Meet Some Computer Scientists
COMP 1010 Home > Meet Some Computer Scientists
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Introduction The end goal for most computer science students is to get a job in the field. Immediately questions arise, like:
The following computer science graduates have offered their insight into the world of computer science beyond graduation.
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The People
Jenny-Lynn Lascano
Jenny-Lynn Lascano graduated from the University of Manitoba Computer Science program, with a Co-op option. She is currently employed as a developer at Tipping Canoe. Jenny-Lynn also runs her own freelance web development business. Jenny-Lynn initially started in the Asper School of Business pursuing a degree in Accounting and Management Information Services. She took Comp 1010 as an elective and decided to transfer to computer science after hearing about the Co-op program.
Interesting Projects
"One cool thing about Tipping Canoe is that every month we have a Hack Day. It's a 12 hour work day, all 3 meals are catered (Usually Tim Hortons, Pizza and Clay Oven) and we work on fun non-work related projects. Just recently, we hacked the company door bell. Instead of a "DING DONG" when someone opens the door, we programmed it to play the Imperial March and "Never Gonna Give You Up" as well as take a picture of the person coming in the door and tweet about it. It was a great way for me to revisit some hardware technology as well as finally figure out the Twitter API.
Another exciting project that is coming down the way is The U of M Computer Science Department website. I will be working with 2 former Comp Sci Co-Op Grads to get the project going. I'm very thankful for everything the program has done for me and I also try to do one volunteer freelance project a year."
Jenny-Lynn's Tips for Students
- Don't be intimidated - just because a topic is new and different doesn't mean that you won't get it.
- Ask questions - it's ok to not know the answers all the time. Use your instructors office hours.
- Introduce yourself - Make sure your instructor knows who you are. Visit them during office hours. Make friends. Group projects are mandatory in some classes - might as well have a group you can get along with. Even after graduation, I still keep in touch with some professors and classmates. It's the networking that is important!
- Co-Op - it's hands down the easiest way to get work experience and a job after graduation.
Jen Roberts
Jen Roberts is a graduate of the U of M Computer Science program, with a Co-op option. She is currently employed at DMT Development Systems Group Inc. as a project manager and business analyst. She became interested in computer science because of the tremendous job opportunities, and entered the department after talking to a former co-op graduate.
Interesting Projects
"I work on a variety of projects for multiple car manufacturers. The most interesting part of all the projects is learning about how the car industry works and seeing how they use technology to improve their businesses."
Jen's Tips for Students
- If you can get into the Co-op program do not hesitate. It will provide you with skills that you can't get in your classes and provide you with great networking opportunities.
- If you aren't in co-op then watch for other networking opportunities to interact with employers like career fairs and presentations. Building up relationships with employers while in school will make transitioning from school to work much simpler.
Brett Barkman
Brett Barkman also graduated from the University of Manitoba Computer Science program with a Co-op option. He currently works at IBM as a Software Developer after serving both a 4 month Co-op term and a 4 month Extreme Blue term there. Brett became interested in technology at a young age, as he found that it allowed him to build things creatively and easily.
Interesting Projects
"Right now I work on the Reporting component for the Jazz Foundation and Rational Team Concert teams, check it all out at jazz.net. Its very cool for a ton of reasons: I work on and help create leading edge web technologies (open-services.net is one example), because I do reporting, it really touches a lot of teams so I interact and learn about a large number of other products built on top of Jazz (it's a framework for software lifecycle management), also we develop in the open which means that anyone can come to jazz.net and interact directly with the development team for instance customers can report bugs directly and get solutions without having to go through support, and our development process is transparent so anyone can come and see what we're working on and try out our products."
Brett's Tips for Students
- Join Co-op! It's hard to get a good job without it. By good job I mean one that you choose, not one you take just because you need a job.
- Get involved in extra things. It doesn't have to be programming competitions like ACM, although those are cool. Find something technology related that you are passionate about and get involved. Join open source projects like Eclipse or Dojo, build cool things even if its just to help you learn a new technology; basically find out what you're passionate about and explore it. When it comes to figuring out what you want to do after you graduate and also when you're in a job interview, those experiences will help you.
- Don't live and die by everything in the curriculum. The fundamentals are important and you have to at least become familiar with the concepts and techniques, but our field has become so vast that its hard to give someone a broad foundation in just 4 years so you'll find a lot of the stuff you learn in 1st and 2nd year is pretty boring but you just gotta work your way through it to get to the good stuff.
- Finally, grades aren't everything either, trust me ;-)
Ron Bowes
Ron Bowes is a University of Manitoba Computer Science graduate, with a Co-op option. He is currently working at Tenable Network Security, though he has previously worked for the Information Protection Centre in the Government of Manitoba for 3.5 years.
When Ron was young he was always curious about how things worked. This curiosity was evident when he played his first video game, and it got him wondering how things like games worked on a computer. Soon he picked up a couple of programming books and taught himself the programming language BASIC.
You can check out his blog here.
Interesting Projects
Ron is currently between projects, as he has been spending his time traveling.
However, Ron hosts many of his past projects on his wiki page.
Ron's Tips for Students
"The best advice I can give is to get your name out there. Whether it's participating in community events, working on open-source software, going to local user-group meetings, or even taking the co-op program, you need to meet people and show them that you have what it takes. That's the best way to end up working on interesting stuff. The best positions rarely take resumes from the general public, they hire people they already know are good."
External Links
University of Manitoba Computer Science Co-op Program - Information and resources
Businesses
Tipping Canoe Ltd. - International Web Application Developers
DMT Development Systems Group Inc. - Automotive Software Solutions
IBM - Software Development
Tenable Network Security - Unified Security Monitoring
Projects
Jenny-Lynn.net - Freelance Web Development
jazz.net - Web Technologies Development
Skull Security - Ron's Projects and Information
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