CS 385: Computing Professions, Fall 2017

Instructor	Dr. Suzanne Rivoire
Meeting times	Tu 12:05–12:55 PM, Zinfandel 1000A
Drop-in office hours	MoWe 1–1:45 PM MoWe 4–5 PM Office hours are in Darwin 116D. Please knock if the door to 116 is closed.
Textbook	None!
Prerequisites	Grade of C- or better in CS 215, or consent of instructor.

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Course Goals

The major goals of this course are for you to

1. Practice the major components of the technical job application process and interview:
   • Researching companies
   • Describing yourself and your projects
   • Answering coding questions
2. Create a resume that presents your accomplishments in the best light for entry-level software engineering jobs
3. Find information on graduate programs in CS-related fields, and tentatively decide whether to consider this option
4. Describe one or more major ethical issues in computing professions

Consolidated Syllabus

You may download the course description and schedule in a consolidated pdf:
http://rivoire.cs.sonoma.edu/cs385/syllabus_consolidated.pdf

Coursework and Grading

Class Activities

Pre- and Post-class Activities

Each class will have a pre-class activity, a post-class activity, or both, to be submitted on Moodle. Most of these activities will take one of the following forms:

• Reflection on a topic
• Web research on a topic
• Working on your resume

If you're interested in pursuing a career in this field, these are almost all things you'll end up doing anyway.

Most of these activities will be graded as follows. On a 30-point scale (multiply by 2 for activities worth 60 points), you will earn up to 10 points based on whether you have completed the requirements. These 0-10 points will be multiplied by a scaling factor based on the quality of your work:

Scaling factor	Description
x 1	Perfunctory: the bare minimum of content is present
x 2	Fair: sincere attempt to address the assignment, with serious flaws in execution and/or sloppy presentation
x 3	Thoughtful: content is well chosen and presented, with personal insight and reflection (where applicable)

"Thoughtful" doesn't mean long! It just means that you've put in the time to put together a considered response to the assignment.

In-class Activities

You'll be assigned a group of 6 students for in-class activities, with a few opportunities to shuffle groups throughout the semester. Your in-class activities will consist largely of discussions and peer critiques with your group members. You'll get full credit for these activities as long as you attend the entire class session (don't be late!) and actively participate with your group.

Grading Policies

Grade breakdown

Your grade for each class will be split into two components:

Pre- and post-class activities	60%
In-class participation	40%

If a class has both a pre- and post-activity, they will be equally weighted.

There are 15 required weekly assignments. The Tuesday before Thanksgiving will have an optional make-up assignment.

True story: the SSU exam schedule doesn't list an exam period for this course's time slot. So I guess we're all off the hook for that.

Cutoffs for letter grades (after rounding)

93	90	87	83	80	77	73	70	67	63	60	0
A	A-	B+	B	B-	C+	C	C-	D+	D	D-	F

Late policy

No late work will be accepted.

Collaboration Policy

The work in this class is specific to you, so it would be completely counterproductive and bizarre to cheat. But for completeness:

The work you turn in must be your work. If you have received significant assistance from another person, you should document the extent of that assistance. Directly copying part or all of someone else's work (including publicly available work on the internet) is academic dishonesty.

Penalties for Academic Dishonesty

Academic dishonesty will be severely penalized; at a minimum, you will receive a grade of 0 on the assignment. For more information, see SSU's cheating and plagiarism policy (http://www.sonoma.edu/UAffairs/policies/cheating_plagiarism.htm) and the Dispute Resolution Board website (http://www.sonoma.edu/senate/committees/drb/drb.html).