61–70 of 121 posts
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…
UBC, SFU, and most of the top-tier schools here have what we call a "Co-op" program that is open for both undergrad and grad students.
Typical placement is 4 months long but some companies prefer 8 months (2 terms). Students start their co-op program probably by the end of their second year so that they at least have some foundations.
Most schools have their internal websites where companies can post job-descriptions and students can apply to these jobs.
I don't know if this is true for all provinces but at least in British Columbia, the government subsidized these co-op programs by paying half (or even more?) of the students salary (oh yes, co-op placements are paid internship). This is a BIG BIG plus as it makes placement easier to swallow for the companies.
I've done 16 months of co-op with various roles (Build, QA, Integration, Dev) and greatly appreciated all parties (school, employers/companies, government) that make this happen.
Congrats on the win, and cool publicity... but how can I get in there at 12k$ a year, plus a rent and food and other expenses. How much will it pay off, versus my education at the University of Ottawa? Given that I learn much more by myself, reading reference books, taking online courses with coursera, doing projects by myself. Is there any return on investment that I could expect from an education there, instead of…
Waterloo has a co-op program where you switch off every four months between working and school. The co-ops can be very well compensated, so many students graduate with little or no student debt.
"Show me the gender distribution of my friends" - 178.72% Male
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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…
For folks who don't quite understand the difference, the 4-month alternating co-op program at Waterloo is distinctly different from the long-term 12-16month co-op employment program at University of Toronto (aka Professional Experience Year). Both have obvious strengths and weaknesses when looking at the employment time horizon vs. employment variety. When I applied to both schools in the mid-90s I viewed the longer…
I can see why you would assume that, but that is not the case. With PEY, you get 16 months of work, with coop you get 24. That right that there is 1.5 times the pay. Now take into account that employers look at previous work experience and no. of years in uni to determine pay, and what you get is a constantly increasing pay wage for coop. My first coop job paid me $18 an hour, my current one pays me $35 an hour. Most PEY students who get their first job after 2nd year get $22 an hour salaries (which is how much I made in job 2), with a raise halfway through the term to maybe $23/$24 (around what most people make in job 3). This means that for the remaining 3 coops, you are making money at a much higher rate.
Additionally, what you miss out on in PEY is the opportunity to jump around. You get an offer at one company and you stay there, or maybe yo switch to another company in 8 months. So you might be stuck doing QA for the entire length of the job. With coop, you keep getting a raise in terms of responsibility.
The one good thing about PEY is that you can, as you mentioned, work on longer term projects. But with coop, you do have that option as well if you go back for multiple terms at the same company and work part time while in school.
Congrats on the win, and cool publicity... but how can I get in there at 12k$ a year, plus a rent and food and other expenses. How much will it pay off, versus my education at the University of Ottawa? Given that I learn much more by myself, reading reference books, taking online courses with coursera, doing projects by myself. Is there any return on investment that I could expect from an education there, instead of…
To give you an idea of how popular UW is in the valley, right now apple has 50~ interns, about 35~ of which are from Waterloo, and a couple from BC. The rest are from the states. And this is the case in many of the companies down here.
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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.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
For folks who don't quite understand the difference, the 4-month alternating co-op program at Waterloo is distinctly different from the long-term 12-16month co-op employment program at University of Toronto (aka Professional Experience Year). Both have obvious strengths and weaknesses when looking at the employment time horizon vs. employment variety. When I applied to both schools in the mid-90s I viewed the longer…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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.
True, but if you're looking at those co-op/internship terms, the best you'll get is a J1 because you don't have your post-secondary degree yet.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Waterloo has a co-op program where you switch off every four months between working and school. The co-ops can be very well compensated, so many students graduate with little or no student debt.
Came here to say this. I finished w/ $40k in the bank but the experiences gave me so much more.