99 lines
5.5 KiB
Plaintext
99 lines
5.5 KiB
Plaintext
## Coop Advice
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Although WaterlooWorks is quite reliable, there are many more opportunities outside of the job board.
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Being able to apply for jobs externally not only prepares you to look for jobs full time but it also
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provides a way to start your study term without having to worry about looking for a co-op.
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Create rituals for starting your day and ending your day. Studies have shown that not having a post work activity
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makes it harder to not think about work which leads to burn out and reduced productivity. Start your day by thinking
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about what you want to achieve and how you want to feel. End your day by doing an activity i.e exercising, listing
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todos for tomorrow, or even reflecting about the work day! This may help you have a more balanced lifestyle.
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To make the best use of your time, set a time limit on how long you spend on the problem (e.g. 1 hour before
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you ask for help). Asking for help on an issue you’ve been stuck on for some time can be beneficial. It’s much
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better to take an hour of your mentor/boss’ time than to be stuck for days without any results. The solution
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may be team/organization specific and asking can save a lot of time. Be sure to try your best to solve the
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problem on your own first to maximize your ability to learn.
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If you have spent time diving into the codebase but you still are confused, schedule time with your mentor/coworkers
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to have a code base walk through. Write up questions to ask during the meeting and take notes of unclear parts of the code.
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Check over your code at least twice before submitting your code review. Reviewing the code a second time may
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help you catch minor issues and/or problematic code that your reviewers may or may not comment on. If you are
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unable to figure out a solution to an issue, then reach out to someone for help rather than implementing a
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hacky solution. You will be more aware of your coding quality, less prone to ignoring issues, and overall
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be a more responsible developer.
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Asking for feedback from your manager/mentor throughout the term can go a long way. You can ask about your
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performance in certain areas and ways you can improve. These feedbacks can help determine what you should continue
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and/or change. For example, you can ask about their expectations and how you can achieve a specific rating on
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the employer co-op rating to set up specific goals.
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Around the middle of the term, ask to go over your co-op evaluation form with your manager. In doing so, you will
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be able to modify your current goals to match/exceed your manager’s expectations. This is especially helpful for
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you to determine how you can achieve the co-op rating you want.
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Meeting and networking with people in and outside your team is an amazing way to learn and meet new people.
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Coffee chats are a great way to learn about interesting roles and tasks others around the company perform.
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Try to set up coffee chats with others at your company as you might meet an amazing connection or learn about
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a really neat topic. This may lead to an idea of what you want to do in your future co-ops. A format you can
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use is: “Hey, I'm the new intern of \<manager\> and I was wondering if I could put something on your calendar
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so I can get to know you and your work a little better.”
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Aim to make most/all of your code testable. This will ensure the code is functioning properly and will save
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time debugging in the future. This is a useful skill to have as a developer.
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Each push request (PR) should focus on a very specific change/feature. Modularizing the changes will make
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reviewing the PR easier and quicker.
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Set up a system to stay on top of your work. This can be as simple as setting up a to-do list ready for the day.
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The important thing is to be clear and intentional with your goals each day so you can optimize your focus on getting things done.
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Document any blockers you faced during onboarding, and how you overcame them because chances are others will face them too.
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These can be tips/advice you would give new hires. Feel free to share these findings with your team, because they want to make
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the onboarding process more efficient and up to date for future hires. Some examples of things to take note of are
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outdated/incorrect/missing documentation and the way the team does a specific task.
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Negotiating compensation for an offer when you already have competing offers can be very beneficial for you and it’s normal
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to do. For a general guide, you can use the format:
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Hello [Name of recruiter],
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I am very interested in working \[company name\]. I have been given an opportunity at \[another company name\] that is offering \[compensation\].
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Would it be possible for [the company name] to match/increase the compensation.
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Thank you,
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[Name]
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If you do not have competing offers you can still try to negotiate using the format:
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Hello \[Name of recruiter\],
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Given my experiences, would it be possible to increase the compensation to [compensation]?
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Thank you,
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[Name]
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Either way, it does not hurt to try as the worst they can say is no.
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