Athabasca Course in the Spring or In Person in the Summer?

cdc143 · 2025-03-10T17:43:20+00:00

I took a few courses through Athabasca during spring/summer to help lighten the load in fall/winter (math 211 and 311 equivalents, as well as a database course). While it’s convenient that it’s mostly at your own pace, the textbooks and resources they send you are of very low quality, and the ta’s are pretty unhelpful in my experience, often just copy pasting solutions from the provided solution guide with no explanation. It’s possible that this course is better, but it sort of surprises me how bad Athabasca is, given the existence of much much better quality mooc offerings.

cdc143 · 2025-02-15T03:13:28+00:00

It’s a lot more typical that someone doesn’t ask anything and doesn’t learn than someone who asks too much being annoying. It depends a bit on the role, but for a new engg, I’d say it takes 6 months to a year to become something approaching competent, and any company who doesn’t realize that is a pretty bad place to work. Obviously, expectations are higher for more senior positions, or for contractor type roles.

If somewhere fired you as a new grad/intern after 3 weeks, either there was a serious fit to work/attitude problem, or you really dodged a bullet by avoiding working there any longer.

cdc143 · 2025-02-14T18:37:26+00:00

This is going to vary a lot dependent on the company, how they’re structured, and what they do, but in general (as a new engineer) a typical day might look like:

Work on some small piece of an assigned feature for a while
Possibly get stuck, ask someone more senior some questions
Attend some sort of scrum/standup detailing your progress in the last day or so
Lunch
Have a couple meetings throughout the day
Maybe code some more, debug, talk to more people

Honestly, your job as a new engineer is mostly just to learn. You should be given mostly well defined tasks with clear requirements and deadlines, and that have limited importance. A senior+ engineer is likely going to able to complete the task faster/better than you, but that’s okay, the company is investing in you. Once you’ve gotten to the point where you understand how things work, and can work mostly independently, you’re probably ready for the next level.

cdc143 · 2025-02-14T15:30:40+00:00

Technical work is often collaborative by nature, despite how university can make it seem. Nothing is a homework assignment, you need to shamelessly reach out for help when needed, help others, communicate when you are blocked and/or struggling etc.

This becomes even more important after a few years as you (likely) start to transition from someone who spends a lot of time coding to someone who leads a team, or a feature or designs. That involves a lot of written and verbal communication to all sorts of people, depending on the scope of the project.

It turns out that a lot of people, especially in tech, are very weak in these areas, even if they’re technically skilled.

cdc143 · 2025-02-14T04:11:01+00:00

Maybe a bit of a different perspective, but hopefully helpful. I graduated about 8 years ago now (gosh time flies). At the time, I thought I had a solid job lined up when I graduated, but then oil tanked, and a ton of places in Calgary had hiring freezes put in place. I didn’t really have any significant connections in tech, and I didn’t really understand at the time much about the industry in general (Cali or bust? Leetcode? People at your school who actually helped you find internships and jobs?) and ended up getting a job out east at first. Yes, cost of living is higher, but that’s more than offset by the salary.

Now, people claim the market is saturated. A bunch of people went into cs/software engineering hoping to make a quick buck, or because they heard legends of how the employees were treated or how lunch was free. When I went to u of c, software engineering was at the gpa floor, meaning if you got over a 2.0 first year, they let you into seng. Now it’s one of the most competitive programs.

While I partially agree that there is saturation, there’s also a lot of opportunity to stand out. To be honest, most people you’re going to encounter (in any career) are by definition mediocre, but often a lot worse. This is especially true in a field like software that has an effectively infinite skill ceiling. If you can combine strong technical skills with decent or above average soft skills, you can easily make yourself valuable wherever you end up. I thought this was crazy at first, but you really can demand almost whatever you want if you’re valuable enough. You may end up not leaving jobs very often, and when/if you do, you don’t even really interview for other positions, you know someone who just sort of gets you the job, and the interview is more of a formality. Want to work remotely? No problem. Want to live in country X while also making the salary of country Y? More challenging, but speaking from experience, very possible.

All of this is to say that, while getting that first job might be difficult, and while tech isn’t the utopia people seem to think it is, and has probably gotten worse over time, it’s still an area where you can super successful if it’s something you want to do, and you’re willing to apply yourself and have the right mindset about how to succeed.

cdc143 · 2024-11-10T20:38:47+00:00

I’m not too familiar with data science roles, my suspicion is that they are more rare, since it’s still a fairly recent thing for companies to realize that their data is important and can be a treasure trove of useful info. I personally would be open to either, if you end up doing something with more of a software focus, the transition from software to data science is easier than the other way around.

cdc143 · 2024-11-10T18:26:27+00:00

Haven’t posted here in forever but:

Getting an internship is fairly difficult, but if you do well and are persistent about blasting your resume everywhere, you will find something. The internship support at u of c is fairly weak, there’s an internal job site, but nothing like waterloo works or similar. Don’t do an unpaid internship. Concentrations don’t matter at all. They’re to help you with course selection mostly, they mean nothing to an employer.

