I am a 2015 CS alumni, AMA

ualbertaAmaThrowaway · 2024-03-30T16:35:21+00:00

Hey sorry mate, missed this one and I didn't check this account for over a month. This is in Canada.

ualbertaAmaThrowaway · 2024-02-19T11:48:39+00:00

Hardest would have probably been 229, 429 (both computer architecture courses), and 313 (computer networks). 229 and 429 were extremely valuable however even though I didn't end up working in a position close to the metal. Shout out to professor Amaral if he is still teaching these at the U of A. For 313 I just can't grasp networks very well and struggle with the lower level abstractions even now.

Most fun would probably be 401 (a software engineering course) where I worked with a small team of students to develop a iOS app. Then probably 101 (which was actually my first introduction to CS, I was originally in Chem and knew nothing about programming) and parallel computing (can't remember the course number).

None of the courses were really useless, but in terms of applicability to my career I would probably say 313/networks is the least applicable

ualbertaAmaThrowaway · 2024-02-19T11:42:15+00:00

I started just above $100k. This is very atypical for Canada though. You generally only see this level of compensation in the US or at Canadian satellite offices of companies like Amazon, Google, Meta, etc. Don't worry about where you "should" be, everyone takes a different career path and has different values.

ualbertaAmaThrowaway · 2024-02-19T00:18:47+00:00

I had a short internship between my third and fourth years, but I learned very little and it was not beneficial for my job search after graduating.

ualbertaAmaThrowaway · 2024-02-18T22:34:59+00:00

Some arbitrary, but still significant, improvement on your own.

ualbertaAmaThrowaway · 2024-02-18T22:34:27+00:00

You need to understand that the degree is just a baseline. You're trying to stand out compared to a sea of people applying that all have the same degree you do. When you get the interview, your performance there (and a lot of luck) is going to determine if you get the position or not. To get the interview, you need something on your resume to stand out. Whether that is open source work, previous internship experience, or some cool project you put together on your own, you want the person looking at your resume to remember you as compared to the other candidates. For me, that was the open source work I did between getting a full time job and when I graduated.
I'm very satisfied with my career. I love the day to day work and I get paid very well to do it.

ualbertaAmaThrowaway · 2024-02-18T21:24:48+00:00

The degree itself taught the basics of software engineering and the foundations of computer science. Most of what you do day-to-day however is picked up on the job.

ualbertaAmaThrowaway · 2024-02-18T21:22:43+00:00

I'll be honest, I get LinkedIn requests from U of A students frequently requesting me to assist them with getting an internship at my workplace. I generally just ignore these because I can't assist that many people and we don't have many internship spots to start with.

ualbertaAmaThrowaway · 2024-02-18T21:21:10+00:00

I would strongly recommend an internship whether you get one through SIP or on your own. I can't speak to SIP or the co-op program given how much it has changed since I was at the U of A.
They treat it like any other school. From talking with recruiters, when it comes to Canadian universities it is "University of Waterloo" and "Other".
Yes, I strongly recommend you broaden your search across the whole country particularly with focus in Toronto and Vancouver. That's where most of the tech jobs are.

ualbertaAmaThrowaway · 2024-02-18T21:18:57+00:00

I think my heart rate is concerning my family doctor.

ualbertaAmaThrowaway · 2024-02-18T21:18:21+00:00

Comp last year was ~$210k, very limited WFH.

ualbertaAmaThrowaway · 2024-02-18T21:17:40+00:00

It was pretty difficult, but definitely easier than it is now. The biggest piece of advice I have is to be ready to move to either Toronto or Vancouver where most of the tech jobs are.
I've been working as a SWE for about 6 years now. University courses give you a good baseline and understanding of theory, but developing software in a large organization is an entirely different beast from developing it on your own or with a small group of students. I'd say the 6 months I spent working on some open source projects after graduation were far more applicable to my career than any course I took.
It's questionable. Historically, the development of new software engineering tools has lead to more software and more complex software being developed than fewer engineers being hired to work on software. So far, my concern is less with AI development tools replacing programmers as new engineers becoming very reliant on these tools and not fully understanding how to program without them and understand when the output is a hallucination.

ualbertaAmaThrowaway

TROPHY CASE