Welcome to my profile

Personal Information:

• Name: Aaron Bowden
• Student Number: S3778882
• Email Address: s3778882@student.rmit.edu.au
• Nationality: Australian
• Education: NSW School Certificate, Diploma of International Retail Travel and a Diploma of Business Management
• Languages Spoken: English
• Fun Fact: I am a snowboarder and scuba diver
• Favourite Sport: Formula 1

Interest in IT:

I have always had a curious mind and strong sense of imagination. I developed a keen interest in information and technology from a young age, as my father was an Aeronautical Engineer for Boeing. He exposed me to the hard work, dedication and life long training and re-training that is required to work in an innovative, technology driven space. As an adult, I have always been attracted to careers or companies that require the ability to think outside the box and reward creativity and individualism. In 2016, I applied for a job with Apple and was fortunate enough to be offered a position in 2017 as a Technical Advisor.

Experience in IT:

I have been working for Apple for the past two years. In my current role, I provide technical support to clients from around the world. I have developed advanced communication skills as well as a sophisticated understanding of troubleshooting and diagnostics, allowing me to explain complex technical issues to non-technical persons. My work mostly takes place over the phone with the use of tools such as screen sharing to guide clients through their technical issues. While working for Apple, I have completed a number of job specific training courses to qualify me to provide technical support across a suite of Apple products, focussing on software. I have also completed a variety of other courses at Apple in areas such as compliance, privacy and security.

Why RMIT:

For sometime I have considered enrolling in tertiary studies to expand my career prospects and enhance my understanding of IT. Given I live in Sydney and have a busy life managing full time work, family and travel, it was important to me that I could have the flexibility of studying online. I did some research through Open Universities Australia and discovered the program offered by RMIT. The course appealed to me as it purports to teach a desirable combination of theory and technical skills. I was also drawn to RMIT because of its reputation for excellence. I have heard through word of mouth that other students have had a positive experience studying this course.

What I Expect to Learn:

I have high expectations for my professional development through undertaking this course. Firstly, I hope to expand my knowledge of the IT space, while developing industry connections. My current IT experience has been focused entirely on Apple, so I hope to expand my knowledge of other companies, platforms and systems to diversify my understating of the technology landscape. Secondly, I hope to develop more practical IT skills in areas such as programming and development. As I progress in my IT career, I aim to graduate from the technical support space to a more creative and technical role such as software engineering. I hope this degree will allow me to bridge the gap between my existing skills and experience, and what is required to achieve my future career goals. Finally, I hope to develop additional skills in writing, research and analysis through exposure to academic tasks and practices.

The Ideal Job:

https://jobs.apple.com/en-au/details/200023037/software-engineer?team=SFTWR

or alternatively here

What is this position and why is it appealing:

My ideal job is a Software Engineer with Apple. The link above currently advertises a Software Engineer role with the data security team. This position involves building novel crypto and security products. It is targeted at software engineers who have a passion for dealing with security challenges to help keep Apple data, services and interactions safe and private. This position appeals to me as this role emphasises innovation and collaboration. The role is very technical, requiring excellent programming skills and a good understanding of security concepts and design patterns. While the role is beyond my current skills and qualifications, it is something I would like to work towards.

What skills, qualifications and experience are required for the position:

This role requires a tertiary education such as a bachelor, master or doctoral degree in computer science or equivalent experience. The additional skills required focus around cryptography and security. Importantly, there is a need to understand modern cryptography concepts and the design of secure systems. There is a need to understand distributed system security, authentication and access controls. Technical skills include strong programming skills and the ability to use C++, Go, Java and OOP concepts.

What skills, qualifications and experiences I currently have:

While I currently have two years experience working for Apple in a technical support role, I do not have the tertiary education or technical knowledge and experience required for my ideal role. I do however have an excellent understanding of the variety of hardware and software products offered by Apple. I also have experience in Apple’s privacy and data security protocols. I am passionate about data privacy and security and seek to educate and assist clients in my current role to help them protect their information.

My plan to obtain the skills and experience relevant to this position:

I am aware that I have a large skills gap between my current position at Apple and my ideal position as a Software Engineer. I am however extremely motivated to obtain the skills, knowledge and experience necessary to apply for this type of position in the future. I believe the fact that I am already employed at Apple will assist me in working towards this position. Being an existing employee, I am privy to company operations and information and can continue to build my experience within the organisation. I aim to utilise my internal networks to identify training programs and mentors that may assist in my professional development. I have spoken with my manager and explained my career ambitions and have received company support to undertake the Bachelor of IT at RMIT. Having a tertiary qualification is a key component of my ideal role, and I believe the skills and knowledge I will learn at university will complement my employment experience to work towards my dream role.

