Slides from our Kickoff events in March/April 2015. These slides are an introduction to the Summer of Tech programme for students. We cover what a career in the local tech industry looks like, and what employers are looking for in graduates.

2. A career in IT
Student Launch 2015
John Clegg - Summer of Tech
Victoria University - 18th March 2015

3. * What is Summer of Tech
* How to make the most of SoT
* Job Market state of the nation
* What are employers looking for?
* Tips for your Career journey
#SOT2015
Today

4. Who am I ?

6. is a non-profit internship programme
connecting smart students
with Auckland & Wellington
ICT companies
Summer of Tech

7. We get students jobs ...

8. Programming

9. Engineering

10. Design

11. Business Analysis

12. Last year - we placed 107 students
Programmer Designer
Web
Programmer
Mobile
Programmer
Web
Designer
QA
IT
Support
Analyst
Network
Support
Mechatronics
IT
Security
Database
Admin
Dev
Ops
Ops
Marketing
Project
Mgmt

13. We help you to ...

14. Get introduced to employers

15. Lots of companies have got jobs...

16. Learn the “important” stuff in getting a job

17. Get training on what companies want

18. March-August Bootcamps
June Employers signing up
September Meet and Greet +
Interviews
October Job Offers
November
-> March Summer jobs!
Timetable

19. Upcoming Bootcamps
Resume DB 101
Comms
Code
Mgmt
Internet
101
Testing
101
Javascript
.NET
Python
Agile AndroidPHP iOS
Data
Viz
Project
Mgmt
Ruby

20. Sign up now !

21. Bootcamps have started !!!

22. How to get the most of Summer of Tech?

24. Its not going to be so easy...

25. There are limited numbers...

26. You’re going to need to step-up....

27. ...and participate

28. Or you’re out!

29. Because we have people waiting...

30. There is a reward

31. 66% of students get on-hired

32. Don’t just take it from me…

33. Some student success stories

34. 1) Collect Rewards

35. 2) Beetil

36. Lots of big customers

37. S O L D $$$ !!!

38. 3) Nik + Oly were hired as an interns

39. A couple years later they were hiring

40. They started their own company

41. Started working on some projects

42. and it went BIG !!!!

43. Oly now works for Google

44. Oly Clarke: Google
“The Summer of Code program during my university years was
my first encounter with programming in the real world. Getting
placement in a local startup company was a great way to get
exposure to every aspect of running a software business,
programming and otherwise.
The startup experience inspired me to start my own projects
using new technologies which kickstarted my software
career.”

46. STATE OF THE NATION

47. What is the state
of the Job Market

48. Times are tough

50. What does this mean in NZ ?

51. The earthquake changed things

52. 143,000 unemployed - 5.7%

53. There are more jobs than before

54. Employers are being more picky...

55. Employers want people with
more experience

56. Employers are not hiring for the bench

58. We’ve talked to over 200
companies about hiring.
We asked them one
important question...

59. What do companies
look for in a graduate ?

60. The answers surprised me

61. We hire on personality

62. We hire on team fit

63. Tech skills are a given

64. They want more to see
track record

65. “I largely don’t care about someone’s
actual coding skill on day 1, because they
often won’t align with our patterns anyway,
but its all teachable.
What I want to see is a candidate’s ability
to interact with an existing codebase and
team….”
What companies are looking for

66. What companies are looking for
“…The single best way you can do this is
by choosing a project and contributing.
One way to get started (assuming github
here), is fork the an interesting repo, read
the contributor guidelines (which typically
also include an explanation of how to set
up for development), and then look for a
bug to fix, or new feature to add.” - Brad
Murray , DATACOM

67. They want more
to see demos

68. “We like to see working demos of games
they have made. An app I can run on my
phone is great, from the app store is even
better.
Some people have unity games that are
very impressive, but Unity hides some of
the difficult parts so we prefer to see C++
game demos…”
What companies are looking for

69. “The stuff that sticks out the most is when
they have a larger game demo they have
worked on in a team. It helps us get a
sense for how well they work with others.
Things like the Imagine Cup or Global
Game Jam are great.”
Joe O’Sullivan - PikPok
What companies are looking for

71. We need a new plan

72. We need to think differently

73. “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.

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

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

76. What skills are
important going
forward?

77. Not just function - DESIGN

78. Not just argument - STORY

79. Not just focus - SYMPHONY

80. Not just me - EMPATHY

81. Not just seriousness - PLAY

82. Not just accumulation - MEANING

83. How do you make this
fit together ?
How does it all fit together ?

84. A guide for your career journey

85. Lesson #1 Know thy self

86. What are you
good at?

87. Look at what you’re good at

88. Find mastery

89. It takes 100 hours
to learn a skill

90. But 10,000 hours
to master it...

91. Lesson #2 Participate

92. Get involved in projects

93. Learn stuff that interests you

94. Build a track record of successful
projects
github + ohloh.net

95. Github is your dev resume

96. Start your dev profile

97. Start your career profile

98. Lesson #3 Take opportunities

99. Choose a path
where you learn

100. Your career is like
snakes and ladders

101. Join a smart team

102. Think about the work
environment

103. Think about the tools
they use

104. Think about how they
get the job done

105. There’s always jobs

106. but not the one you want

107. Lesson #4 Your career already
started

108. Be on time

109. Be honest &
honour promises

110. Improve your
communication skills

111. Technical Writing
becomes important

112. Be careful what
you say online

113. Your attitude is important

114. Keep your emotions in check

115. If you act in a Passive Aggressive
way, Employers SEE a little kid

116. Lesson #5 Find a mentor/s

117. Find role models

118. There are plenty people of who
want to help...

119. Build friends and allies
for your career journey

120. Takeaways

121. 1) Build Track record of projects
(Sign up for Github)
2) Build your professional profile
(Sign up for LinkedIn)
3) Take an interest in employers/roles
4) Improve your communication skills
Summary

122. Questions

123. Next: CV Bootcamps - don’t miss em!