Welcome to
Summer of Code 09
John Clegg - ProjectX + Summer of Code
Victoria University 15th July 2009

Today
Summer of Code 09 Kick-Ass Careers in ICT

What is Summer of Code ?

Summer of Code
non-profit internship
programme connecting smart
students with Wellington ICT
companies

70 students
in over
40
companies

2 out of 3
students get
hired

What’s in it for you ?
Get training - Bootcamps, Seminars and Workshops
Get experience - 400+ hours of ICT experience
Get paid - $18 p/h
Create networks with Industry - UP, NZCS
Have Fun!

Boot
camps
• Resumes workshop
• Communication skills

Boot
camps
• Languages - .net / php / rails
• Web / HTML / SQL
• Unit Testing / Code Management

It starts now!
Sign up on Summer of Code ‘09
Bootcamps start next week
www.summerofcode.co.nz

How to have kick-ass ICT career

What do companies
look for in a graduate ?

Tips to help you along your way

Where to go for
help?

Who am I ?
John Clegg
(J Money - Pimp of SoC)
CEO - ProjectX
Summer of Code

Where I’ve been ?
VUW Undergraduate
C+ Average
Career didn’t follow a plan
Spent time working in
USA, OZ, UK, India, South
Africa and NZ

Getting a good job is HARD!

Talked to a lot of
people about hiring

I asked
one
important
question

What they
look for in
a graduate?

The answers surprised me

We hire on personality

We hire on team fit

Tech skills are a given

We need a new plan

We need think differently

“Anybody with even routine skills
could get a job as a programmer.
That isn't true anymore.”

“The future no longer belongs to
people who can reason with
computer-like logic, speed, and
precision.”

“... engineers will have to master
different aptitudes,
relying more on creativity than
competence”

What skills are
important going
forward?

Not just function - DESIGN

Not just argument - STORY

Not just argument - STORY

Not just argument - STORY

Not just argument - STORY

Not just focus - SYMPHONY

Not just focus - EMPATHY

Not just seriousness - PLAY

Not just accumulation - MEANING

Your work fits into
a big picture
DESIGN - STORY - SYMPHONY
EMPATHY - PLAY - MEANING

How do you make this
fit together ?

5 things to think about in your career

#1 #1 Who are you?

We see a lot of resumes

What are you all about ?

What does the world say
about you ?

What makes you
different ?

Its not about grades
We hire people not grades !

We don’t want robots

Self awareness

What are your
strengths ?

What are you
good at?

Look at Tiger Woods

What is the best part of
Tiger Woods
game?

His Drive

What does Tiger Woods
practice the most ?

His Drive

Lesson #1
Work on your strengths
Work around your
weaknesses

#2 “What are your
Interests?”

Tell us more about yourself

There are plenty of things that
suck about computers

What do you like about
computers?

What do you like about
programming?

Lesson #2
Tell us why you want to
work in ICT

#3 Curiosity

We have lots of
problems

We need people to hunt
them down

Figure out what’s wrong

Build Solutions

Lesson #3
Be curious

#4 Learning

“By nature men are pretty much
alike; it is learning and practice
that set them apart.”
Confucius

"Learning is like rowing upstream:
not to advance is to drop back."
-- Chinese proverb

How do you
learn ?

By Osmosis?

Visual ?

Aural ?

Kinetic ?

Or by Osmosis?
Mindmaps ?

Lesson #4
Figure out how you learn
Check out NLP

#4 Getting things done

When do you
work best?

You learn differently at
different times of the day

In the end its about outputs

Its about hitting targets

Formula for success:
Under promise
Over deliver
- Tom Peters

Lesson #5
Focus on getting things
done

Summary
1. Show us your strengths
2. Tell us why you want to work in ICT
3. Be more curious
4. Figure out how you learn
5. Focus on getting things done

Here are five tips for
your career journey

#1 Its not about “you”

Its about what you can
do for your company

Tip #1 Kick ass for your
company and its clients
Build your own ‘brand’

#2 Its not about
“qualifications”

We don’t want robots

Learning is a one step
in a journey...

What you do with it,
is more important!

“The difference between the
novice and the master is simply that
the novice has not learnt, yet, how
to do things in such a way that he
can afford to make small mistakes”
Signal vs Noise Blog

You learn by doing lots of
small projects

Tip #2 Show us what you can
do
Build a portfolio

#3 Learn about the
industry

Read blogs that interest you
• Silicon Welly
• NZ Herald
• Stuff Tech Pages

Find out what’s happening in the
industry

Technology changes fast
Keep up

Tip #3 Keep with the news
Look at delicious.com

#4 Its about People

Connect with other geeks

Google doesn’t know
all the answers

Tip #4 Connect with
User groups
• Unlimited Potential
• Super Happy Dev
House
• Geek Girls
• Specialist User groups

#5 Communication

You have to talk to
people

Best tech doesn’t all
ways win

People with better
communication skills
succeed

Ask Questions

Tip #5 Talk to people

Summary
1. Kick ass for your boss
2. Build your portfolio of interesting
projects
3. Keep up with industry news
4. Join and participate in user groups
5. Just talk to people

Where to go for
help?

Visit them at 14 Kelburn Parade
Wellington
http://www.victoria.ac.nz/st_services/careers/

Talk to a Student Liaison

Go to industry network events

Books

More books

Questions

Resume seminar next week

Links
News / Bookmarking - Delicious.com
Networking organisations
- Unlimited Potential - http://www.up.org.nz
- Super Happy Dev House
- http://superhappydevhouse.org.nz/
Summer of Code
- http://www.summerofcode.co.nz