1. Work in pairs. Which of the jobs in Exercise 2 would you most like to have? Which would you least like to have? Tell your partner why.

2. Study these job advertisements from the famous American job site www.Monsterjob.Com and match the requirements to the jobs which follow. A) Computer system engineer / network technician

b) Desktop Support Technician

c) Software Engineer

d) Web Developer

e) Computer IT Support Engineer

Ad1) 2-5 year experience installing and supporting Microsoft operating systems in a networked environment / experience installing network infrastructure (switches, routers) / setup and troubleshoot TCP/IP, DNS, and DHCP issues / setting up and supporting firewalls, anti virus software, data backup systems and all types of computer systems;

Ad2) 2 years hardware/software support experience / Ability to troubleshoot in a fast paced environment / Excellent customer support skills / Proven experience in learning and supporting unfamiliar software applications / Break-fix experience with IBM/Lenovo desktops and laptops / Ability to train and educate end users;

Ad3) A Degree in Computing / Knowledge of Web Development Languages (NET or PHP) / Strong knowledge of Databases – SQL or MySQL;

Ad4) Design, development, and implementation of different storage/extraction strategies to best exploit the data / must have a BSc (with 5+ years’ experience) in Computer Science/Computing Engineering, or related field.  Postgraduate studies, MSc, and/or PhD a plus;

Ad5) Technical knowledge of small business & home technologies / PC hardware fault-finding, repair and maintenance / Hardware and software experience together with experience of peripherals / Upgrading hardware / Cloning drives, copying and backing-up data / Installation, configuration and maintenance of Microsoft Windows XP, Vista and 7 / Microsoft Office – all current versions / Ethernet networking – maintenance and fault analysis/resolution.

3. Role-play «a Job Interview».

Choose any advertisement and role-play the situation: «Student A is a graduate student of Computer Science who is looking for a job in the international company. Student B is a potential employer. Convince the potential employer in your ability to manage the job offered».

UNIT 9. IT CORPORATION GIANTS

COMPUTER TALKING

1. Work in pairs and speak on the questions.

1) What IT companies do you know? 2) What are they famous for? 3) Which company is the most successful? Why? 4) Which one would you like to work for? Why? 5) Would you like to create your own IT company in the future? Would you choose any of your groupmates as a partner?

2. Match the trade marks of the world most famous information technology corporations with the countries of their origin and the slogans.

a) the USA	b) Taiwan	c) South Korea	d) Finland	f) the USA	g) Japan
a) Invent	b) Like no other	c) Explore beyond limits	d) Digitally Yours	f) Think different	g) Connecting people

3. What company’s gadgets do you prefer? Why? Try to persuade your speaking partner to buy the same trade mark as you do.

READING

1. Read Text 1 about the key companies on the world IT market and find out the followings:

1) Which of the three companies is the world's largest manufacturer of mobile phones now? 2) What company was the world's largest vendor of mobile phones from 1998 to 2012? 3) What company is the second-largest publicly traded corporation in the world by market capitalization, with an estimated value of US$414 billion? 4) What company has got more employees? How many? 5) When did Apple achieve widespread success? 6) Why has Nokia suffered a declining market share over the past five years? 7) When did Samsung Electronics overtake Nokia by having sold 93.5 million units? 8) What position was Samsung previously known for?

Text 1

a) The Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications and information technology corporation. Its principal products are mobile telephones and portable IT devices. It also offers free-of-charge digital map information and navigation services through its wholly owned subsidiary Navteq.

Nokia has around 101,982 employees across 120 countries, sales in more than 150 countries and annual revenues of around €30 billion. It is the world's second-largest mobile phone maker by 2012 unit sales (after Samsung), with a global market share of 22.5% in the first quarter of that year. Nokia is a public limited-liability company.

Nokia was the world's largest vendor of mobile phones from 1998 to 2012. However, over the past five years it has suffered a declining market share as a result of the growing use of touch screen smart phones from other vendors - principally the Apple iPhone and devices running on Google's Android operating system - in which Nokia did not take enough advantage of. As a result, its share price had fallen from a high of US$40 in late 2007 to under US$2 in mid-2012. In a bid to recover, Nokia announced a strategic partnership with Microsoft in February 2011, as part of which all Nokia smart phones will incorporate Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system, replacing Symbian. Nokia's current flagship product is the Nokia Lumia 920 and its successors.

b) Apple Inc., formerly Apple Computer, Inc., is an American multinational corporationthat designs, develops, and sellsconsumer electronics, computer software and personal computers. Its best-known hardware products are theMacline of computers, theiPodmusic player, theiPhonesmartphone, and theiPadtablet computer.

Apple is the world's second-largest information technology companyby revenue afterSamsung Electronics, and theworld's third-largest mobile phone makerafterSamsungandNokia. As of May 2013, Apple maintains 406retail storesin fourteen countries as well as the onlineApple StoreandiTunes Store. It is thesecond-largest publicly traded corporation in the world by market capitalization, with an estimated value of US$414 billion as of January 2013. As of September 29, 2012 (2012-09-29)^[update], the company had 72,800 permanent full-time employees and 3,300 temporary full-time employees worldwide. Its worldwide annual revenue in 2012 totaled $156 billion. Apple achieved widespread success with its iPhone,iPod TouchandiPadproducts, which introduced innovations inmobile phones,portable music playersandpersonal computersrespectively. Touch screenshad beeninvented and seen in mobile devices before, but Apple was the first to achieve mass market adoption of such a user interfacethat included particular pre-programmed touch gestures.

c) Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a South Korean multinational electronics company. It is the flagship subsidiary of the Samsung Group and has been the world's largest information technology company by revenues since 2009. Samsung Electronics has assembly plants and sales networks in 88 countries and employs around 370,000 people.

Samsung has previously been known for its position as a manufacturer of components such as lithium-ion batteries, semiconductors, chips, flash memory and hard drive devices for clients such as Apple, Sony and Nokia. In recent years, Samsung Electronics has actively expanded in consumer markets moving away from its manufacturing roots - marked by new products and increasing revenue.

Samsung has been the world's largest manufacturer of mobile phones since 2011. Samsung Electronics displaced Apple Inc. as the world's largest technology company in 2011. In 2005, Samsung Electronics surpassed Japanese rival, Sony, for the first time to become the world's twentieth-largest and most popular consumer brand. In 2009, Samsung achieved total revenues of US$117.4 billion, overtaking Hewlett-Packard to become the world's largest technology company measured by sales.

In the first quarter of 2012, the company became the highest-selling mobile phone company when it overtook Nokia, selling 93.5 million units compared to Nokia's 82.7 million units. Samsung also became the largest smartphone vendor as a result of strong sales of its Galaxy SII and Galaxy Note devices.