Cindy Quach (BGBDA '22) a recent alumnus and Technical Talent Acquisition Specialist reflects on her time in the Global Business and Digital Arts program and offers her self-proclaimed "Ultimate GBDA Guide" for incoming/current GBDA students.
The Ultimate GBDA Guide
When I did an Instagram Takeover for @uwstratford, I took you through my in-office day of work (at GEOTAB) and my experience in my last semester of GBDA at Waterloo. I couldn't answer all your questions so I created this...
Introducing the Ultimate GBDA Guide from a graduated student!
1) The Program
- The program taught me a broad range of skills allowing me to pursue a variety of routes in the creative industry, technology or business sectors
- I was drawn more to the business route
- I know some people who are now working as graphic designers, business analysts, programmers/developers, UX/UI designers, researchers, marketing analysts
- Don’t let your degree dictate what you think you can/cannot do!!
2) Anything to learn/do before entering 1st year?
- Nothing… GBDA teaches you all the fundamentals through introductory courses
- BUT, if you did have extra time over the summer, you can get yourself familiarized with the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop, Premier etc...). Throughout the program, you will learn these in courses like GBDA 101 (Intro to Digital Media Design), GBDA 201/202 (Digital Media Project) etc... Looking back, I would have saved so much time if I was already somewhat familiar with those programs.
- We also had a class that taught us HTML and CSS which was GBDA228
3) Join/follow clubs and communities before even getting here
Some common groups that GBDA students typically join include
- Discord: GBDA Hub
- Instagram: uwstratford, gbdasoc, Creator's Collective, UW Cube
Follow other University of Waterloo pages
- Instagram: uwaterlooarts, uw_asu, uofwaterloo
There are so many more clubs/communities to join which can be found at wusaclubs on Instagram! Don’t be shy! Some that I was involved with include Arts Student Union, uofwhabitat (Habitat for Humanity), uwicsn (International and Canadian Student Network)
4) BONUS CONTENT - Minoring
- There are many minors that GBDA students can choose from
- Check out the list on the Waterloo website, some GBDA students cannot do
- I have a minor in Human Resources Management which required me to take extra courses each semester or summer and pay extra money
- I know many others who chose to do a Computer Science minor
- To take 6 courses a semester, you need a specific CGPA so double check that you meet those requirements.
- If you know you want to do a minor, make sure you look at the requirements immediately and start planning your semesters, if possible