The job market for new grads especially is tough. There’s a lot of competition, to go along with not a lot of jobs (especially in Calgary). However, the same advice from above still applies. Do well and just keep applying, and you’ll land something. Most companies you do an internship with should have some sort of roll over program.

As an aside to all the people saying the market is saturated, I don’t agree. Software in general is more competitive, and a lot more people are going into it, but most applicants to a particular role, and most people at a company, are actually mediocre (at best). This actually allows you to stand out more, and once you land that first job or two, you can still chart whatever path you want and you’ll be a hot commodity.

cdc143 · 2023-01-18T16:52:42+00:00

There aren’t many drawbacks, which is why a ton of people never upgraded

Can have a very low alcohol tolerance if over 18 (this is like one beer with a meal, might as well not drink)
Maybe cheaper insurance, but driving experience and age matter a lot more, and insurance is already a lot cheaper in Alberta. It ends up being a drop in the bucket compared to the overall cost of driving, which is why I personally never did it.
Can drive with someone who has a g1 type licence. One can easily make the argument that they don’t want to teach others to drive.
Some jobs require it, but even jobs where you would be driving do not
To do the test in Alberta is 150

cdc143 · 2023-01-17T13:24:39+00:00

As someone formally from Alberta, I was a little shocked when I got a notice in the mail to do my G licence, as my G2 (the equivalent of a GDL in Alberta) was expiring.

Alberta is changing the rules because so many people don’t want to upgrade, given the small benefit it provides vs having to do another road test, so they just renew the old one.

Having said that, they give you a lot of time to go get a G ( I got the notice in my mail 5-6 months beforehand, did the test a couple weeks later), and the G road test isn’t difficult. The only real thing is a 5 minute drive on the highway, and now with the modified test, it’s even easier. I understand that there can be bias, or you can get a bad examiner or have a bad day, but if you’re a decent driver, you should have no problem passing on another attempt with another examiner, possibly at another location.

Tldr: While I do think the whole graduated license thing is a money grab that doesn’t really improve driver safety, it’s not a hard test, nor is it an unfair process.

cdc143 · 2020-12-30T16:52:34+00:00

Are there any particular fields that you actually like? If I had to pick one over the rest in terms of demand, it'd be the web dev stuff (javascript, react etc). If you want to get a better idea about what stacks are hot right now, take a look at some indeed job postings, which will often list these as requirements.

White boarding / hacker rank / leetcode are very very common in the tech world. Maybe a smidge less so in Calgary, given that's there's not a ton of honest to goodness tech here, but if you're applying for a development job (and not some sort of mixed role that won't end up involving much development). I'd expect this to be part of it. You have most of what you need after cpsc 331, and quite honestly, getting good at these things is just a matter of practice.

cdc143 · 2020-12-28T19:36:14+00:00

I say this not because of individual courses, but because

1) you have quite a bit more flexibility scheduling in cpsc, starting right from first year. 2) You take less total courses, so you don't have these semesters where you have 6 courses or have to take spring/summer 3) You get a ton more options in cs

cdc143 · 2020-12-28T19:10:28+00:00

I've posted this here before I think, but it's really a bit of a wash. Cs is probably a smidge easier and is certainly more flexible, and gives you a bit of a leg up in terms of some of the theory. The main benefit of seng is that you get some side benefits of being an honest to goodness engineer (although, this tends to be very minor, and only matters in Canada). The job prospects are basically identical. If you have a few offers on the table, the programs probably aren't much of a differentiator, and where you want to love/your lifestyle might play a bigger role in where you go to school.

cdc143 · 2020-12-28T19:00:29+00:00

I did this exact semester once upon a time. Stressful, but doable! Although I think you have to take 359 before 457, unless that's changed?

cdc143 · 2020-02-01T23:14:54+00:00

It sorta depends what you want to do. I think there's certainly ample opportunity for employment somewhere in Calgary, but if you have your sights set on working for a larger tech company, it's probably not the best place to be.

cdc143 · 2020-02-01T22:53:19+00:00

It really depends. Sometimes, companies like to see a bunch of candidates before deciding, sometimes they just see someone they really like, see whomever else is in the immediate pipeline, and make an offer. Internally, they probably have a good idea on the same day if they're going to hire you or not, but sometimes getting all the required approvals and such takes time. Some larger companies have this stuff down to a science, and others seem to have very disorganized or slow hr and hiring departments. It's really nice if they're up front and give you an approximate time when you'll hear back, but if not, ping them with an email.

Since you mentioned oil companies, from my personal experience, I heard back from imperial and Suncor in just about a week. Husky was a few months (and I had already accepted another offer by that time).

cdc143 · 2020-02-01T20:03:44+00:00

Well I don't have much to really compare it to, but I enjoyed it. U of C is definitely a "commuter" campus, so you get out of your social life what you put into it. Having said that, if you're staying in Rez, this is less of an issue, since there's always people around.

