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TheInside sCo-op

Whatever you make of it.

Winter 2013 ed. 1Cover Art photographed by Nicholas Lan

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Never too Late

Career Corner: What can I do with my Degree?

Gearing Up

In the Haus

Justin shares his story of how he returned to school to accomplish his goals

Jayne Hayden gives students prespective on what they can do with their degrees and what their degrees can do for them

Zohair, a Mechanical Engineering stu-dent, shares some insight on how he created success on his work terms

SAP’s co-ops speak about what the envi-ronment and culture is like working in the Wat-Haus

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Letter from the Editor

Editor: Becca McElrea, Communications & Marketing AssociateStaff Editor: Olaf Naese, Communications Specialist, CECA

IMPORTANT DATES & REMINDERS

You can do a lot more with lemons than make lemonade. You can make lemon squares or put slices in warm water to make those little disenfecting bowls.

Nick Lan, local photographer and uWa-terloo undergrad, photographed one at the beach because he likes taking pictures and life, apparently gave him a lemon.

In this edition of the sCo-op, co-ops share their experiences that are unique-ly theirs.

One student shares how he returned to school after being in the workforce for eight years. Another shares how he grew and learned and accomplished goals during his work terms. And an-other article features five co-ops at SAP who worked in an environment that al-lowed them and inspired them to be innovative and creative.

Please enojy this edition of the Inside sCo-op, and consider the question of what you could do with what you have.

Job postings for the main group open on the 19th of January at 7 a.m. and close on the 22nd at 11:59 p.m. Job postings open again on the 25th and close on the 29th

Interviews begin January 28th and con-tinue throughout February

Note: there are no interviews scheduled during Reading Week

First ranking for main group opens at 1:00 p.m. on March 1st and closes at 2:00 p.m. on the 4th

Visit the Important Dates Calendar for more information.

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- Becca McElrea

NEVER TOO LATEJustin, 2B Electrical Engineering student, spent his first three work terms working for PCL Constructors and will be returning for his fourth with the company.

“When asked about my story, I always say that it’s never too late to go back to school

“[When I was in high school] I just coasted. I was completely disinterested with it,” Justin says. Before he even began the process of getting back into the education system, he had sleepy ambitions to be the first of his family to attend the university that he drove by so often.

...or to accomplish your dreams.”

Justin says there are a couple reasons why his ambitions woke up: one, the recession hit and where he was working in California was hit hard financially; and two, he felt like he was plateauing in his work life. So, after spending six years as an electrician, and a total of eight years in construction, Justin first went back to high school to upgrade his marks, and was then accepted into Waterloo.

co-workers. Justin and his first manager shared a com-mon electrical background and, with eight years of con-struction experience to draw from, communication ran smoothly between him and all of his co-workers.

As a Building Systems Co-ordinator, one of Justin’s

duties is to liaise with the varying teams working on the same project. For example, the St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hospital Justin is helping to manage isn’t built by one person; electri-cal, mechanical, structural and architectural subcontractors all play a role. PCL, as the General Contractor, aids in design, sets schedule deadlines, manages each discipline, and ensures the project and project team are working as a cohesive unit. Justin takes the time to wander over to the people in charge of areas he hasn’t studied in to ask questions and continue to learn after the working hours are over.

Justin stands before his current project with PCL

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“It was hard to go from fulltime work to attending school, but the opportuni-ties are worth it. If I hadn’t gone back, I would have never stood out to an in-dustry leading company.”

Boost from Extra Experience

For Justin, interviews went smoothly. His interviewers were “pleasantly surprised with the amount of experience [he] had” from his apprenticeship and work experience as an electrician. Once he took the job with PCL Constructors, he found that his electrical background was helpful to build new bridges among

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Perfect Fit“Perfect fit” is how Justin describes his terms with PCL. They pro-vided him with the opportunity to challenge himself by taking on extra responsibility when his supervisor was away.

PCL Constructors has also recognized Justin’s dedication by awarding him two co-op awards. He was nominated on his first work term for the Jim Brown Scholarship Award as the top student in the Toronto district, and won it on his second work term. Recently, while on his 2B study term, Justin found out that he also earned PCL’s Canadian Build-ings Student Scholarship. This award was both “a moment of pride and a humbling one,” Justin says, as he was selected for this recognition out of all of PCL’s co-ops across Canada for the year of 2012.

There are other monuments for Justin’s success as a co-op student; the build-ing he worked on last work term and willl be working on next term, is a re-minder of how far he’s come. He’s been with it since the project was an empty lot, and will be there when the first light is switched on. Justin reminds his fellow

Justin receiving the Jim Brown Scholarship Award

students and prospective ones that not every light comes on right away, and that it’s never too late to re-evaluate and try again.

CAREER CORNER: What can I do with my Degree?

This is a common concern of students who come to the Centre for Career Action seeking help with their career planning. And what’s the answer? Just about anything!

Say what…?

Yes, it’s true: the vast majority of degrees are just a beginning to the ultimate package that will land you that job after graduation. Your degree suggests a number of great things about you: strong analytical and

problem solving skills

solid research skills

ability to multi-task and manage time effectively

These skills and abilities are likely added to by the na-ture of your studies (e.g., math: attention to detail and accuracy). However, what you ADD to that degree is often the decisive factor in your career direction.

