Thank you so much for making this video! Here from the UAlberta subreddit. I'll be going into my first year in a Comp Sci Specialization this Fall, and this video was a great confirmation of what my plans are for the year. I'd like to be involved in as many internships, clubs, competitions, and leadership opportunities as I can during my degree. You and your accomplishments are an inspiration for me!
Absolutely! But I wouldn't treat it as "can't turn back", but rather "let me see what I can do to make being here completely worth it". To be fair, my experience is a bit skewed: when I came to Canada for university, I was happy to get here. I have an extremely small family, and came from a country where I had no deep roots in either way. I also matured and went through being a teenager in a much more westernized culture (Dubai, UAE), so I didn't experience anywhere near as much culture shock as my other friends that are international students too. Best of luck on your journey! It may be hard, but you'll get through it :)
Personally I'm quite surprised to hear these stories of applying to hundreds of places. That's something I'm not familiar with in Germany. If you have a decent profile you can get internships fairly easy here. I know quite a few friends that did internships or part-time jobs in their first year. Also I agree with your thing you said about Google and the way people react. Actually I decided to unlist one of my videos where I talked about my internships at Amazon and Facebook. It kind of attracts the people that only want to go into CS because they see big dollar signs. The type of people that think working at those companies makes you superior and everyone else is trash... Fortunately within my close friend group no one cares about those tech companies.
Hey, glad to hear it was easier on your end. I have to say though, the reason I found it difficult was because I had a terrible resume, didn't know how to sell my past experiences or myself, and I didn't feel like I had much experience to talk about at all. I agree, that even in North America if you are in first year with all the things I have mentioned before, you likely will have an easier time. Another aspect is culture. Any first year student likely does not have anything to bring to the table as a developer, and that's how a lot of employers feel. The culture of internships and apprenticeships that I know is quite strong in Germany is simply next to non existent here for smaller businesses. Just wanted to provide a bit of context :)
@@ArseniyKD Oh I see that doesn't sound terribly different from what I experienced here. Those friends I mentioned already had some experience with the type of technology those smaller companies were using. So yes either those students were self taught in high school, they did a gap year full of internships or did some sort of apprentice program. For students just starting out with CS once they got to university they would usually start doing internships towards the end of their Bachelor program or maybe even just in their Masters. Actually I noticed that it's fairly difficult to get an internship at smaller companies if you don't know the specific technology they are using. Bigger companies usually don't care about those details.
@developandplay Yup, that makes more sense for me too. I have a couple friends in CS in Germany, and since they had no experience before University, they are only considering internships after 4th or 5th semester. I also noticed that it's harder to get an internship at smaller companies if you do not have the required skills, but at the very least, for those companies it's decently easy to learn the skills they need. Most of the time it's simple web technologies that are needed, and a simple month long project or two using the MERN stack or something like that is plenty.
Your videos are informative. What clubs are active and really helpful for CS students in Alberta. What extra things we can do to improve our profile strength?
Hmm, I don't really know what clubs are explicitly active anymore, you might have better odds looking around during the Fall clubs fair in September. However, I do know that the UAlberta Programming Club (the club for competitive programming) is quite active and rather good practice for interviews at bigger companies. Hope that helps :)
Hi! I will be in my second year this fall major in comput. just wondering how did you apply for the Arista Networks intern? Through their website? How did you know about all the internship information? Thank you!
I actually talked to some engineers when they visited for an info session and the career fair in fall of 2018. However, most people I know that interned as well either applied through engg coop / SIP or on the website. All applications are considered equally.
Hey Tom, I would say that it's not particularly late. I know some people that started their bachelor's degree even later than you are thinking, and they have done well. You should look at what all your options are, as a bachelor's degree in CS is not the only way to break into the industry. You could do a master's degree if you have a bachelor's degree in something already (in which case I would say you should look at the Keep On Coding channel, as the person there took this path to get into tech), or a bootcamp, or even self teach. Do your own research on what works for you, I simply do not know your situation to be able to make any prescriptive statements. The industry is fairly welcoming of people of all ages, just be aware that the entry level market can be rather saturated, so good luck out there :)
Thank you so much for making this video! Here from the UAlberta subreddit. I'll be going into my first year in a Comp Sci Specialization this Fall, and this video was a great confirmation of what my plans are for the year. I'd like to be involved in as many internships, clubs, competitions, and leadership opportunities as I can during my degree.