Profile:

Myer Briggs Results:

My Myer Briggs personality type is ENFJ, known as The Protagonist or The Giver personality. This personality type is a combination of extraverted, intuitive, feeling and judging. According to the Personality Page, ENFJ personalities primary mode of living is focussed externally, dealing with things according to how they make you feel or how they fit into your personal belief system. ENFJ personalities are people focussed and have a special talent for bringing out the best in others. They are focussed on understanding, supporting and encouraging others (The Personaility Page, 2019). According to 16 Personalities, the ENFJ’s strengths are being tolerant, reliable, charismatic, altruistic and being natural leaders. Their weaknesses are listed as being overly idealistic, too selfless, too sensitive, fluctuating self esteem and struggling to make tough decisions (16 Personailities, 2019).

Learning Style Results:

My learning style is visual learning. According to Mind Tools, a visually dominate learner absorbs and retains information better when it is presented in pictures, diagrams and charts (Mind Tools, 2019). Visual learners learn best by using tools such as creating graphic organisers, including illustrations, using highlighter pens to colour code information, and studying in a place that is free from visual distractions (How to Study, 2019).

Colour Code Personality Profile Results:

My Colour Code personality type is yellow. According to Colour Code, yellow personalities are motivated primarily by fun. They are optimistic people who believe in others. They are charismatic and find it easy to relate to people of all ages. Colour Code notes that yellows are great as work colleagues as they build moral and are not intimidated by new ideas or new challenges. They are noted for being very creative and great verbal communicators. Their weaknesses are committing to long term projects, often starting more projects than they successfully complete. They prefer short term goals (Color Code, 2019).

What do the results of these tests mean for you?

My test results gave me a greater understanding of who I am as a person, what my strengths and weaknesses are, and how my personality and learning style may influence my career. I have affirmed that I am a highly creative individual, who is motivated by working with others and helping others to achieve their goals. I think my test results show that I would be best suited to working in a team environment on creative projects. I have also learned that I am a visual learner, and have taken note of the tips that will allow me to learn best. This includes organising information visually and including videos, colours and graphics into my learning process.

How do you think these results may influence your behaviour in a team?

My personal testing shows I am an excellent team player. As a people-person and a people-pleaser, I thrive in team based environments. I actively listen to other people’s ideas and motivate and encourage others to fulfil their potential. My natural role in a team would be to initiate and champion creative processes while promoting strong team communication and diversity of ideas. Through completing my personal testing, I have also identified some of my weaknesses. I am aware that I can be disorganised and may struggle to make tough decisions. I am also aware that I can struggle to commit to long term projects. These are weaknesses I would keep in mind when forming a team.

How should you take this into account when forming a team?

When forming a team, I would seek to ensure I have a balance of different personality types and learning styles. It is clear that different people bring different qualities and experiences to a team environment. Having an understanding of my own strengths and weaknesses would impact my decisions when forming an ideal team. Primarily, I would seek individuals who have strong organisation skills, attention to detail and who are task motivated. This would ensure that creative ideas are actualised and implemented in a more practical manner than my exisiting abilities would otherwise permit.

Project Idea:

PROJECT RUFUS

Overview:

Project RUFUS is a concept I have imagined while working in my current role at Apple in the Technical Support space. At Apple, I frequently assist people who are unsure if they have been the target of social engineering and scams. Unfortunately in many instances, by the time a vulnerable technology user realises they may have been the target of an online attack, they have already provided sensitive information or financial details to scammers. I am therefore setting out to create a community-based online notification and rating system that will provide advice to users on wether an email is fake or legitimate. Project RUFUS will be delivered as a software application, designed as a plug in to run along side users existing email systems.

Motivation:

I am a people-person, who is passionate about helping others with technology and protecting their online security and personal data. In my current role at Apple, I have spoken to numerous clients who have fallen victim to phishing scams. I have often given thought to creating a tool that would assist people to easily identify an unsafe email. Unfortunately many vulnerable technology users have fallen victim to phishing scams, resulting in their sensitive information being abused. For example, financial information being used for financial gain or personal information being misappropriated by cyber criminals for nefarious purposes.

A recent study conducted by the cyber security firm Proofpoint highlighted that 83% of respondents in a recent security survey indicated they had experienced a phishing attack in 2018. Of note, this was up 76% from the previous year. Also interesting to note was that the study stated security awareness training had a significant impact on preventing these kinds of attacks (Spadafora, 2018). By developing Project RUFUS, I hope to spread awareness of phishing attacks and educate vulnerable online users, such as the elderly, parents, middle aged adults, and people with busy lifestyles who may not be aware of current scams or attacks.

