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University of Waterloo: Silicon Valley's Canadian Feeder School

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Re: University of Waterloo: Silicon Valley's Canadian Feeder School

#41

Post by aianus »

chollida1 wrote: post #33
guyzero wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like all great schools what makes the students great is selection bias. Waterloo has a great reputation, so it gets the first pick of the best students. The great graduates give the school a great reputation. Lather, rinse, repeat. (Not that I'm complaining as I was part of the system and have benefited greatly from it. Co-op is a very, very big deal. But the professors and the school itself is not appreciably differ…

I think its a bit more than this though. Their co-op program was, and continues to be, pretty awesome. This, IMHO, is what first got the great students to go there. With university cost only increasing its nice to know you'll be able to pay your way due to co-op.

With co-op salaries only increasing it's nice to know the students will be able to pay whatever we feel like charging them -- UW administration

Re: University of Waterloo: Silicon Valley's Canadian Feeder School

#42

Post by kohanz »

redthrowaway wrote: post #21
pg wrote: post #16

There is something special about Waterloo. We noticed it a couple years ago.

What's special about UW students/grads, and what do you attribute it to?

It's the co-op program.

Students trade independence during summers for year-round schooling that has them gaining 2 years of work experience at up to 6 different organizations by the time they graduate. And the reputation of the program is such that, if you've got the ability, you'll get opportunities at the biggest tech players. On top of the work experience, you'll have a wealth of experience applying to literally hundreds of jobs, being interviewed, both technically and non-technically, perhaps as many times as you will for the rest of your career, and all of this while working alongside and competing with very bright peers.

Re: University of Waterloo: Silicon Valley's Canadian Feeder School

#43

Post by richardlblair »

stickhandle wrote: post #7

Waterloo is a sleepy, postindustrial city of 100,000, a little less than 200 miles northeast of Detroit. Ummm ... Waterloo-Kitchener-Cambridge form the K-W region (these 3 blend together with indistinguishable border) of ~ 1/2 Million peoople. Hardly "sleepy" the region is know as Canada's Tech Triangle and has a vibrant corporate and startup economy. While it is 200 miles northeast of Detroit, it may as well be 2000…

Common, anyone who has even driven through Waterloo knows it's sleepy... No one says "shit, I really want to go to Waterloo". That's like saying people want to go to London (Ontario)... That's just not a thing

Re: University of Waterloo: Silicon Valley's Canadian Feeder School

#44

Post by guyzero »

jsnk wrote: post #31
drpgq wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an Ontarian this is a little sad, although I'm sure there's places in the US where the same thing happens. Certainly though I think companies should think of setting up engineering locations in KW. You can get quality people for way less money than you would have to pay in the Valley.

I wish American software giants would open more offices in Canada. Canadian software industry is still in a sorry state right now, but there's a lot talent in the country. American companies can pay lower wage to Canadian devs than US and they will still attract top talents from other Canadian companies because developers are lowballed hard here.

Every tech company I've ever worked for in Toronto has been acquired by a US company. Quest Software/Dell, Oracle, Microsoft, and the former Novell... the only bad part is that these offices don't always keep hiring post-acquisition. But that has more to do with acquisition dynamics than Toronto being a bad place for a satellite office.

But I disagree that Canadian developers would be appreciably cheaper. There are plenty of cities in the US that would be as cheap or cheaper than Toronto or Waterloo for a dev office.

Re: University of Waterloo: Silicon Valley's Canadian Feeder School

#45

Post by memracom »

Former Waterloo student here...

It's a shame that more Waterloo folks don't stay in Canada and build their businesses here. Unlike when I was at UW, nowadays there is plenty of investment money available in Canada and significant tech hubs in Vancouver, Toronto and Waterloo itself. Not to mention the fact that even in less major Canadian cities (or the US Midwest) there actually is a tech scene happening and people are starting new businesses. It is no longer necessary to move far from home to build a tech business.

Re: University of Waterloo: Silicon Valley's Canadian Feeder School

#46

Post by richardlblair »

drpgq wrote: post #2

Tuition is $12000 now? I graduated from Mac in comp eng in 1996 and I think it was getting to around $3000 then. Definitely worth it, but if you told me at the time I would have thought $12000 was crazy. I graduated with no debt though.

If you go to a good school in Ontario you are looking at $7000 at least

Re: University of Waterloo: Silicon Valley's Canadian Feeder School

#47

Post by auctiontheory »

pyrocat wrote: post #38
adamtait wrote: post #28

I'm very proud of my time at Waterloo. The school surrounded me great students and (some) great professors who were constantly challenging and rewarding. I wouldn't be the person I am now, and wouldn't have had the same great opportunities had I gone to another school. As always, these stories about 'Canada's hidden talent pool' slide into a discussion about the 'brain drain'. Many of classmates from the class '07 en…

Isn't it pretty hard to get Canadian citizenship if you're American? Like, even with highly sought after skills in tech I've heard it's near impossible.

Among the "rich" countries, Canada is one of the most open in the world to skilled immigrants.

Re: University of Waterloo: Silicon Valley's Canadian Feeder School

#48

Post by richardlblair »

gotrecruit wrote: post #12

is Waterloo the only university in canada with similar startup culture and recognition from tech companies? i was unfortunately denied admission recently to Waterloo, and I'm planning to try UBC and UToronto. UBC in particular has a special program for people like me - college graduates seeking a second degree in CS, which sounds really good but I keep hearing these things about Waterloo which makes me feel really sa…

Don't take these things too seriously. At the end of the day it's about how good you are. You might have more of a grind to the top, but it's attainable.

Re: University of Waterloo: Silicon Valley's Canadian Feeder School

#49

Post by solox3 »

kohanz wrote: post #36

The funny thing is, at least when I attended UW (early 2000's), is that its domestic profile was not as strong as its recognition in the US would suggest. Many Canadians would mention more established schools such as U of T and Queens before Waterloo. However, when I went for my first internship in California (NVIDIA, with about 20 fellow UW students), I found out that most people there couldn't name a single Canadia…

According to Google's top hit, Waterloo also happens to be "the top poker university": www.pokerlistings.com/blog/top-5-poker-universities

Re: University of Waterloo: Silicon Valley's Canadian Feeder School

#50

Post by [deleted] »

memracom wrote: post #45

Former Waterloo student here... It's a shame that more Waterloo folks don't stay in Canada and build their businesses here. Unlike when I was at UW, nowadays there is plenty of investment money available in Canada and significant tech hubs in Vancouver, Toronto and Waterloo itself. Not to mention the fact that even in less major Canadian cities (or the US Midwest) there actually is a tech scene happening and people a…

[deleted]
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