Wish there was a way to be reminded about important dates, workshops, and other career and co-op opportunities? There is!

Follow @uWaterlooCECA on Twitter to stay connected.

by Jayne Hayden, Centre for Career Action Career Advisor

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Key additions to your degree may include:

relevant work experience gained through co-op, internship, summer, part-time, and/or volunteer jobs

specialty courses, training, and certifications

hobbies that relate to your major or area of specialization and further reinforce your knowledge and commitment to the field

You may say, then, “That’s encouraging! However, that would mean I have even more options than I thought: How do I narrow these down to just one?”

And the answer is…What do you WANT to do?

What might be a good fit for YOU? While there is no one perfect occupation out there for anyone, there are indeed some that are a better choice for each person.????

To discover which choices are ‘better’ for you, begin with a self assessment. This will give you the kind of all-important information that will help you to zero in on a satisfying and rewarding career. It has been said that in choosing a career we are, in effect, implementing our self concept. In other words, we choose something we see as fitting with who we think we are. In order to choose something that accurately reflects who we are, we need to really get to know ourselves – more deeply than we may think we know ourselves. Specifically, we need to become more intimately aware of our interests, skills (that we enjoy using and those we’d like to avoid using!), values (what’s important to us), and personality. It is also important to be aware of other factors relating to our unique situation, including potential barriers.

There is no one assessment tool – or person! – that can tell you which careers are ‘best’ for you. A thorough self-assessment that encompasses a number of approaches designed to help you understand yourself and your situation more deeply will go a long way towards pointing you in a focused and appropriate direction. The Centre for Career Action offers a number of aids to help in this self-discovery. These include print and online resources, the Career Development eManual, workshops, and individual appointments. Career advisors can guide you in select-ing appropriate assessment activities and in generating occupational options that fit with your newly-informed self concept. They can also help you to honestly assess the appropriateness of these options and increase the likelihood of you making a choice that will reflect who you are, while utilizing the knowledge and skills that you have developed through your degree studies.

Once you have made a choice in career destination, you can begin to plan the short-term steps that will lead you there. These steps will include the ‘add-ons’ mentioned above: the specific courses, work experiences, and activities that, together with your degree, will result in the perfect package to present to a potential employer.

So start the journey to connecting your degree to a satisfying career: Visit the Centre for Career Action today!

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Gearing Up: one student’s path to success

Zohair Mazhar, 3A Mechanical Engineering student, shares how he stepped up his co-operative game, and makes the most out of his experiences.

Zohair at his desk while working in Munich, Germany. Can you spot the joke his super-visor played? Hint: three letters.

His story starts off in Karachi, Pakistan, when he was a recent high school graduate and postsecondary applicant to universities in Canada, Australia, and the United King-dom. “Waterloo gave me the opportunity of co-op. I would graduate with actual work experience,” and he reasoned that the hands-on learning would leave him in good shape to succeed in the working world.

Soon he found himself with the rest of uWaterloo’s flock: in a suit in one of the chairs on the ground floor of the Tatham Centre, looking up at the television screens. Like many first years applying for positions, he had difficulty finding employment. On the last day and for the last time slot, Zohair had an interview with Magna Powertrain, his first employer.

The interview was supposed to be fifteen minutes long, but ended up lasting an hour. Zohair says what likely earned him his first job was when the interviewer placed a transmission on the table and asked him what he knew about it. Zohair says, “I was a first year student, so I had never worked on something like that before. I meant what I said, but all I could say was ‘I have nothing I can tell you, but I am eager to learn.’”

An Excellent Question

Zohair’s second employer gave him a glowing review. His work with the titration of the com-pany’s parts washing machine not only made the machine work more effectively, but it also saved the company money in the years to come.

He also showed initiative by volunteering to be part of the interview process, and took the time to come up with a thoughtful question to ask the students applying for his job. “The interview process is nerve-wracking and I wanted to ask a question that made the students feel a little more

at ease,” he explains. His ques-tion was “If you were a dog, what kind would you be?” and though it’s likely to draw out some chuckles, questions of this type – questions you can’t prepare for and need to be able to think quickly and cre-atively – can still yield some revelations into a person’s character.

A Very Good Start

by Becca McElrea

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An Outstanding Experience

His third work term was one of his most challenging ones, but also one where he made a lot of accom-plishments. Halfway through his third work term in Munich, Germany, Zohair asked his supervisor what he would have to do to receive an ‘outstanding’ for his work evaluation. His supervisor told him that he would have to finish the project he was working on. This task wouldn’t be an easy one. The project Zohair worked on had been started by another engineer and hadn’t been completed during a seven year period; Zohair had two months left in his work term to complete it. On top of the bind for time, there was also the language barrier, meaning most of his co-workers spoke only German. With the help of some Master’s students reporting to him and bridging the gap of the language barrier, he finished his work a week ahead of schedule.

“Because of my work, I ended up saving the company 120 000 euros per year.”

