Slack, the medium of the future

Slack is a popular messaging application that is aimed towards professionals or people who just like an easy way to collaborate. Slack doesn't mean to call its users slackers, it has a secret acronym: "Searchable Log of All Communication and Knowledge" (Quartz). Communication is a key feature in Slack because it simply involves the notion of working together in a team. One of the many features that are in Slack that many people love about it is the ability to drag and drop any file you could imagine (technically) and have it displayed with a brief summary or even in its entirety.

It's everywhere you go: an application for your mobile devices as well as a web application for those who prefer the computer. There are two types of channels which are public and private for what may suit your team best. A public channel needs no explanation. A private channel can only accessed by a member which of whom is invited to read and write the contents.  There are channel commands that can be accessed easily by using the "/" specifier. A channel can be referenced by "#" Simple as that!

There's something even more private than a private channel which is direct messaging. You can directly contact a teammate who you may require help from or vice versa. You just simply use the + button that's located next to their user name to send a direct message. Though if you'd like to make a public announcement regarding a teammate, it's no doubt that Slack automatically highlights your teammate's user name if found in your message.

Too many messages to look through? You can definitely search through using the assisted searching feature which searches through both files and messages all the way from the beginning of the Slack team creation. Slack becomes your personal drive which ultimately is your shared drive amongst teammates.

Slack itself is not only a messaging application but a platform. One is not limited by the default Slack functionality, there is a massive range of third-party applications that are developed and fully integrated for Slack! The genius design decision has led to an "$80 million fund that will invest in software projects that compliment its technology" (Fortune). While it may only be a messaging application, it serves a purpose so fitting that it integrates with ease to your professional and social life. You wouldn't know what to do without it after finding that it has become your daily necessity.

References

Griswold, A. (2016). Slack is secretly an acronym. Retrieved September 29, 2016, from http://qz.com/794524/messaging-startup-slack-is-secretly-an-acronym-for-searchable-log-of-all-communication-and-knowledge/

Clancy, H. (2015). Slack Starts $80 Million App Investment Fund. Retrieved September 30, 2016, from http://fortune.com/2015/12/15/slack-app-investment-fund/

Experiences with Phone Interviews

            We currently live in a world where technology can be a substitute for face-to-face communication. Some people may even find it more preferable to simply text or make a phone call. Nonetheless, the importance of human interaction still exists. Communication through a device could be seen as if it were the same for communication in person. Phone interviews are a good way for recruiters to get a sense of who their client may be. It saves time, however, it still replicates the same face-to-face mannerism. Although there may some conversations that seem a bit impersonal because of the more often than not stranger-to-stranger interaction, it still gets the job done.

            In some of the experiences that I have had with recruiters, I would say that I do not have many good ones. Once my resume was posted to an online job board such as Dice.com, it was open season on my number for recruiters. They called me during hours that people would not normally call. Some got very personal and asked me about my previous salaries in order to set a negotiating offer for the company they were applying me to. All of them had the same mannerism, which did get the job done but also left some room for human interaction such as making small talk.

            I’ve had several interviews that required a phone call or at least meeting software. They were nerve wrecking at first because I would spend the 30 minutes to an hour prior wondering how they would sound like based on the name that was on the email sent to me. Sometimes the nervousness would make me speak a little faster or forget my words in the middle of a sentence. And without a human face to attach to such a mistake, some of these nuances would leave me overbearingly embarrassed.  “A phone interview seems so informal on the surface that it can be easy to fall into the trap of "phoning it in"—i.e., not preparing for it as well as you would for an in-person interview,” an article states that it is important to make sure to prepare for a phone interview as much as you would an in-person one (Vogt).

            One of the most important ideas I’ve realized during my experiences with phone interviews is that the people who are calling you simply just want to know who you are. They’re not looking to extract revealing details about your life or make your day bad. They just want to see what kind of person. And if they’re already calling, they’re already considering. They want to see more than just a textual interaction with you. People who conduct phone interviews are people too, “Don’t make the mistake of sounding overly serious or timid.” (Zhang).

References

Vogt, P. (n.d.). Phone Interview Questions & How to Prepare for Them. Retrieved September 16, 2016,    from http://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/mastering-the-phone-interview

Zhang, B. L. (2014). The #1 Mistake People Make on Phone Interviews. Retrieved September 16, 2016,    from https://www.themuse.com/advice/the-1-mistake-people-make-on-phone-interviews

Welcome to the Technical Writing blog!

It's a fresh semester and we're ready to take it on! This is a blog about technical writing. Come visit back here for the rest of Fall 2016 to learn more about technical writing and documentation.