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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

#91

Post by acchow »

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.

Close. TN Visa requires a relevant degree but U.S. Labor department policies equate 3 years of work experience with 1 year of university. As such, interns generally don't have a degree or 12 years of work experience, so they can't get a TN. The standard internship visa is J1.

Disclosure: currently living in Waterloo as I was unable to obtain a TN.

Re: University of Waterloo Students Win Facebook's Hackathon

#94

Post by acchow »

justjimmy wrote: post #57
vowelless wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought Canadians could work on a TN visa in the US with minimal complications.

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).

I am currently in Waterloo because I was unable to obtain a TN (lack of relevant degree). I recommend you re-check the laws because things may not be as rosy as you believe.

3 years of work experience is equivalent to 1 year of university. So, if you have no degree, you'd need 12 years of work experience.

Re: University of Waterloo Students Win Facebook's Hackathon

#95

Post by acchow »

guyzero wrote: post #10
otoburb wrote: post #3

My understanding is that Waterloo has been a Microsoft and RIM software talent poaching ground for over a decade. The Waterloo Engineering and CS programs are known for their extremely high quality and rigour. The recent string of higher profile alumni successes reinforces this reputation and serves as a beacon for Canadian high-school graduate intake. Now if only they would do something about the concrete jungle the…

Waterloo was a MSFT poaching ground when I was an undergrad in 1992... well before RIM was even on the scene. Macleans magazine has consistently ranked it the best engineering school in Canada. They've been winning ACM programming contests since the math building had the dinosaur pit ( http://ist.uwaterloo.ca/cs/redroom/ ). As for campus being ugly... hey, you can't have everything.

It has now become a Google/FB/MSFT/Amazon poaching ground.

Re: University of Waterloo Students Win Facebook's Hackathon

#96

Post by acchow »

akashVaswani wrote: post #65
otoburb wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

"In terms of defraying tuition costs, I figured earned salary was about equal between the two options (4-5 Waterloo co-op terms == 1 UofT PEY term)." 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 determi…

You forgot about Marginal Tax Rates. Take-home income with 4 Waterloo co-op terms far exceeds a 16-month PEY, even at the same hourly rate.

Re: University of Waterloo Students Win Facebook's Hackathon

#97

Post by srlake »

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.

and less worries from investors if you are commercializing something based off of work done in university. No worry that in a couple years when things are taking off the university is going to come back looking for their cut.

Re: University of Waterloo Students Win Facebook's Hackathon

#99

Post by brandonb »

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.

My startup (8 people) recently started interviewing at Waterloo, and the quality of students is every bit as good as MIT, Berkeley, Stanford, or CMU. Right now Waterloo is the best-kept secret in startup recruiting, but given how good the students are I doubt it will stay that way for long.

Re: University of Waterloo Students Win Facebook's Hackathon

#100

Post by jlgreco »

cbhl wrote: post #68
otoburb wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

You're counting the months of employment experience, but you're omitting other things like the amount of interview experience (six co-op cycles means six times to get an interview at Google, Facebook, etc.) and opportunities to refine your resume.

These factors are really where Waterloo shines. At my school I had 3 6-month internships so I got just a taste of those things I think; more chances to interview and refine would have been great.
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