SRL Archive - News and General

Hello everybody, sure has been a while. Glad to see this community is still bolstering and everybody is well. Lots of new faces, but still many reassuringly old faces. ;)


Anyways, I'm currently finishing up my first year of Engineering at a University in Alberta and it's time for me to choose my discipline. As you may have guessed from the title I am starting to lean toward Software Engineering. However, I don't know much about the career field, especially here in Canada. In Alberta there is huge pressure to take something related to oil, because let's face it, the money is just damn good. However, I am more naturally intrigued (as you may have guessed..) by my software classes, than the physics/chemistry orientated classes.

I've been trying to network as much as I can, but it's really tough when everyone around here is all about the oil field. I'm having a lot of trouble finding information relating to summer jobs for students and careers for graduates. I also would love to get some information on good schools to apply to incase I want to transfer to a school with a better Software Engineering degree(preferably in Canada, my current year will transfer easier.)

Any information relating to Software Engineering careers, salaries, and expectations would be greatly appreciated. I feel like this community has matured and many people are in a similar situation as me or have just done something similar. Any advice is more than welcome.


I'm also looking for a decent-paying job for this summer relating to anything software really. If anyone knows of anything or has any spots relating to this I would be more than willing to get in personal contact with them. I hope my reputation in the "cheating" community can stand as a vouch. I'd be more than willing to relocate for the summer at the end of this semester (Apr 26th) and would like to do some travelling; Another country is more than fine. I am very serious about this, so if anyone wishes to get in contact in a more personal manner I can be emailed at [email]ddesa753@mymru.ca[/email] or contacted at http://www.facebook.com/Desabrais



Thanks again guys/gals,
- Cheesehunk.
- David Desabrais.

Let the good times roll.

[RIGHT]Mods: If you think this could go in a better section, feel free to move it.[/RIGHT]

Definitely BC, Vancouver in particular, has a booming tech industry. Far more than Alberta ;)

Probably the best schools out here for software engineering would be:
-Simon Fraser University
-University of British Columbia
-British Columbia Institute of Technology
(Ordered in my personal opinion of quality)

I will look and ask around about any summer internships. I know there are a lot of jobs for first years as beta testers. Anything other than beta testing is usually left for 3rd and 4th years (2nd years on exceptional circumstances).

Let me do some checking and see if I can find anything :)


Edit: If you are interested in doing research I cant get in contact with one of the professors I do research with. You may be able to take over my research as I will be gone to Québec all summer.

https://jobs.ea.com/search/view.do?id=a0z50000001Erf4AAC
https://jobs.ea.com/search/view.do?id=a0z50000001EreQAAS
http://www.siat.sfu.ca/jobs/
http://www.wowjobs.ca/BrowseResults.aspx?q=software+engineering+summer+OR+coop+student&l=VANCOUVER%20BC&s=&sr=25&start=0&t=30&si=A&e=&Dup=H

Thanks Hobbit, these links are excellent. Yeah, Alberta isn't exactly "tech central.." :p I'm going to look through them more in-depth tomorrow when I have time. Those EA links seem to be a bit more 2/3 year stuff as you said. I just put in my application at UofC to get in for Software, do you know if the industry puts emphasis on where you went to school? UofC is just so convenient for me because I can live at home and finish my degree. However, if needed I could find the money to go to BC, which is probably my best bet for a University that I can drive home from during breaks/summer. Either way I want to transfer right into my 2nd year taking Software Engineering, no way I'm doing these classes again. I imagine UBC would transfer the easiest if I did decide to go that route.


Honestly, I'd be interested in any job that involves software or people around the industry so I can start creating a bit of a network. I love beta-testing (^SRL Tester original recipient:p) If you kept your eye open I would definitely appreciate it. I wouldn't mind hearing more about that research either. Entailment's? Paid research? I could definitely see some interest here.

This is all good information. Thank you. :)



Also, I was unaware you were from BC. What are you taking and where? And if you don't mind me asking, what are you off to Quebec for?

P.S. Booo canucks! :p

Well my professor mainly does crowd simulation modeling and bioinformatics. He was part of a research group at UofC that published a paper last year modeling the spread of HIV through a population based on social influence and sexual contact. I can ask him maybe if he has any info about UofC. My last research for him was to make a program in C that loaded up a RNA Map files and compared them and calculated their degree of commonality. Right now he has me working on a crowd simulation project using Unity3d and to be honest I absolutely hate it. I loved the first one as it was pure coding, but for this one I have to use this stupid game engine and it is not being friendly to me :p I know he was looking for student researches for a couple of projects over the summer and some where paid, I will ask him if there are any projects left for the summer.

I'm taking a dual major in Mathematics and Computing Science at Trinity Western University :)

I'm gone for the summer to Québec for more military training, I'm in the ROTP (Regular Officer Training Plan) program.


Booo Flames and Oilers! :p
I live about 20min from where the Flames farm team plays :p

This is awsome! I am currently in UBC for computer science with the "software engineering" option, but I've been thinking about going to U VIC for software engineering.

From what I've seen and what my professor admitted to me, Software engineering is just the applied version of computer science ( as the title suggested), you learn more about programming rather than wasting time on how to implement better database or faster algorithms. If you enjoy programming but doesn't want to get too in-depth, then you should definitely be the choice for you.

I could try to find more info for you as well :)

As for jobs, it does seems like the Vancouver area does have a lot more computer companies than central bc/ab, your other choice would be in the greater toronto area (but its a lot more stretched out and most people have to wait on the 401 for HOURS to go to work).

From: Main
you learn more about programming rather than wasting time on how to implement better database or faster algorithms.

All depends on the school too. For me, I am most interested in large scale networks and security (I plan for that to be my focus for my Masters) so the database, datastructure, algorithm, crypto theory is all perfect for me and falls under the CompSci as its theory mostly. But you can also focus on programing theory, my school in particular offers a decent selection of various coding theory classes.

But yes, there is a difference between CompSci and SoftEng, thats why I suggested SFU first because IMO SFU>UBC when it comes to SoftEng. But again, just my opinion. I'm not a huge fan of UVic either though :p

I'm just finishing up midterms so I haven't had much time to look around yet so this information is awesome, thanks guys. Hobbit, if your professor does happen to have any opportunities left, definitely let me know. I'd be interested, especially if paid;)

Hopefully after things start to slow down here again come Friday I'll be able to look more into these transfers. I already sent my application in for UoC, pretty sure I'm going the Software route over CompSci. I've already finished the first year, and I figure if I do end up changing my mind I can switch over to Electrical Engineering or maybe make the stretch to Mechanical if things don't work out. Anything else would put me in a backtracking spot, plus I love the math that Engineering puts me through. I could see SFU or UBC being options for sure, going to look further into it at the end of this week.

I talked to him after class yesterday and all the spots are filled up :( He only had about 5 projects for the summer. He said if you are still interested in research a good thing to do may be to contact some of the universities directly, especially ones you have applied to. Tell then what you are interested in (SoftEng) and a bit about you and ask if there are any positions for student researchers for over the summer.

You should also try craigslist. I've seen quite a few jobs related to SoftEng on there for students. Mainly for smaller companies like an accounting firm that needs some custom software built. But it gives you experience and pretty decent money, especially for a first year.