I've been meaning to blog for a very long time but due to how busy I am at school and work, I've been experiencing a burnout. I am about to finish my 8 month work term at PDFTron and so I've working lots of hours to try to wrap up on my current project. I was also taking an elective course, EOSC 116 at UBC and wrote my final exam this week. With 9 days left in my work term, I still trying to finish all the features implementation, bug fixing and lots of documentations!
Next term is going to be very interesting. I'm taking CPSC 319 (Software Engineer Project), CPSC 304 (Database) and CPSC 314 (Graphics) and an economics course. It's going to be very project heavy and I expect some rough times when project due dates are bunched up together. However, I'm quite excited to see my friends on a daily basis and getting a chance to apply the knowledge I gained in the work force to academic projects! Having spent 8 months at PDFTron, I am definitely much more confident with my technical skills. I got a chance to expose myself to lots of languages such as PHP, C++, J2EE etc... In the mean time, I am still busy searching for next summer's internship. Who knows where I'm going to end up? I just got another interview opportunity today and I'll talk more about it another day.
I can't believe I have completed the requirements of co-op now that I am able to finish my 4th work term. It wasn't very long ago that I was sitting in one of those co-op workshops learning how to apply to jobs and how to succeed in interviews. I remember looking through all those placepro job ads and I felt so inexperience when I was far below the job requirements. To show my appreciation to the co-op program, here's a guide/ advice for co-ops that are looking for a placement:
1. Work on side projects - Okay, well, I was told that a million times and also didn't really do a side project back when I was looking for a placement. Obviously time is very valuable to a student and can be difficult to find time to work on a project. If you can't find the motivation to do a project, at least be curious and go read and learn stuff on your own time. Projects are amazing to show to your potential employers. That's how you stand out in front of all the other candidates.
2. Be Curious/Have the Passion to Learn - This field is consistently changing. If you're not keeping up, you're falling behind. Go read technical blogs or perhaps some books. Hacker News is a good start.
3. Design a e-portfolio/personal website/blog - Having an online presence is important. Your resume can only hold so much information yourself and your website can be an extension to showcase how amazing you are. Did I ever tell you I got interview opportunities because recruiters found my website?
4. Soft-Skills/Communications Skills
5. Extracurricular Activities - It's good to know that you're human after all! You can potentially show your leadership and organization skills here!
6. Be Confident - Don't worry too much about how you're not good enough. Your accomplishments are not flukes! Don't let Impostor Syndrome take you down!
7. Ask Questions!
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