Description:

The key features of Project RUFUS are as follows:

Real-time awareness: Project RUFUS will be a real-time awareness tool that will work to benefit the community. This is not a tool to replace junk mail filters, rather a tool that should be viewed as an enhancement to existing systems.

Education tool: My aim with this project is to have an education tool to help spread awareness of phishing attacks and other online scams.

Community based: The project will rely on active participation from the community. The service will be based on members of the community reporting information to the project that will inform the advice and rating system delivered through the software.

User-friendly: Project RUFUS will aim to be a user-friendly experience. The target audience of this project are those less likely to be confident with technology, such as the elderly. Therefore it is crucial information is delivered in an easy to understand format.

Colour coded risk advice: The project will use a basic traffic light colour coding system to advise of risk. Green = safe, the email is safe to open. Yellow = caution, the email is deemed suspicious, exercise caution. Red = stop, the email is known as malicious, delete and do not action.

Accessability: The project aims to be accessible to multiple users. There will be accessibility options built into this project, such as a voice over option for the visual impaired. The simple colour coding system also aims to overcome language barriers by applying a universal, easy to understand rating system for advice.

Not-for-profit service: There will be no cost to install or use RUFUS. The goal of this project is to help people, not to profit from their vulnerability. The project will seek support from tech companies to supply assistance in the form of volunteering people and knowledge to actualise the project. The project will also approach financial institutions (banks etc) for sponsorship of the project. It is likely sponsorship could be gained from financial institutions as the reduction in phishing attacks could see a reduction in financial claims or losses for their clients.

Tools and Technologies:

The tools and technologies that I will require to develop Project RUFUS are:

• Internet access will be required to research and develop the software application, as well as to keep the application running with the most up-to-date information.
• A server will be needed to store the data required for the plug in to function.
• The software will need to be compatible with all major email servers and protocols in order to reach the most amount of people.
• There will be a need to experiment with different portable and desktop devices to ensure the software is functioning properly.
• Voice over technology will be required for the accessibility options envisaged for the project.

Skills required:

Hardware: I will need to learn how to build a cloud-based server that can synchronise with the app/plugin over different platforms. I will need to learn how I can collate the emails the plug in sends to the server with the different rankings be each user. It will also need to be able to send “live” updates to the plug in as well.

Software: An in-mail app plug in would be the best way for my project to reach the intended audience. It needs to be written so it can plug in and work within the inbox and be easy to see, read and understand. It would need to suitable for all apps and email accounts if possible.

As I am new to the world of programming, I am yet to learn the skills required to realise my vision in creating Project RUFUS. As I continue my tertiary education, I expect to gain a better understanding of the tools that will be available to me to be able to create this project. I will also gain a better understanding of the resources and costs that will be involved to develop this project. I anticipate there will be many unforeseen obstacles throughout this project, however I will require the skills to be highly adaptable in order to modify elements of my project and ensure its success.

Outcome:

My desired time-frame for the implementation of Project RUFUS would be 12 months. However, as I am only just embarking on my university studies I think a more reasonable time frame will be 2-3 years. This will allow me to continue to develop the skills and knowledge I need, through university study, to be able to actualise this project. I hope the outcome of this project will be a dramatic reduction in the amount of people impacted by phishing attacks and scams. While I am realistic that I will not be able to stop the cause of the problem, I am confident that I can initiate massive harm reduction by influencing the targets of these attacks. Through timely education and advice, I aim to significantly minimise the risk to vulnerable internet users.

References:

The Personality Page. (2019). Portrait of an ENFJ. [online] Available at: https://www.personalitypage.com/html/ENFJ.html [Accessed 18 Mar. 2019].

16Personalities.(2019). ENFJ Strengths and Weaknesses 16Personalities. [online] Available at:https://www.16personalities.com/enfj-strengths-and-weaknesses [Accessed 18 Mar. 2019].

Mindtools.com. (2019). VAK Learning StylesUnderstanding How Team Members Learn. [online] Available at: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/vak-learning-styles.htm [Accessed 18 Mar. 2019].

howtostudy.com. (2019). [online] Available at https://www.how-to-study.com/study-skills-articles/visual-learner.asp [Accessed 18 Mar. 2019].

Colorcode.com. (2019). [online] Available at: https://www.colorcode.com/media/cc/bonus/pdf/yellow.pdf [Accessed 18 Mar. 2019].

Spadafora, A. (2019). Phishing attacks on the rise in 2018. [online] TechRadar. Available at: https://www.techradar.com/au/news/phishing-attacks-on-the-rise-in-2018 [Accessed 18 Mar. 2019].