We’ve had a few requests for notes from the presentation, but Emily says her slides are probably hopeless without explanation and the stories, sorry.

But she CAN share some links, here goes:

The Google job ad experiment – how a bit of clever thinking can get you a job:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FRwCs99DWg

Marc McHardy presenting his final year major project on “The Ad Show”

http://www.vimeo.com/23983821

(which got him his job at Click Suite)
AND, here are some links to good on-line portfolios.

You can use a free website like http://cargocollective.com

(Here’s one made using a bought template on cargo http://skellywag.org/ ) or Behance.

Others are:

http://www.ryanovereem.com/

http://www.kelly-stubbs.com/

http://www.timdenee.com/

Again, HUGE thanks to Emily Loughnan from Clicksuite for taking the time out of her busy life to share tips, tricks and experience with aspiring design students.

(especially the explanatory footnotes )

This is definitely a US example, but the messages hold true for Summer of Tech candidates in NZ: show some passion, put yourself out there, be clear that you can fill a real need in a company.

The gathering was not for the faint of heart, or extreme novices.  We were stoked to see students, graduates and indie game devs taking part, AND great support from experienced developers who popped in to mentor & offer moral support over the weekend.

Here’s a choice quote from one of the students:

“I learned more in the last 48 hours than I have in the last 3 months of uni!!”

The grand finale involved pizza and beer, and participants demo-ed their creations in front of a panel of industry judges (Stu and Chris from Sidhe, and David from MajicJungle).

PixelJam was modelled on Game Jams that have been held around the world.  The mover & shaker and make-it-happen-guy behind the event was Keaton (SoC09 alumni), and support and sponsorship from Sidhe, Toi Poneke HUB and Studio was fantastic.

We’d love to see PixelJam become a regular feature in the buid-up to Summer of Tech.

Check out the photos here

YOU are invited, yes, that means YOU! SoT2010 Interns, Mentors, Colleagues, members of the UP and wider Wellington Tech community!

We’d love to see you at our summer seminars, supporting & developing & connecting the top talent of Wellington and the top employers of Wellington. Here’s the details on our 2nd #xsss: 

STARTUP LESSONS

Rowan Simpson will explain why many of the things that you think you know about what it takes to start and grow a technology company are wrong, why most of the successful companies and entrepreneurs that you read about in the media can’t teach you much about your startup, and some of the counterintuitive lessons that you should be paying attention to as you try and get a new idea off the ground.

Rowan was a founding team member at Trade Me, running the development and product teams there at various stages between 2000 and 2007, an early investor and employee at Xero and most recently a co-founder of Wellington-based software studio Southgate Labs, where he is an an investor and advisor to a number of early-stage tech companies including Vend, Fishpond, Sonar6 and Valuecruncher. 

When … 12.15-1.30pm, Friday 3 December
Where …Kiwibank, level 6, Radio New Zealand House, 155 The Terrace (here’s a map)
Rsvp …is essential!! please do this over here on the groovy lil’ regie platform.
What …are you waiting for? free lunch! networking! inspiring & informative speaker!

HUGE thank-yous to Xero for being our fantastic sponsor of the seminar series. And to Kiwibank for being our fantastic venue partner. Thanks for making these events possible.

FREE tickets to the December Girl Geek Dinner!!

We’re proud to support the Wellington Girl Geek Dinners, informal get-togethers, including dinner, drinks, and talks on ‘geeky’ topics. It’s a welcoming atmosphere and a way in which to learn in an informal environment, to make technology accessible and to be of interest to all age groups and all people, particularly women. It is an opportunity for like-minded ‘girls’ to talk about technology over food and drinks.

It’s happening on 15th of December, and you can find all the details here.  (Some of you might have met the speaker, Bronwyn Holloway-Smith at the SoT launch party last night?  As well as being an award-winning artist blending opensource technology and 3D printing, she’s a key mover & shaker in Unlimited Potential, and co-founder of the Creative Freedom Foundation.) So if a free xmas dinner, high quality networking with women in technology and the glory of taking up a Summer of Tech complimentary ticket wasn’t enough to hook you in… go to listen to Bronwyn!!

