Proud Millennial

 

Image by Top 10 website


About me

    I’m a 32-year-old graduate student, pursing a master’s in library and information science (MLIS) at Dominican University. I chose this field of study as I’m a lifelong learner. The only constant is change, and just within my lifetime, technology has grown and changed rapidly making a wealth of knowledge accessible for all to explore. As a millennial, I have a very unique relationship with technology and its rapid growth. My generation is young enough to quickly adapt to our digital world, yet old enough to remember a time before this digital era. Jess, author of medium.com article “The Millennial Maze—A Generation’s Journey from Analog Childhoods to Digital Adulthood”  eloquently describes this phenomenon, stating that “This duality of experience has instilled millennials with a sense of nostalgia for the simpler, analog days, coupled with an appreciation for the conveniences and opportunities afforded by digital technology” (2024).

 Fun Facts

·       I have an identical twin sister who lives in Atlanta, Georgia

·       Favorite mockumentary: “The Office”

·       Favorite Movie: “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”

 Current Role

    At the end of 2023, I stepped down from my role as a supervisor of the Quality Assurance Team to complete my master’s degree. My employer—Tackle AI—allowed me to continue working full time in the entry level position of Quality Assurance Associate while in school. I now work a hybrid schedule, working in the office one day a week. I’m truly grateful that my employer has allowed me to adhere to this schedule. At Tackle, employees are required to work in the office at least 3 days a week. However, when I informed them that I would be reviving my candidacy in the MLIS program, they were very supportive in giving me what I needed to succeed. In my experience, this type of accommodation is a rarity. 

    Currently, as a Quality Assurance Associate, I review hundreds of documents per day, ensuring that our in-house machine learning model does not produce errors. If errors are found, they are noted and corrected. This helps our Machine Learning and C# teams improve the software and produce more accurate results.

Career Goals

    Once I’ve completed my MLIS degree, I seek to gain employment as either a Digital Asset Manager or a Cataloging Librarian. As a detailed oriented person, I do my best work when tasked with issues of organization and ensuring everything is in its proper place (physically and digitally). If you are unfamiliar with these career paths, below you will find quick definitions:

  • Digital Asset Manager: organizes, disseminates, stores, and maintains an organization’s digital files (images, scanned documents, video, etc.)
  • Cataloging Librarian: creates bibliographic records of all resources used by patrons.

Technology’s Impact

    Technology has changed my life drastically just within the last decade. While the advances have been extremely useful in my life, that use does not come without a cost. As a user of certain apps I willing invite third parties to invade my privacy--collecting information on my likes and dislikes, and storing personal information such as debit card numbers and home addresses.

    But with the bad comes the good. The pandemic inspiring businesses to create technological solutions in order to maintain a customer base is a testament to this. Now in 2024, I use some form of technology in my everyday life. My job would probably not exist without the advances in technology. I may not have been able to complete a master’s degree if the program wasn’t offered online. Zoom allows me to attend remote therapy sessions—this is incredibly helpful for a person with agoraphobic tendencies like me. The creation of apps like DoorDash made every millennial’s dream of McDonald’s being delivered a reality. I keep in touch with old friends from high school and college through apps like Facebook and Instagram. I stream the news through YouTube. 

    And now I am using technology to create and write a blog about integrating it into education. I’ve never blogged before. At least not my personal opinion on a particular topic. As we will engage in creating many blog posts in the EDU 776/LIS 724 course, I’m a little nervous entering this class.

Creative Commons Image

But I’m ready to dive in!

 

References

EpicTop10.com. (2019). “A word cloud featuring Millennials.” flickr. Attribution (CC BY 2.0). Retrieved August 28, 2024, from https://www.flickr.com/photos/182229932@N07/48496206652.

Jess. (2024, February 13). The millennial maze - a generation’s journey from analog childhoods to digital adulthood. Medium. https://medium.com/the-authors-lounge/the-millennial-maze-a-generations-journey-from-analog-childhoods-to-digital-adulthood-db55d06844b7

Mrgametv1994. (2018, August 27). BL-Test Animation. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives Works 3.0 License.

Comments

  1. NMZumpanoAugust 29, 2024 at 1:09 PM

    Great to meet you, Alisha. Yay twins! I was so happy to read about your role as a Quality Assurance Associate. I wasn't aware that there were AI companies that were doing this. It was also great to hear how supportive your employer is. That's not always the case, especially when it means you will eventually take a role leaving the company. You are off to a great start on your blogging journey! I look forward to exploring technology with you this fall.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alisha McCullumAugust 29, 2024 at 5:09 PM

      Thanks! And yes, I'm looking forward to this course as well!

      Delete
  2. AnonymousAugust 29, 2024 at 6:23 PM

    Alisha,
    I loved the format of your blog! It was very easy to follow and the headings organized the information so I could easily jump around. Your view on technology seems very similar to mine as I often feel conflicted by the good and the bad too. It is really easy for me to focus on all of the bad and forget all of the benefits that I have gained from it too!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alisha McCullumSeptember 1, 2024 at 2:31 PM

      Ah I see, no worries at all! Thanks for posting you name. Also thanks on the compliments on my organization. I was really nervous about this first post since I'm new to this. I definitely hear you on focusing on all of the bad that technology has brought us. But it doesn't take me too long to get out of that mind space once I think about how much it's improved my life.

      Delete
  3. Dan ConlinSeptember 1, 2024 at 9:27 PM

    Alisha, as a fellow millennial I appreciate the word cloud at the beginning. The past decade has seen a large change in technology and it seems like you are positioned to be part of the current change with artificial intelligence. Like NMZumpano said, I didn't know AI companies had that level of quality assurance. As an educator, this makes me more hopeful that as students use these platforms as resources the information being generated as a higher reliability.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alisha McCullumSeptember 2, 2024 at 6:23 AM

      Yes, AI has a long way to go. In my opinion, it's going to take years for it to be up to par with humans ability to detect nuisance. That's why we need educators like yourself to be a guide for students navigating this new technology. To ensure accuracy in research and teaching students how to find credible resources. AI is a cool tool but it has a long way to go before we can trust its responses.

      Delete
    2. Dan ConlinSeptember 5, 2024 at 1:02 PM

      I actually find comfort in your prediction of years for accuracy of nuisance. AI seems to be reaching into so many aspects of our everyday life very quickly. This accuracy time delay will allow for people inside and outside of education to better adapt to, and account for, AI technology.

      Delete
    3. Alisha McCullumSeptember 5, 2024 at 3:59 PM

      Yes, I 100% agree!

      Delete

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