Zohair shows the variable resonator he designed

There was no rest outside of the office either, as he had another kind of experience to gain. “I worked about 37 hours each week, but only Monday to Thursday. Every weekend my flight was booked to somewhere,” Zohair says. While working abroad, he traveled to 12 different countries, visiting capitals, major cities and popular sites. He says that the amount of traveling and exploring he did in four months would probably take most people closer to a year to do.

Zohair’s advice to other co-ops is to take full advantage of what the program has to offer and challenge yourself by setting goals. Evaluations can help you land your next job, but it’s the experiences you have that stay with you for the rest of your life.

Zohair in Venice, Italy.

Be prepared for the February 2013 JOB FAIR!

uWaterloo teams up every year with Wilfrid Laurier University, Guelph University, Cones-toga College, and Partners for Employment for students to:

Network with employers

Investigate careers

Obtain information on employers

Attend this event on February 6th at RIM Park to further your career opportunities!

Visit Partners for Employment’s website to see which employers will be there.

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IN THE HAUS:a tour of SAP’s WatHaus

SAP Labs Waterloo welcomed the Inside sCo-op into its WatHaus to see what Waterloo co-op students are working on while experiencing the fun and interesting work environment.

The office where the 13 co-ops spend their time is spacious and open. Instead of cubicles there are clusters of tables with no dividing walls beyond the computers’ moni-tors. If one student has something to tell another at a different island of tables, they can call across the room just as easily as walking over.

Five of SAP’s co-op students, Abhi Bojadla, Chase Denomme, AJ, Mike Kovacevic, and Vithushan Namasi-vayasivam, share what it’s like and what they’ve learned from working there.

Environment & Culture

It’s clear by the open concept space and walls, turned into whiteboards, that collaboration is key. “We didn’t even touch a computer for almost the first two weeks,” says Mike, a third year Computer Engineering student who was a Frontend Developer. During that time period, the co-ops were busy with team building exercises, such as designing the perfect backpack. Mike explains that the exercise got people talking to one another to share their ideas on what the ideal backpack should have, and it mimicked what the WatHaus students would be doing when creating intuitively designed apps for the public.

The physical space embodies SAP’s creative ideologies; Chase pointed out the perks of the freedrinks, soccer balls and footballs for de-stressing, as well as the walls that have been written onwith washable markers. He explains the idea behind the walls is “the more space you have to write, the more ideas you can put out there.”

The work environment was partly designed by the students. Abhi, 2A Computer Engineering student and UX User Interface, explains that as part of a team building exercise, they had to create the space based on what everyone wanted and a small budget. The bright red couches are a product of the Ikea challenge’s success.

Program Manager Sarah McMullin (top left) and the co-ops pose on and around the couches in their work space

PDFS ARE NOW THE TYPE OF DOCUMENT ACCEPTED ON JOBMINE

You must upload your résumés as PDFs instead of HTML documents.

by Becca McElrea

Do you want to help influence the new system that replaces Jobmine?

Join our Systems Student Panel

Visit our Systems Strategy Website to learn more!

Follow us on Twitter for project updates!

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SAP students de-stress at the foosball table just byond their desks

Work & Play“When people are happy and comfortable, they work harder.”

-Chase Denomme, 3A Arts & Business, Emerging Technologies Business Analyst

SAP students are busy; they have 90 days to create three apps from concept to finished product. To manage stress and give visual moti-vation, the students utilize a couple creative and fun outlets. When the task at hand is highly pressurized, students can blow off steam and engage with one another at the foosball table in the corner of the room. Vithushan reported that a foosball tournament was being held for the co-ops and their managers. “When there’s a deadline crunch, we don’t mind staying late,” he says.

To help the co-ops visualize their goals and progress, burn down charts are used to clearly display how many hours behind or ahead they are in their work. Abhi finds the charts help motivate them, are an easy reference for when speaking with the product owners about the stage of the apps, and - especially for him - the creation and management of the charts is great experience for those want-ing to get into project management.

Learning Environment

Communication is just as open among supervisors and managers of the stu-dents: “The supervisors are friendly, want to teach you, and bring out the best in you when doing things you may be nervous about, like presentations,” says AJ, an Emerging Technology co-op who is finishing up his first year in Mechatronics Engineering.

The SAP students work hard, but are encouraged to take the time to unwind. The supervisors are supportive, and Mike says he’ll leave SAP with friends both from the co-ops and the managing pool, which has never happened to him before. AJ calls the workplace “the perfect environ-ment” because SAP provides its co-ops with the room to grow, play, and challenge themselves backed with experi-ence and worldwide leadership in enterprise application.

“Our supervisors are great mentors; we never get stuck or have to spend hours sift-ing through code; they know exactly where our coding mis-takes are and show us how to fix them.”

-Vithushan Namasivayasivam, 3A Computer Science, Mobile App Developer

Want to contribute to co-op? Want to be involved in co-operative decisions and processes?

By attending Co-op Student Council meetings you can give back to co-op by expressing your concerns and providing feedback to the Feds and CECA.

Join students and staff in making co-op work for you!

To find out when and where the next Council meeting is, contact the Vice President of Education at vped@fed.ca

Great for experience!

Food provided!