If you want to claim one of the Summer of Tech FREE tickets, you need to email Ruth.  Quick.  Tickets will be allocated in an entirely biased way (sorry guys)… not just gender, we’ve also got a strong preference for giving 2010 Interns and Students the prizes!

(Mentors, colleagues, women of Wellington’s technology & creative communities – it’s 25 bucks, totally worth it! You can buy tickets here)

mLabs is a new learning and experience hub for developers and designers focussed on Mobile.

It is a platform for collaboration aimed at speeding up the learning process and gaining exceptional capability and industry experience.  mLabs allows you to join teams to learn, collaborate with, and get help from others, and to build a proven track record of success.

For more info, check out their website, here

Here’s some things that are really important to know:

Our “matching” process works a lot like dating.

Bear with me as I elaborate on that highly unusual statement from such a professional, career-focused internship programme.

We have a “talent pool” of top technology students, seeking their “perfect match” for summer internship.  They’re looking for a company, with a project, in a field that meets their ideals in terms of their future career goals.

On the other side of the equation, we have “innovative companies” seeking their “perfect match” for summer internship.  They’re looking for a student with skills, energy, attitude and aptitude that meets their ideals in terms of their business needs this summer.  Oh, and they’re keen to invest in the future talent pool by accelerating learning and work experience in the talent pipeline too!

We’ve done our “online dating”, which involved checking each others’ profiles online…

We’ve done our “meet & greet”, which involved meeting in person…

Next week, it’s “speed dating”!

While all you candidates are waiting eagerly for news as to whether you’ve been chosed for a “Speed Date”, here’s some hot tips to help you get ready.  These are the key learnings from our Speed Interview Bootcamp:

Headsup for tech students – time is running out if you want to be in the running for a Summer of Tech internship for 2010/11.

We will be closing student registrations at 12noon on Tuesday 31 August.

If you’re only just getting round to signing up, you’ve got a LOT to catch up on.  Please go here to sign up, then spend some quality time completing your Summer of Tech online profile.  This is your marketing tool to get companies to notice you!

More information is available when your profile is complete.  We also highly recommend you read through historical blog posts which contain useful tips & information for candidates.  Here’s a link.

It’s not too late to score a cool job with one of our outstanding Tech host companies this summer!  The companies are waiting to meet you on the Summer of Tech website, so sign up & get profiled asap!

Check out @anistirk‘s great photo here!

For those who were unable to attend, sorry we couldn’t connect at the Meet & Greet, but it’s not too late to be part of Summer of Tech 2010!!

Companies of Wellington… it’s not too late to sign up!

Here’s a some company deadlines to think about:

• COMPANY REGISTRATIONS CLOSE – October-ish.  That is not a fixed deadline, we need all the host companies we can get!  However, if you want to maximise the benefits of the programme, and increase your chances of getting a top student interested in your role, we suggest you sign up before the end of August. This will give you time to take part in the Speed Interviews, and, if you’re super-onto-it, to apply for TechNZ funding (if you’re eligible & interested).
• SPEED INTERVIEWS – 7 & 8 September (before then, you’ll need to complete your company profile, set up a project (which is like a job description) and browse & shortlist candidates on our website)
• TechNZ APPLICATION – 10 September (if you’re interested in applying to TechNZ for funding to support your internship, you need to submit by 10 Sept.  If you want Grow Wellington to help you with this process, you’ll need to let us know by 31 August)

Students seeking a technology career… it’s nearly too late to sign up!

Here’s a couple of student deadlines to think about:

• STUDENT REGISTRATIONS CLOSE – 31 August
• ONLINE PROFILE – asap like now is good what are you waiting for stop reading and finish it QUICK!  Companies are browsing and shortlisting now.  If your profile is incomplete, you are “invisible”.  Enough said.