You and your accomplishments are an inspiration for me!
Thank you for the high praise, best of luck in your academic career :)
Thank you for making this video!
No problem :)
This was very helpful as an international student it's even more scarier to leave everything, you just can't turn back
Absolutely! But I wouldn't treat it as "can't turn back", but rather "let me see what I can do to make being here completely worth it".
To be fair, my experience is a bit skewed: when I came to Canada for university, I was happy to get here. I have an extremely small family, and came from a country where I had no deep roots in either way. I also matured and went through being a teenager in a much more westernized culture (Dubai, UAE), so I didn't experience anywhere near as much culture shock as my other friends that are international students too.
Best of luck on your journey! It may be hard, but you'll get through it :)
@@ArseniyKD Thank you so much this reply was so thoughtful and encouraging, hope you'll keep making great videos
Personally I'm quite surprised to hear these stories of applying to hundreds of places.
That's something I'm not familiar with in Germany.
If you have a decent profile you can get internships fairly easy here.
I know quite a few friends that did internships or part-time jobs in their first year.
Also I agree with your thing you said about Google and the way people react.
Actually I decided to unlist one of my videos where I talked about my internships at Amazon and Facebook.
It kind of attracts the people that only want to go into CS because they see big dollar signs.
The type of people that think working at those companies makes you superior and everyone else is trash...
Fortunately within my close friend group no one cares about those tech companies.
Hey, glad to hear it was easier on your end. I have to say though, the reason I found it difficult was because I had a terrible resume, didn't know how to sell my past experiences or myself, and I didn't feel like I had much experience to talk about at all. I agree, that even in North America if you are in first year with all the things I have mentioned before, you likely will have an easier time.
Another aspect is culture. Any first year student likely does not have anything to bring to the table as a developer, and that's how a lot of employers feel. The culture of internships and apprenticeships that I know is quite strong in Germany is simply next to non existent here for smaller businesses.
Just wanted to provide a bit of context :)
@@ArseniyKD Oh I see that doesn't sound terribly different from what I experienced here. Those friends I mentioned already had some experience with the type of technology those smaller companies were using. So yes either those students were self taught in high school, they did a gap year full of internships or did some sort of apprentice program.
For students just starting out with CS once they got to university they would usually start doing internships towards the end of their Bachelor program or maybe even just in their Masters.
Actually I noticed that it's fairly difficult to get an internship at smaller companies if you don't know the specific technology they are using. Bigger companies usually don't care about those details.
@developandplay Yup, that makes more sense for me too. I have a couple friends in CS in Germany, and since they had no experience before University, they are only considering internships after 4th or 5th semester.
I also noticed that it's harder to get an internship at smaller companies if you do not have the required skills, but at the very least, for those companies it's decently easy to learn the skills they need. Most of the time it's simple web technologies that are needed, and a simple month long project or two using the MERN stack or something like that is plenty.
Your videos are informative. What clubs are active and really helpful for CS students in Alberta. What extra things we can do to improve our profile strength?
Hmm, I don't really know what clubs are explicitly active anymore, you might have better odds looking around during the Fall clubs fair in September. However, I do know that the UAlberta Programming Club (the club for competitive programming) is quite active and rather good practice for interviews at bigger companies.
Hope that helps :)
Cry. (answering the title)
I think that is degree agnostic :(
Hi! I will be in my second year this fall major in comput. just wondering how did you apply for the Arista Networks intern? Through their website? How did you know about all the internship information? Thank you!
I actually talked to some engineers when they visited for an info session and the career fair in fall of 2018. However, most people I know that interned as well either applied through engg coop / SIP or on the website. All applications are considered equally.
@@ArseniyKD Thanks for the information!
Do you think switching to cs at the age of 25 is too late? Thanks
Hey Tom, I would say that it's not particularly late. I know some people that started their bachelor's degree even later than you are thinking, and they have done well.
You should look at what all your options are, as a bachelor's degree in CS is not the only way to break into the industry. You could do a master's degree if you have a bachelor's degree in something already (in which case I would say you should look at the Keep On Coding channel, as the person there took this path to get into tech), or a bootcamp, or even self teach. Do your own research on what works for you, I simply do not know your situation to be able to make any prescriptive statements.
The industry is fairly welcoming of people of all ages, just be aware that the entry level market can be rather saturated, so good luck out there :)