If you have a question about online terms, being an academic rep, co-op, or anything else, reach out to me on insta (@_kavyaarun) or through email (karun@uwaterloo.ca)!
Waterloo Engineering in one word:
Mind-blowing
I choose Waterloo Engineering because:
The courses are extremely innovative and helpful for my future careers. Specifically, in SYDE 1A, there is a 3D CAD Design course, Introduction to Design Systems, and a C++ Coding course. These courses are extremely helpful when applying to co-op and for the future. Moreover, Waterloo has an amazing co-op program that everyone knows about, so the amalgamation of both career oriented courses and amazing internship opportunities, was the reason I chose Waterloo Engineering.
The best thing about my program is:
The cohort! The SYDE cohort is so tight-knit and we’re always taking part in some activity through our discord server or playing games every week. Everyone is so friendly and willing to help everyone out, making it a very wholesome program. Additionally, the courses we take in SYDE allows us to go into so many different industries including software, PM, UI/UX, which I think is one of the best things about SYDE.
About my Co-op experience:
So far, I am currently doing my first co-op term with RBC as a Software Developer. I am working on both front-end and back-end technologies using Angular, Spring Boot and Java. I also had the chance to shadow product owners and managers.
I wish I had known before I came:
There’s this stereotype that in university, due to the large amount of students, everyone is on their own. That’s true to some extent but if you want the professors to know you, or if you want to stand out, it’s not as hard as you think. I didn’t figure this out until halfway through the term. If you ask questions, talk to your profs when you have doubts, take on leadership roles (running for class rep), helping others, or doing other things to get in there, it’s very easy for people, especially profs to know your name. I wish I had known this at the start of the semester as it would have made my transition from high school to university much easier.
Outside the classroom, I’m involved with:
Since the term was completely online, I haven’t had the chance to join many clubs or sports team. So far, I have signed up to be a part of the Formula Electric Design Team and UW Management Consulting Club. I am also looking forward to joining UW’s Product Management Club, and hopefully a dance team.
A fun project I’ve completed:
I created a 3D SolidWorks CAD Model of the Taj Mahal and included an exploded view animation along with it!
One more thing about me:
In the future, I am hoping to go into Technical Product Management or Product Development.