Monthly Archives: January 2016

Ready to fly

Alright fam let’s get to it. I’ve had a really crazy week. I joined lots of intramural teams and was really excited to play with them but suddenly I twisted my ankle while jogging. Aside from that everything is still pretty smooth. My plane in Aerodesign is built and ready to fly and my workload in classes is still at a medium. I feel that if I don’t start reviewing for my classes now I’m going to be behind for a very long time. As a mechatronics student I get to take a lot of cool courses. My favorite is CPEN 312, Microcomputers. It’s really cool because we get our own boards and get to do a lot of hands-on work rather than the traditional on-computer style. Apart from school my job application process is accelerating and I am applying for jobs almost every night now.  It is important to remember that job applications can’t just be a basic template; it has to have something that is unique to the employer. This will give you an edge because a lot of individuals will just have a standard cover letter for all the jobs they apply to. If you want to find out more about some companies and employers I recommend checking out the job fairs and networking events that UBC holds. This is a great opportunity to meet employers face to face and get to know them. There’s always an opportunity to sell yourself for the job. It gives you the chance to show that you’re interested in the position and allows you to make contacts at the companies. I have even had some employers give me their business cards so that I can contact them directly to discuss the details about the job. My job search is taking off!

Key to Success: Drink lots of water

-Siddhant Malik

Career Fairs, Networking Events, and E-Week! Oh my!

I’ve always loved the second semester of school more than first. Don’t get me wrong – I love the feeling of coming back to school after summer (well, for the first week anyway) and all the events/parties that take place, but second semester is when the UBC Engineering community gets busy!

In the next few weeks, E-Week 2016 (Engineering Week) will be underway. From February 1-6, you’ll have the chance to represent your department in a series of events and show your Engineering pride. If you haven’t heard of E-Week or haven’t yet participated in E-week, I highly encourage that you do it! There are events such as: Chariot Races, CaPPture the Flag, fEUSball Tournament, Pit Purge, Annual General Meeting, E-BALL Soccer, and 4-Legged Race – just to name a few!

On top of this, the annual EUS Career Fair will be taking place on February 4-5. This is a great opportunity for students to network with representatives from big companies. In some cases, these companies may also be looking to hire students for the summer. Words of advice: dress appropriately and it doesn’t hurt to have a few copies of your resume or business card on you! When I attended the EUS Career Fair in my first year, I hit off an awesome conversation with a HR Rep from SNC-Lavalin. She was telling me about this Project Management Summer Student position that sounded really cool. When I told her I was interested, she said that she thought I would be a great fit and asked if I had my resume… And I didn’t. Looking back, it was a pretty big mistake on my part, but when I think about it some more – in my first year, nobody really told me what to expect from a career fair/networking type event. Even today, I still feel like people aren’t sure what to expect or how to prepare.

This was a big topic that was brought up during the EUS Industry Committee meeting that I sat in on last week. Upon discussing this with other departments, we are working on implementing a “How To Network” type event for all engineering students because we believe this is pretty important information to have. Over here in MECH Student Services, we are planning a First Year Networking event with our senior MECH students and alumni! This will give you first years a chance to practice your networking skills AND learn more about our awesome department. Details have yet to be confirmed – we will keep you posted!

Prepare yourself for some very exciting weeks to come!

Cheers,
Ashley

PS: Click here for some deets on E-WEEK

Key to Success

So after 2 weeks of winter vibes I’m back at the battle ground for another semester. So far so good. The best thing about the first week is that there are no labs. This means huge 3-hour gaps for Netflix. I have had a very easygoing start to the semester but things are ramping up really fast. I have my Aerodesign competition coming up, midterms next month, and I have to apply for coop jobs. Applying for jobs is the most dreadful thing because every cover letter you write has to be customized to the job posting. Of course you can just use a standard one for everything but it really helps you get the job if you tailor your cover letter to the company and the position. Lastly, I have a MECH tour coming up that I have to prep for. I have to go through all the rad MECH labs and student teams so that the noobs that are coming into MECH know what they are getting into. If you want to come on the tour shoot me an email and we can work things out. I, oddly enough, take pride in my tours, cause I give really awesome tours. But also because I think it’s really important that kids know what they want to do and it is my job to provide them with the necessary information.

So yeah, I’m pretty busy. From now on, in every blog post I write, I will include a key to success à la DJ Khaled. Key to Success: minimize Netflix binging.

New Year, Same Grind

Happy new year! I hope the holiday break treated you all well.

Winter break was awesome. For me, it was filled with lots of family and friends time, catching up on sleep, snowboarding, checking out local bands at The Imperial on New Years Eve and more food than I could have ever hoped for. The break was much needed…Let’s just say it wasn’t the best idea to mix job interviews with six final exams. Although my stress levels reached all time highs, some good did come out of it. I have passed all of my courses (thank goodness) and I have also been offered a student engineering job for the summer!

For you first-year readers out there, I highly suggest getting experience early. Apply for a summer job/internship or even volunteer to work for a company. I’m sure you’ve heard it before, but I think it’s worth saying it again: the more experience you get, the better!

This semester will be a busy one, once again, but in all the best ways. Club Mech has some pretty good events coming up this semester. ASME will be hosting the annual Boeing trip down to Seattle to visit Boeing and MTM Ltd. E-Week will be happening the first week of February (if you haven’t participated in E-Week, do it).

Again, we would love to hear from you readers. Feel free to send Siddhant or me an e-mail at: ambassadors@mech.ubc.ca with comments or feedback about what you would like us to post about!

Cheers,
Ashley