your course? What do people enjoy most about your courses?

The feedback from students has been almost 100% positive, putting my evaluation of my courses between 4.5 and 5 stars out of 5.

How will your courses help enrich the lives of those who take them?

My courses are designed to bridge the gap between book learning and the experience the student will obtain once in the field. They are predicated on the challenges that I experienced while learning to become an electrical engineer.

For individuals interested in taking one of your courses, what can they expect to get from it?

Students can expect to get a good foundation in the fundamentals of what is needed to become proficient in the power electrical field.

What words of advice would you give someone who would like to become a publisher on Alison?

Select a niche that you are proficient and excited to work in. Build courses related to that niche using PowerPoint (Windows) or Keynote (Mac). Both allow voiceover then convert the presentation to a video.

What has been your most important lesson or discovery when it comes to online education programmes?

The world is your institution of teaching.

What career paths are available for someone interested in pursuing your courses?

Electrical/mechanical maintenance, electrician, electrical/mechanical technologist, electrical/mechanical engineer.

How would your courses enrich the professional lives of those who take them?

These courses act as reference books or material for any professional.

Students learn from their teachers/tutors. Any lessons you have learned from your students?

Absolutely I have learned from my students, in fact I look forward to interacting with them, learning new approaches. However, most of that opportunity comes from standing in front of the student live and in-person. 

What can Alison and its learners look forward to from you in the coming year to two?

I am continuing to develop new courses as time goes on and these courses are going to be made available to the Alison students.

Any last words, advice, or wisdom you’d like to share with our learners?

Keep on learning always.

16 Common IT Interview Questions (Plus Answers) to Practice

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16 Common IT Interview Questions (Plus Answers) to Practice

If you’ve ever wanted to create new software, help protect businesses from a cyber attack, support users as they learn new technology, or collect and process data, then a career as an Information Technology (IT) professional could be a good fit for you.

And the good news is, IT jobs are a hot commodity in the United States — the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics expects overall employment in this field to grow 15% through 2031.

But when a certain field shows strong job growth, it can often mean an influx of qualified applications, making the job-hunting process more competitive. This means you need to be on your A-game at each step of your job search. If you’ve already applied to IT jobs and you’re starting your interview prep, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve rounded up some of the most common IT interview questions, along with answers and tips on how to ace your interview.

1. Can you tell us about a project you’ve been working on in your spare time?

This is a great icebreaker, and you might be asked to answer this question early on in your interview. It can kickstart a great conversation and help you ease into the interview. When you’re describing your project, be sure to explain why it’s important to you, any interesting facts or lessons you’ve learned so far, and any challenges you’ve faced. For the challenges, explain how you’re dealing with them. Hiring managers love to hear how candidates approach and solve problems.

2. What attracted you to this position?

Your answer to this question should include details about your future employer’s products/services that excite you, as well as the company’s mission. Here’s an example:

“My mom learned how to code through online courses when I was in middle school, and she’s been working in web development for years now. So I know first-hand how important access to online education is. I’d be proud to build a career with Codecademy and help others follow their career dreams. Also, I’m drawn to the culture here and how it supports learning and development on the job. I also share these values and feel I could be a great fit for Codecademy.”

You could include how you’re looking forward to growing in the role, learning new professional skills, and working with a strong team.

3. How do you make sure your technology skills are up-to-date?

The key to answering this question is to show that you’re engaged in your field and open to learning new tech skills. Some of the ways you might be doing this include:

  • Taking online courses
  • Participating in hack-a-thons
  • Engaging in personal IT projects
  • Reading peer-reviewed journals about new tech developments
  • Joining IT-focused online communities

4. What kinds of online resources do you use at work?

GitHub or StackExchange are popular resources for IT professionals. If you subscribe to any tech newsletters, blogs, or social media feeds, you can also talk about these.

5. Can you describe a time when you had to deal with a significant professional obstacle?

With this question, the interviewer is interested in hearing how you approach difficult work scenarios and how you solve them. They’re also likely looking to hear how you incorporate any lessons learned from this experience in your future work. In your reply, don’t forget to include any plot twists that increased the difficulty of the situation and how you approached/solved those issues, how you enlisted the help of others, and what you learned from the experience. You can also mention how those lessons are helping you be a better professional today.

