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Waterloo Co-op: A Blessing and a Curse

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Re: Waterloo Co-op: A Blessing and a Curse

#41

Post by analogwzrd »

I didn't go to Waterloo, but I was a 5 session co-op student at Purdue. What this guy says is pretty much true, but I don't think we highlighted some of the benefits.

I basically lived out of car for 5 years. If it didn't fit in the car, I couldn't take it with me. So it forced me to choose what actually mattered. It also forces you to make friends quickly because you'll be leaving again in a few months. I'm pretty introverted, so this was good experience.

It does prevent you from establishing long term relationships with students not on a co-op rotation. I'd come back to school from working, and I'd always have to catch up on inside jokes, who's dating who, and other silly things that glue groups of people together.

The biggest benefit was the opportunity to work on actual engineering projects with a team of professional engineers and to be mentored. practically one on one. And, of course, I was able to get my foot in the door at a good company and have my career accelerated.

At school, the biggest benefit was that I had a better context for what we were learning in class. I was able to ask really good questions because I had a better understanding of how each topic fit into a larger picture.

Co-oping doesn't give you the typical, Hollywood version of what college is supposed to be like. But who cares? It gives you something much more practical.

Re: Waterloo Co-op: A Blessing and a Curse

#42

Post by jonalmeida »

UWindsor student here. I did one of my co-ops in Waterloo at BlackBerry so I got to know the local students fairly well. The problem with Waterloo co-op is how rigid the system is to 4 month only terms.

Four months is barely enough time to get a good grounding of what work is like at that company, and the company itself looses out on training someone and then having them leave after a short period of time. For large companies, that works fine because it's an investment into whether you would be a good full-time hire. But it's not universally helpful.

I've found that 8 month co-ops are the most ideal. Less running around, you spend a good stable 6 months doing work (depending on the company) as a full-time employee would, and the company benefits from it as well.

Co-ops in general though teach you how to pack light and not carry unnecessary baggage. I've always grown up on the move so it was easy for me to adapt, but it helpful for those who don't do it often.

Re: Waterloo Co-op: A Blessing and a Curse

#43

Post by peeters »

jonalmeida wrote: post #42

UWindsor student here. I did one of my co-ops in Waterloo at BlackBerry so I got to know the local students fairly well. The problem with Waterloo co-op is how rigid the system is to 4 month only terms. Four months is barely enough time to get a good grounding of what work is like at that company, and the company itself looses out on training someone and then having them leave after a short period of time. For large…

UWaterloo is generally pretty receptive to 8 month coop terms. It's not too difficult to arrange. In programs with one stream however (SoftEng was one stream while I was there), it's more difficult because you essentially end up having to join the next year's class.

Re: Waterloo Co-op: A Blessing and a Curse

#44

Post by peeters »

kapin wrote: post #30

Want to add some footnotes, comments, or whatever you want to call them. 1. I wrote this about the program in general, not about co-op terms or internships. 2. I used "curse" in the title because well, it fits in a writing sense (contrasts). Downsides, cons, whatever it is all the same. 3. I understand that real life is working 8 hour days, but at the same time it isn't surrounded by constantly moving and school. 4.…

I just added it up, and between starting SE at UW in 2005, and 2012 (when I moved to my current location) I'd lived in 13 different places. It's totally hectic and stressful at the time (on two occasions I didn't know where I'd be living in 6 days).

But looking back on it makes me appreciate the stability I have now. It's like thinking back to the all-nighters we had to implement an OS. Stressful at the time, totally worth the experience now.

Re: Waterloo Co-op: A Blessing and a Curse

#46

Post by fourtens »

I want to point out that the experience of most of the commenters is in the software engineering field. The situation for co-ops in other programs, such as chemical engineering, is VASTLY different. If you look at the hiring rates there, it's rather abysmal. Talk to any of the chem eng, nano eng, or even some mech eng and you'll find that a whole bunch of them are doing unpaid volunteer positions to get their co-op hours, or working low paying, menial menial jobs - especially for the first few co-ops. It is by far NOT the same experience as software engineers have it.

Also, it's very very common for chem engs (hah, I guess you have figure it out, I'm a chem eng from waterloo) to graduate with significant debt. My first co-op paid 6k as I worked for a professor, my second paid 18$ an hour, third was 15$ an hour, 4th was 22$ an hour, then I got into oil and was paid around 33$ an hour for the last two co-ops. I think I got really lucky - I know many people who just took a term off because they couldn't find a job - and they were sociable and had pretty good marks!

just believe me. It's different in other programs.

Re: Waterloo Co-op: A Blessing and a Curse

#47

Post by jacorreia »

I would be interested to see what others have to say about the different co-op program running at the University of Toronto: instead of the multiple 4/8-month co-op terms we have a single 16-month co-op term between 3rd and 4th year. You're encouraged to find your own internships after 1st and 2nd year, but the career centre provides (basically) no aid. If you do however find work those two summers you end up with the same amount of work experience in the end, but with several of those terms (potentially) at the same company back-to-back. I personally chose UofT over Waterloo because I accepted the line of 'companies are more open to hiring students available for a longer time because they get more out of training, so you'll have better opportunities available' at the time. However, I can see many arguments for and against both co-op systems. It's hard for me to be objective about it as I've yet to see the long-term consequences, and I've managed to get pretty great internships every summer plus my coming 16-month term. I'd really like to hear other opinions of people who may never have heard of such a program (both in what's better for the student and what's better for companies who run internship programs)!

Re: Waterloo Co-op: A Blessing and a Curse

#49

Post by wesleyy »

Permit wrote: post #15

A recent Waterloo grad myself, this goes against what I've heard from my peer group. (Most consider it to be a blessing alone) I also think many of the downsides listed in this article have little to do with co-op. Here's a summary of my pros and cons. Pros: - Work experience (2 years) - Travel (Within Canada, the US and even Europe if you're up for it) - Money. Far more than we probably deserved at that age. - Ease…

I think everyone is overlooking a major benefit that the co-op program brings, to the school as a whole. I feel the co-op program at Waterloo is responsible for the awesome entrepreneurship/startup culture that I don't think exists anywhere else, including places like Stanford or MIT. I believe Sam Altman even once talked about how Waterloo have the best track record when it comes to startups. This culture is the reason I was really set on Waterloo when I was deciding where to go for school.

Re: Waterloo Co-op: A Blessing and a Curse

#50

Post by srcreigh »

peeters wrote: post #43
jonalmeida wrote: post #42

UWindsor student here. I did one of my co-ops in Waterloo at BlackBerry so I got to know the local students fairly well. The problem with Waterloo co-op is how rigid the system is to 4 month only terms. Four months is barely enough time to get a good grounding of what work is like at that company, and the company itself looses out on training someone and then having them leave after a short period of time. For large…

UWaterloo is generally pretty receptive to 8 month coop terms. It's not too difficult to arrange. In programs with one stream however (SoftEng was one stream while I was there), it's more difficult because you essentially end up having to join the next year's class.

Yes. I'm in CS class of 2017. We have 4 streams, so basically everyone is everywhere all the time. You can do whatever you want whenever you want.

Halfway through my first co-op term, I was asked to stay another four months. I was able to say "yes" on the spot. It only took about 20 minutes of work to arrange it with UW. I just had to fill out a form and email it to the right co-op advisor.

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