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University of Waterloo Students Win Facebook's Hackathon

velocity.uwaterloo.ca

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Re: University of Waterloo Students Win Facebook's Hackathon

#111

Post by stevenameyer »

cbhl wrote: post #71
stevenameyer wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well if your looking to hire Co-ops from the university here is the link https://uwaterloo.ca/jobmine/employers

Be wary the CECA has been known to give smaller employers sub-optimal advice. You'll want to get someone who understands the process to help you through it. If top students don't understand the benefits of working for your particular organization it's possible that they'll pick a safe job at a Google or Microsoft over you, and you'll get a mediocre student (or worse, none at all) after the first round of matching.

This is very true. The system is not optimal from an employer or employee standpoint. But it is especially difficult if you are not a company with a recognized name on campus. As a student it is difficult to weed through a couple thousand job descriptions accurately.

Re: University of Waterloo Students Win Facebook's Hackathon

#113

Post by kevhsu »

abbasmehdi wrote: post #112

Are there details about how others did etc.? Regards, Bitter UBC grad...

UIUC was 2nd. I was on this team. We did a Street Fighter browser-based game controlled by webcam. You can play against friends over the internet in realtime.

MIT was 3rd with a chrome extension called "minimap" that allows you to scroll in your browser with smartphone or webcam. Also allows you to have a "minimap" next to your scrollbar that shows a preview of the entire webpage

CMU got an honorable mention for a real time strategy (?) game called "The Hackers" that is based on managing a team for a hackathon.

UBC was there, but I've forgotten what their hack was. Sorry! Was really tired and nervous during demos!

Facebook showed me the time of my life. Eager to apply for a job there...

Re: University of Waterloo Students Win Facebook's Hackathon

#114

Post by PakG1 »

throwaway1979 wrote: post #21
10dpd wrote: post #13

For the last year I've been aware of the impact of Waterloo in tech and have conducted some research into why this might be so. Two things I've discovered: 1. Academic staff own any IP resulting from their research, making it very attractive and easy to recruit top academics. Almost all other universities assume ownership of IP. 2. An intern program that requires students to take an internship every other semester, e…

I think those are two very strong reasons. However, at the end of the day, Waterloo puts its students through the meat grinder. My nephew studies there and I am blown away by the stuff he is getting taught in first and second year. The thing that surprised me was when he tried to apply to Silicon Valley start-ups, he got very limited response. I think part of it is that people don't realize how awesome Waterloo is.

The story is that Bill Gates would personally phone the #1 graduating student of Waterloo every year to offer him a job, no questions asked. In some circles, Waterloo's very highly regarded.

Re: University of Waterloo Students Win Facebook's Hackathon

#116

Post by justjimmy »

jarek wrote: post #59
justjimmy wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To get a TN Visa you need 3 years work experience in the relavent field (there's a list) and it's on the whim of the agent you face. 1.5 years for me to go~ (currently in TO).

> To get a TN Visa you need 3 years work experience in the relavent field (there's a list) This is completely inaccurate unless you mean without a post-secondary degree. Tons of new grads head south on a TN straight after graduating, even if they didn't do co-op.

I stand corrected. I remembered my situation was different - I had a diploma (3yrs) in design, instead of the common degree (4yrs), so I needed 3 years to make up the 1 missing year. My apologies~

Re: University of Waterloo Students Win Facebook's Hackathon

#117

Post by joebobfrank »

stevenameyer wrote: post #111
cbhl wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Be wary the CECA has been known to give smaller employers sub-optimal advice. You'll want to get someone who understands the process to help you through it. If top students don't understand the benefits of working for your particular organization it's possible that they'll pick a safe job at a Google or Microsoft over you, and you'll get a mediocre student (or worse, none at all) after the first round of matching.

This is very true. The system is not optimal from an employer or employee standpoint. But it is especially difficult if you are not a company with a recognized name on campus. As a student it is difficult to weed through a couple thousand job descriptions accurately.

Exactly, I'm a student at waterloo, and there were over 900 job postings for Software/Computer engineers. It's pretty much impossible for a student to read through every one, so you have to make sure yours stands out.

Re: University of Waterloo Students Win Facebook's Hackathon

#118

Post by shuw »

x711li_yc wrote: post #2

Waterloo seems to be killing it this week (BufferBox acquisition, virtual brain, Facebook Hackathon)

Maybe I'm getting old (closing on 30) and nostalgic but the new generation of Waterloo students are making me proud and seem to be going further than my classes.

Although, I'm also gaining a little pride myself. I did was a research assistant at CTN and built the first UI tool for building the brain model. And I just joined Facebook and had the Waterloo students win the hackathon next door on my second week :)

Re: University of Waterloo Students Win Facebook's Hackathon

#119

Post by pokoleo »

grannyg00se wrote: post #32
10dpd wrote: post #13

For the last year I've been aware of the impact of Waterloo in tech and have conducted some research into why this might be so. Two things I've discovered: 1. Academic staff own any IP resulting from their research, making it very attractive and easy to recruit top academics. Almost all other universities assume ownership of IP. 2. An intern program that requires students to take an internship every other semester, e…

That co-op program is responsible for me being in software development. I started in CivEng, but every co-op term I had was a programming position. So I happily dropped CivEng and started doing what I had been doing on my own from a young age. The co-op program is also the primary reason I chose Waterloo. You can't beat paying for school as you progress through your terms. Back then you could earn enough during a wor…

You can still do it.

Re: University of Waterloo Students Win Facebook's Hackathon

#120

Post by pjacobson »

kymchiho wrote: post #86
srlake wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This ties into #1 and important to also mention: Undergraduate students also own all of their own IP. If you want to commercialize something you've worked on in school, you don't even need to deal with a tech transfer office: you just do it.

Huge incentive. More time to focus on the idea, less time spend on how to protect it.

Couldn't agree more. Plus, UW has an awesome startup culture!
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