6. What do you think are the most important qualities for someone in your position to have?

Ideally, you should answer this question both honestly and by including some traits you can prove or demonstrate you have during the interview. Four important qualities for IT professionals are collaboration, communication, thoroughness, and reliability.

You can tie in some of your soft skills, like your ability to give informative presentations or problem-solve complex issues, here as well.

7. What do you want to accomplish within your first six months with us?

You can use the information listed in the job description to help you answer this question since the job description will give you some insight into what your employer is expecting from you. Your answer could include a combination of goals you’d like to accomplish personally and ones you’d like to help your team meet.

8. How do you handle working under pressure?

As an IT professional, there will be times when you’ll need to manage tight deadlines and challenging problems. And this question is your chance to show the steps you take to alleviate work-related stress. Whether this is reaching out to others for help or using time management techniques, like the Pomodoro Technique, let the interviewer know that you have the skills to work well under pressure.

9. How do you manage tight deadlines?

When answering this question you can talk about your time management approach and skills, and how you delegate tasks that still need to get done but aren’t related to the deadline you’re trying to meet. You can also go into detail about how you break down a large project into smaller tasks in order to complete the project as a whole.

10. What’s your biggest weakness?

This is a classic interview question, and although not every interviewer likes this one, it’s a good idea to have an answer ready in case you’re asked. Be honest here and talk about something you want to improve. You can state your area of weakness and then follow up with techniques you use to help you overcome your weakness.

Here’s an example:

“Memorization isn’t one of my strong suits. This is why I always try to take detailed notes. I’ve been known to carry around a pocket notebook everywhere I go or pull out my phone to take quick notes.”

11. What’s the biggest professional mistake you’ve made?

This is similar to the question above. The best way to answer this question is to use an 80/20 approach: 80% of your answer should be about what you learned from the mistake, and 20% should be about the mistake itself.

12. What are the advantages and disadvantages of working in an Agile environment?

Since much of the tech industry has adopted Agile, it’s a good idea to speak confidently about the method. This is your chance to show you understand the Agile approach.

A couple advantages to bring up:

  • Collaboration
  • Lower risk of issues with the end product

A disadvantage to point out:

  • It’s more demanding on the Scrum Master or other team lead

13. What does “working remotely” actually look like for you?

If you’re applying for a remote role, you’ll probably be asked a question or two about your experience working remotely. Ideally, your future employer wants to hear that you have a track record of working successfully in a remote environment and that you’re comfortable with this style of work.

Be sure to mention how you structure your day so you can stay focused, what communication tools you have experience with (Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Chat), and you can even describe your home office setup if you’d like.

14. What would you do if you had to fill in for a manager last minute?

This question is a test to see how you deal with stress, assume a leadership role, and whether or not you’re a flexible team member. You can talk about the immediate steps you’d take like reaching out to the manager you’re filling in for to get info about expectations and reaching out to key team members for support or input. How you communicate with the team is also really important during scenarios like this, so you could explain how you’d hold a brief huddle to let everyone know what’s going on and that you’re there to support them.

15. Which of our technologies do you think will give you the biggest challenge?

This is another “have you done your research?” question because, in order to answer it, you’ll need to know the different technologies the company uses. Feel free to answer this question using language that shows you’re still in the learning process but that you’re getting more comfortable with the technology each day. Recognizing that you can improve in an area is a good quality to have in the workplace.

16. Do you have any questions for us?

It’s always a good idea to have a few questions teed up to ask at the end of the interview. Here are some options:

  • What benchmarks will be used to evaluate this person’s work?
  • What will be the biggest measure of success for this person in the first six months of the job?
  • What’s something I should know about the company culture?
  • What’s something you’ve found to be really rewarding while working here?
  • What’s something you’ve found to be challenging while working here?
  • Do you have any advice to offer to someone in my position?

Get ready to interview

Need to brush up on any of the concepts mentioned above? We have courses and Skill Paths that cover a variety of IT topics, including Fundamentals of Operating Systems, Fundamentals of Cybersecurity, Introduction to Linux, and more.

We also offer the free course Introduction to IT where you’ll get an overview of software development basics, operating systems and applications, databases, and cybersecurity all in one course. You can also check out our course catalog for classes on other subjects to help you grow in your professional journey.

