This semester has lended for some school projects a little different than usual. Some seem to be even… useful?

In “Speaking & Writing for Engineers,” I was required to write a resume and application letter to apply for an internship (optional on whether we actually sent the letter). Already being a step ahead of the class with an existing resume, this provided for a good time to produce an updated resume for your reading (and hiring) pleasure. I was sure to fill it with lots of buzzwords (yes, I do agree with Buzzwords say all the wrong things, in general) and acronyms, knowing that many companies these days simply scan resumes and run queries on their database for matching people. Additionally, I am going to be on both sides of a mock job interview soon to come.

Having an updated resume came just in time for UF’s Career Showcase – a two day event in which hundreds of employers speak with students about job openings in their companies. There were some big companies there and I got to meet a lot of recruiters. I spoke with a guy from Microsoft (with Windows Live) who asked me what AJAX really is. Not surprisingly, he said I was the only person so far that day that had a good grasp of it. (The “not surprisingly” is more from the lack of web-awareness of normal Computer Science/Engineering majors and less from the fact that I am just incredible).

In Java II, my latest project was to create an analysis, design, and implementation of a Travel Agency. We’re still doing simple console applications but are getting into different types of inheritance in Java. My UML diagram and screenshot below:

Facebook – after recently getting a “facelift” with its News Feed (which delivers constantly updated information about your friends) and Mini-Feed (to show your friends what you have been up to) – has been up to a lot more. By opening itself up to anyone with any email address today, the once-exclusive social networking site can now be accessed by anyone. This is not big news though, Zuckerberg announced this would happen a while ago.

What I do find interesting, is how the site identifies users as unique…

As my friend Bryan Scott (of CampusTrade.com) recently mentioned, it is extremely easy for someone to get multiple email addresses. What is not easy to get is multiple cell phones. Therefore, if websites should use cell phones as unique identifiers to make it much harder for spammers and bots to abuse systems. Two weeks ago we were trying to figure out what that means for TapNote, and today Facebook is using the same idea.

Public email account users (those without a school or work email address) who do not confirm their cell phone address on Facebook can still do everything on the site. They are, however, required to enter one of those “are you a human” image codes every time they want to interact with someone on the website.

By doing this, Facebook has ensured that it stays spam-free, as it grows extremely quickly. I can only image where Facebook will be in another year. And I don’t just mean at Yahoo!.