Comp Sci Co-op Meeting May 12, 2014 WELCOME BACK!

Comp Sci Co-op Meeting May 12, 2014 WELCOME BACK!

AGENDA • Numbers for Summer and Fall work terms • Feedback from Work Term I (yours & employers) • Schedule for this term • Resume / Cover Letter – review & update • Returning to Work Term I employer? • Student Loans / Scholarships • New system / processes • Changes in Co-op office • Events

Numbers! • Summer Work Term – 73 students placed • 11 Work Term I Students • 11 Work Term II Students • 44 Work Term III Students • 3 Work Term IV Students • 4 Coursework Masters Students • Fall Work Term – 51 students total • 4 Work Term I Students • 41 Work Term II Students (one already placed) • 6 Work Term III Students (one already placed)

Review of Work Term – things YOU learned “One thing I learned about the industry is that verbal communication is really important - in the sense that there are many frequent team meetings, not only to keep everyone in the loop, but to discuss a direction or approach to tackling each section of a project.”

Review of Work Term – things YOU learned “One significant thing I learned about the IT industry is that you need to have a good work environment to attract a good employee base. The environment here is amazing and I love going to work and being able to work with people that are so nice and willing to help. Also, everyone in the IT industry in this city, one way or another, knows everyone else.”

Employer Comments “I think the biggest strength of the CS program at the UofMis students graduate with a strong ability to think and problem solve. Specific technical skills are less important (from my perspective) as a good background understanding and an ability to think, figure out, and learn, which the program is excellent for developing. Technical skills can be learned on the job and are easy to teach.”

Employer Comments “The CS program at the UofM is turning out better, more qualified, technically savvy students that are ready to take on major roles. UofM Co-op is a standard above the others.” This is FABULOUS feedback, well done and congratulations!

Review of Schedule

Resume Review and Update • Format • Update Technical Skills area • Work Term I experience must be on 1st page • Note your accomplishments • Quantify your results • Update references

Sample #1 Software Developer, Co-op Work Term I January – April 2014 Emerging Information Systems Inc. (EISI) • Involved in rollout of the flagship product NaviPlanStandard 9.0, • a financial planning application used by over 90,000 financial services • professionals across North America. • Implemented new reporting details in the Fact Finder feature of NaviPlanStandard. • Assisted the Product Management in developing specifications for a new Estate Planning section in the Fact Finder. • Automated a 12-hour manual process into an automatic command line process requiring five minutes of set up.

Sample #2 • Security Analyst, Information Protection Centre, Government of Manitoba • Co-op Work Term I January - April 2014 • Ongoing Part Time position May 2014 - Present The Information Protection Centre for Manitoba monitors and regulates all information sharing within the Government of Manitoba. They actively investigate internal and external threats to unacceptable information exposure. • Monitored the IDS for malicious network activity and investigated suspicious or unusual findings • Scanned hosts for vulnerabilities and services • Performed updates on vulnerable or outdated applications such as Apache, PHP, MySQL, and OpenSSH • Tested, reviewed, and provided recommendations for products such as eGuardPost by eDMZ • Developed an internal inventory management system using Visual Studio 2005, ASP.NET, C#, and SQL Server 2005 / 2000

Employer Feedback, re: Resumes “I would encourage Co-op Students to put more emphasis on any programming related things they've done outside of school. Sometimes this was limited to a short sentence in the Interests section (e.g. "Developed an RPG over the summer"). This is the most interesting part of the resume in my opinion and I would love the students to dedicate more space to this and less to their High School jobs (Walmart, Tim Hortons,McDonalds)”

Cover Letters • Format • Use samples from Work Term I if possible • Applying to employer who gave you #1 ranking for Work Term I? • Applying to a company the 2nd time? • Watch the length, keep it relevant

Returning to Work Term I Employer? • Pros • Cons • Procedure

Student Loans • Check in at Financial Aid & Awards immediately after returning from a work term • http://www.canlearn.ca

Scholarships • UMSU Scholarships – Payments deferred because of January work term? Notify Financial Aid & Awards that you are back – the funds should be added to your account • GPA Requirements – Canadian citizens over 4.15 for Fall term, International students over 3.5 for Fall term

New Co-op System: Orbis • Due to the end of nTreePoint support, we are moving to new on-line systems: • Orbis: job postings, applications, etc. • Perch: front-end (by September) • In this transitional term you will need to use a bit of both Orbis & nTP • Orbis in three easy steps…

Step 1: Your myumanitoba.ca • You need to activate your myumanitoba.ca e-mail address • As of the end of this week, all official co-op communication will come to this address

Step 2: Log into Career Services • We share the portal with Career Services, so you can log into uofmcareerservices.ca • User ID: yourid@myumanitoba.ca • Password: student number • Update your “Account Information”

Step 3: Computer Science section • You should have a “Computer Science” tab at the top of the screen • Can view job postings & apply (soon)… • Upload your application package for critique by deadline, under “Documents” • Include your name & version number in the package name

UPCOMING EVENTS • iQmetrix Open House, May 29th at 5:30 • Summer Co-op BBQ – July?

NEXT CO-OP MEETING Thursday, June 12th 2:00 – 3:00 E2 165

Questions? Comments?

Comp Sci Co-op Meeting May 12, 2014 WELCOME BACK!