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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

#81

Post by redthrowaway »

kohanz wrote: post #42
redthrowaway wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Most Canadian universities have co-op programs, though. I just finished my last courses at UVic and am currently doing my 3rd co-op term (and locked in for a fourth). I agree that co-op is basically mandatory, but I'm wondering what sets UW apart from other universities with similar programs.

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

#82

Post by Pxtl »

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…

Depends on the field. You talk to geeks, they list Waterloo and UofT. You talk to scientists, they list McMaster and UofT. You talk to teachers, they list Brock and UofT. And so on.

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

#83

Post by duncanmcdowell »

pg wrote: post #73
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…

It's not just how good they are. They have a different attitude from students from elite US universities. More practical, less arrogant. I'm not sure whether it's a Canadian thing or a Waterloo thing though.

I think it's more of a Canadian thing than a Waterloo thing. Ironically it's the same Canadian conservative attitude that investors often complain about (not shooting for the moon) that is responsible for the more pragmatic, practical attitude of entrepreneurs here. Waterloo is special because it has three great academic institutions and a culture of entrepreneurship that stretches back many years and encompasses everything from textiles to brewery and distillation industries.

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

#84

Post by leot »

More evidence for Waterloo's "specialness" can be found here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Lowell_Putnam_Mathemat...

Its teams have finished among the top five 18 times since 1968, twice as many times as Stanford (though far fewer times than MIT, Princeton, or Harvard). This with a budget that's dwarfed by the schools who dominate the competition (and can afford expensive international recruitment). Waterloo had its heyday, interestingly enough, around the time that RIM was founded: beginning in 1978 it placed in the top five eleven of the following sixteen years.

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

#85

Post by cmlplunkett »

memracom wrote: post #55
jsnk wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Hear, hear. Google really needs to take a hint from BufferBox. If they can set up parcel delivery sites everywhere, what about setting up small to medium sized offices in every major city so that people don't have to relocate to work with them. Start with Vancouver. Mozilla has an office here in Vancouver and near as I can tell its only function is so that local people can work close to home on one or another of the…

Google has an office of about 250 developers in Kitchener/Waterloo.

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

#86

Post by theorique »

kohanz wrote: post #42
redthrowaway wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Definitely agree.

The co-op program actually increases time to degree a little bit (three terms), because a “normal” 4 year university degree is 1/3 summer term, while Waterloo students alternate co-op term and academic term after their first two terms (I’m glossing over some details, but this is more or less how it used to work).

A = academic; S = summer (most universities); C = co-op (Waterloo)

Most unis : AASAASAASAA

Waterloo : AACACACACACACA

Essentially, Waterloo students get 8 academic terms and 6 co-op terms in 14 4-month terms. As others have mentioned, the history and structure of the co-op program means that students are getting industry experience very early on in university. The extra few terms seem like a small price to pay for that experience.

Most other (US / Canada) universities focus their teaching in the fall and winter terms so that a student will get 8 academic terms and 3 summer terms (where you’re much more on your own in terms of finding a summer job).

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

#87

Post by adamtait »

pg wrote: post #73
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…

It's not just how good they are. They have a different attitude from students from elite US universities. More practical, less arrogant. I'm not sure whether it's a Canadian thing or a Waterloo thing though.

It's a Canadian thing. You'll find grads from all the Canadian universities are humble and practical.

Being a top university with grads in high demand, it's actually amazing that Waterloo grads haven't gotten a reputation for being more arrogant. I know I was at one point in my life.

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

#88

Post by DrewAllyn »

scosman wrote: post #18

"Most years, we hire more students out of Waterloo than any university in the world" -Bill Gates I think we topped Google one year too, but couldn't find a source.

We tend to trade back and forth with Stanford for top at Apple too.

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

#89

Post by bethling »

kohanz wrote: post #42
redthrowaway wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I agree with this. I went to a strong American school, and if I look at the co-ops/interns/fresh grads I see from my Alma mater and those that have come from Waterloo, on a lot of areas they're pretty much on par (Comp Sci fundamentals,, etc). But the Waterloo Grads just know how to work within a team better. It makes a great first impression to everyone else, and gets things off on the right foot.

There really is something special about the way the school gets them ready.

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

#90

Post by kohanz »

redthrowaway wrote: post #81
kohanz wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Most Canadian universities have co-op programs, though. I just finished my last courses at UVic and am currently doing my 3rd co-op term (and locked in for a fourth). I agree that co-op is basically mandatory, but I'm wondering what sets UW apart from other universities with similar programs.

My understanding is that no other Canadian schools have a co-op program that is as established and has the same scale and reputation. With those attributes come top quality employers, more responsibilities on the job, etc. (generalizing, of course).

From the Waterloo co-op website [1]: 17,300 co-op students enrolled over three semesters in more than 120 programs. 4,500 employers hire Waterloo co-op students.

[1] https://uwaterloo.ca/co-operative-education/about-co-operati...

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