Our Career Center is another great resource that’s full of interview tips, resume writing advice, and more.

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Discover how UNT’s Dr. Dennis Nasco is giving students from a range of different backgrounds the chance to learn at a top-tier institution using Coursera

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Discover how UNT’s Dr. Dennis Nasco is giving students from a range of different backgrounds the chance to learn at a top-tier institution using Coursera

“If there was a leading edge in education, then this was it.”

Dr. Dennis Nasco

We recently spent time talking with Dr. Dennis Nasco, a passionate educator with over twenty years of experience teaching at the university level. When the pandemic changed the face of education, Dr. Nasco was one of the first to consider Coursera as an option for students to continue their studies. Since then, he’s taught thousands of learners on the platform with the University of North Texas (UNT) in both the Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences and the Bachelor of Science in General Business. We’re thankful that he’s here to share his insights with our community about his teaching experience and his predictions for the future of education. Let’s meet Dr. Nasco!

Dennis, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us. Let’s start at the beginning–how did you get into teaching?

I always wanted to teach. I got my MBA and had gone out into industry, and it was always my goal to go back. I had an opportunity to do that in the early 2000’s, and was able to get a PhD from Southern Illinois University while teaching. Since I already had a Master of Science in Human Resources Management (MSHRM) and worked a lot in HR, that was the subject area that I was hired to teach in. 

I started teaching professional courses, career courses, human resources and organizational behavior courses. I did that at Southern Illinois University for about 17 years, but after a while, I wanted to do something a little different. We had an undergraduate degree completion program and an MBA program at SIU, so I taught in both of those, and was an adjunct for the University of Illinois’ iMBA program. 

I finally joined UNT during the height of COVID in 2020 and I was eager for more flexibility and to teach online. As an R1 research university, UNT has a great reputation and allows me more professional opportunity and growth. 

How do you think the pandemic affected education worldwide?

When COVID happened, it solidified in my mind that the future of education was changing, and the expectations of what students want in their education was shifting. How universities are going to deliver education is probably never going to be the same moving forward. And I thought that working with Coursera was an opportunity to be at the forefront of this change. 

Could you tell us a bit about your students? What are some of their reasons for getting degrees? 

The demographic of my students are people in their 30s and 40s mostly, with families, working full-time, who have a very specific purpose for why they want to go back and get an education. They’re looking to move up in their current organizations or to make career moves, and they need this degree to facilitate that for them. 

In traditional education, people are 18 to 25 years old and in the process of finding their purpose. Most of my students don’t fall into that category. They’re very specifically looking for a degree to advance themselves and their family, and they need a flexible, high-quality, affordable solution for that. And this is exactly what we’re able to do in the Coursera platform. That puts us in a very unique place. It is truly innovative, the things that we’re doing here, and the steps that we’re taking with Coursera. 

Do the courses that you teach have real-world applicability?

Yes, absolutely. One of the things that we hear consistently from students is they’re actually taking stuff from the courses and applying it to their careers. They see the value immediately in what they’re learning. 

What will it take for someone to succeed in today’s business world?

Businesses today are saying that they need highly adaptable employees. What that means is the business world is in flux – things change much more rapidly than they did in the past. People have to be able to deal with that ambiguity. This is where Coursera fits in perfectly. You can’t just earn a degree and you’re done. You’re probably going to need to go back and earn additional certifications or degrees to remain relevant and to advance in the work world.

How do you envision UNT providing value to online students in the future?

With the Coursera platform, we’re going to see a lot more non-traditional students, a lot of people who are working full-time, have families, and don’t have access to education in the traditional sense. What I see is an opportunity for institutions like ours to move in, create structure, and bring a large-scale, high-reputation institution into the online world. Partnering with a platform like Coursera gives those students access to us, so it’s a great partnership from that perspective. I think that’s key to the future of education. 

Where do you envision your program will be in five to six years?

I truly see us having rapid growth. The number of students that we’ll be able to impact in this program is going to be dramatic. We’ve created a program with Coursera where people who didn’t have access to education before now have that access. To me, that’s really exciting. 

Spoken like a true educator!

Thank you, Dennis, for sharing your insights. We look forward to partnering with you in the future! 

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