Lily Trayes, director of college counseling and Aristotle Circle expert, provides advice for how to prepare for the college interview. ¿Cómo puedo prepararme para la entrevista de la universidad? Traducción española
I got my first Commodore 64 in the early 80’s when I was around 7. The Commodore 64’s manual came with code samples for the basic programming language so I would type the code in myself to see if I could make a balloon move diagonally across the screen. For some reason I remember it was white on the blue background with what I assume was a “C” in the middle. This was my first taste of programming and how I could use a computer to make a game (although not a very fun game, just watching a balloon move.)
Flash forward to my college years when I got my first “modern” pc with the windows 3.1 operating system. Anyone who has tried to install a pc game knows there are sometimes major problems that you need to resolve before running World of Warcraft, Counter Strike or Spore. Problems like the wrong version of direct x, incompatible video card drivers, and lower than needed machine capacity like memory. Microsoft has made some advancement in this area with Windows XP and even the much disliked Vista, but there are still plenty of crashes during game play to deal with.
Working through these issues to get a game running gives you a lot of the skills you need to become a desktop support technician in an IT job. The main responsibilities of this job are to troubleshoot pc issues, install software and make hardware changes like adding memory. A lot of the best IT people I know are also gamers. This is a great entry level IT job with many paths to grow. From this job you can advance to higher level desktop support, move into server support or become an IT manager. The options are endless and lucrative.
If you’ve ever attended a LAN party you’ve seen the networking skills that are required to get everyone networked together to play. This is a path to a Network Engineer. These are the people responsible for among other things connecting all pc’s, servers and other hardware together through a network. This is another great path with many ways to grow in the job.
This next one is in my opinion the most difficult path, it is to learn programming languages to write your own independent video games. There are some amazing indie games out there. I would love to work for Rockstar Games and attach ping pong balls to horses for motion capture, but I did not go that route and do not have the skills.
All of the professions listed here will take some extra training, but the skills you have
already acquired put you ahead of anyone trying to get the same position without the experience gained from your passion for playing video games.
Remember when someone tells you that you’re wasting your time playing video games, you are also building some valuable skills that can lead you into a future career.
The objective of e very rock climber is to reach the zenith of your performance level on the day of the competition. For this you must start certain preparatory activities almost two-months before the actual event. Besides the usual training routine you should start targeting specific muscle systems (aerobic, anaerobic) and specific muscle groups for the type of climbing. Ensure the intake of a good nutritious diet to compliment the specific, targeted training plan for maximizing your advantages. Given below are general guidelines. You should seek advice from a sports nutritionist or sports trainer for individual training for your position.
Two Months before the Competition.
Chalk out a workout with a daily routine that aims at succeeding in the kind of climbing included in the competition. Following are some types of training:
Negative sloping, long-reach moves and overhanging sums up to the Strength Training; Speed climbing, Dynos make up the Explosive/Burst Power Training;
Long or high runs that need continuous climbing for more than five minutes is the Endurance Training and the Long leads, lock-off that require sustained power, difficult clipping without burnout in addition to the duration of climb and long routes sums up to the Strength-Endurance Training.
After identifying the type of training you would need, start a specific training plan that concentrates on that particular training.
Food and Nutrition
You must always keep away from fatty food two months before the competition. The usual training diets must be high in carbohydrates, low in protein and fats. If the carbohydrate is less than 60% of the daily calories, you may not be topping up the muscle and glycogen stock, making the glycogen levels drop below normal. People who find themselves unable to train on a daily basis show signs of glycogen reduction. To avoid this condition you should have an intake of approximately eight to nine grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight daily. Carbohydrates can be pasta, breads, potatoes, or sweets, fruits, etc.
One-Week before the Competition
Stop all arduous exercises and start moderating stretching and aerobic activity. Keep the muscles ample time to recuperate. Moderate aerobic activities must not use the climbing muscles. Some old low aerobic activities like bicycle riding, walking, moderate swimming, golf, and ping-pong, etc stimulate blood circulation when target muscles are recuperating.
Food and Nutrition
Have a carbohydrate rich diet and cut down on fat and protein intake. Drink ample water and get 8 hours of sleep. Have the normal quantity of food and avoid dieting during this time. By cutting down on water and carbohydrates before climbing competitions, your stamina will drop by nearly half. When the muscles are dehydrated they lose almost 25%of their contracted strength and reducing water and food intake a day before, uses up the stored glycogen. This reduces stamina and causes dehydration, leading to a reduction in strength and ability.
Three Days before the Competition
Avoid exercising, but carry on with stretching. There are some endurance athletes who completely do away with fat and protein intake during this time. Better known as carbo-loading, this increases the glycogen amount in muscles and liver and prevents exhaustion during the very exhaustive events.
A week before the event, you must stick to your normal diet for the initial four days. Throughout the other three days undertake a high carbohydrate diet. A number of endurance athletes increase their carbohydrate intake to about 10 grams per kilogram of bodyweight that is approximately 70% of dietary kilocalories during the two to three days prior to the event.