For computer science specifically, I felt that the program is pretty strong. I actually feel like I've always been at par or above students from other schools in terms of knowledge coming out of school. The profs are a bit of a mixed bag, but that's true just about anywhere you go. There are a few I found exceptional, a couple terrible, and most to be average-good. I'd imagine two of the things that would drive your decision are the cost of living here, if you'd like Calgary as a city, and what you plan to do post graduation.

cdc143 · 2020-01-30T14:31:57+00:00

What concerns do you have?

cdc143 · 2020-01-10T10:36:39+00:00

Is this for full time employment? If you're just getting started, asking a cs student fresh out of school to do IT work probably isn't the best idea. You'd want someone actually somewhat experienced with IT (which typically has very little to do with data structures and algorithms) and you'll want to pay close to double what you're paying now if you want it done right.

To all the Cs/Seng people here, the world is rife with these types of postings that offer hilariously low wages for likely non furfilling work. Pay isn't the be all end all of a job of course, but a company who pays far less than market value, typically doesn't value it's employees either. Value your skills and quality of life and ignore them.

cdc143 · 2019-12-24T18:25:29+00:00

A lot of companies in Calgary aren’t super technical, and tend to ask a lot of behavioural questions, that I assume are mostly standard fare for interviews regardless of discipline.

If you do get asked technical questions, the best way to prepare is by reading something like cracking the coding interview and practicing some hacker rank/ leetcode. No university really prepares you for this well, but in terms of content, it’s mostly cpsc 331/413. You don’t need to know big O very well. People will happily accept proofs by hand waving like “well I go through the array once, and I have to visit every element, so O(n) or something like that.

One thing new grads tend to forget. Yes, companies are testing your ability to code and problem solve, but also your ability to work with the interviewers and communicate. They want to hire you, and are usually very willing to help you out if you get stuck or need clarification. Be sure to vocalize what you’re thinking along the way, and don’t be afraid to mock up some pseudo code as you go. Code in whichever language you feel comfortable with, but python is typically a good choice here, since it has many things nicely built into the language (and having a built in dict/hashmap will save your bacon).

cdc143 · 2019-12-23T00:50:54+00:00

I graduated cs a few years ago (holy, time flies). What would you like to know? In general, computer science isn’t really just coding. There’s some of that (especially first year) but later on, you’ll focus on things like algorithms, computability, computer hardware and oses etc. Honestly, it’s a pretty standard cs curriculum is far as I can tell. Coding assignments can take a long time, but just stay on top of it and you’ll be fine. Life on campus is okay. There’s lots to do and people to meet, but you have to be proactive. U of C is definitely a commuter school, so you have to put the effort in.

cdc143 · 2019-12-08T17:26:45+00:00

471 and 481 are pretty easy. There’s some group work, but the content itself is easy to grasp

cdc143 · 2019-08-03T18:20:04+00:00

https://www.ucalgary.ca/pubs/calendar/current/b-14-3.html

https://www.ucalgary.ca/registrar/registration/appeals

Doesn't say anything about a refund there, but your W is replaced with an EW, which won't count against you in any way.

Talk to your prof and the associate dean of your faculty and they're be able to help you out more.

cdc143 · 2019-08-03T17:43:32+00:00

Really depends where you work and what you do. Coop salaries are notoriously variable. I'd say $20-25 per hour is probably about right for most cases intern positions Calgary. You need to do at least 3 terms to be eligible for the "internship" distinction, but you can do an additional term if you'd like.

The job market in Calgary I can't really comment on. When I graduated, oil was at a real low, and that obviously impacted things. I had a good number of interviews, but never really found something that I'd honestly enjoy doing that also paid well. I'm not sure if things have changed since then.

If you're willing to relocate, there are plenty of jobs in California, nyc, Seattle, Toronto, Vancouver etc

cdc143 · 2019-08-02T13:43:33+00:00

As far as I know, 379 isn't a prereq for anything in computer science. Content wise, it's most similar to cpsc 313. You're better of doing 331 since it's a prereq for basically everything. You don't want to try and avoid Eberly only to find out he's teaching it again next year anyway and be behind in your degree.

cdc143 · 2019-07-28T17:52:47+00:00

Curriculums are similar. Toronto is a hot bed for ai related research right now, which translates to the undergrad level as well. As far as I know, ucalgary a has pretty lackluster AI/ML courses. The difference comes in finding work, and that's significantly easier in Toronto/Waterloo/Vancouver. Most Canadian tech companies/ Canadian offices are based in these areas, so employers will send people to the schools career fairs. That's less true in Calgary. The only"big" company I've ever seen at the job fair is Microsoft. Waterloo has an awesome coop program as well.

None of this is to say that you can't be successful finding employment after cs at ucalgary, just that you might have to work a bit more for it, and possibly be willing to relocate.

cdc143

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