Here’s a quick re-cap on how the evening went:

To get things rolling, we turned the standard “recruitment process” on its head, requiring employers to “pitch” themselves to potential candidates.  Presentations from 34 companies which showcased an astounding array of innovative projects and technologies. From exciting startup to high-growth creative to established corporate, there is no stopping Wellington business when it comes to developing cool tech!

Because candidates and employers can “browse” each other via the Summer of Tech website, we asked companies to focus on the “fluffy stuff” like workplace culture and business aspirations.  And boy, they did   Turns out that for many companies, having @EpicBeer as our Meet & Greet beverage sponsor was a fairly good cultural fit!

Summer of Tech aspires to play a useful role as a bridge between industry and the education sector, provide a platform for employers to streamline their graduate recruitment, and source & invest in local top talent.  At the same time students are exposed to a range of opportunities they may never have known or thought of, right here on the doorstep!  Judging by the volume levels during the “greeting” part of the evening, a lot of this is being achieved.

2010 is the first year we’ve gone beyond “Code” projects.  The tech industry is becoming more competitive, more demanding and developing and releasing new products & services is harder than ever.  Summer of Tech’s wider reach now caters to companies who want a broader skill-set, “Code” is still important, and the thriving Wellington Web industry was certainly on show during the company intro’s last night! Equal emphasis is now placed on the creative thinking and approaches of “Design”, the problem solving and innovation of “Engineering” and the thinking, processing, management and execution of “Business Analysis”.

Above all, employers are still hiring on ATTITUDE and APTITUDE.  Technical skills are a given in this tight job market, you either got em already or you’ll learn em quick on the job.  Communication skills, professionalism, team fit and the “fluffy” stuff are where candidates need to excell.  If a paid summer internship is the result, perhaps those skills are not so “fluffy”, after all.

A huge thanks to all our helpers (especially Rebecca, KaiXin and Alastair, outstanding student-wranglers and SoC09 alumni… oh, and their employers Amberdms, Redvespa and CatalystIT who let us borrow them back for the evening!)

A huge thanks to all our sponsors and partners:  Massey University Events Team for the venue, Grow Wellington for helping with company-wrangling, TechNZ for your upcoming investment in summer internships, and all the fantastic individuals and organisations without whom Summer of Tech would not be possible.

Roll on Summer of 2010!!

(Companies, move along please, nothing to see here, you can get some “inside tips” over HERE)

So, students, this is your only chance to impress companies in real life before interviews.  The rest of your “impressing” will be done via your online profile.

Format

The Meet & Greet will start at 5.30pm, so please arrive a few minutes before to check in and get your nametag.  We’re expecting around 200 people, and will be in a big lecture theatre to start with. Take a seat anywhere except the first couple of rows, which will be reserved for companies.

First part of the evening is when companies introduce themselves.  This is a quick intro & overview of their company/project.  The main purpose of getting the company representatives to stand up in front of the room is so that YOU will be able to recognise them during the informal networking afterwards.

Second part of the evening is an informal networking event.  Everyone is wearing nametags, and you’ll be able to clearly identify who is a company (i.e. a potential employer) and who is not.  Companies will be standing around the edge of the room, under a sign with their company name on it.

It is up to students to introduce yourselves to companies that are a match for your skills.

Light refreshments will be provided to help facilitate the networking.

Tips for Students

• Do your homework!  Be prepared!  Company and project information is on the Summer of Tech website right now.  Spend some time before Thursday researching the employers, so that you know who you want to impress during the Meet & Greet.
• Your goal for the Meet & Greet is to be chosen for a job interview.  Companies will be impressed if you have taken the time to find out a bit about what they do, if you have relevant and interesting questions and ideas, and if you’re exhibiting the right attitude and aptitude to be on their team.
• Remember that there are 4 different types of job on offer, so you need to pay attention to who is who during the introductions, so that you’re not wasting precious time talking a Design employer if all you want to do this summer is electrical engineering!
• There will be more students than companies – you will need to use all your social skills to engage in scintillating but brief conversation with companies.  Please respect the fact at there are other students who would like a chance for a chat, and know that you’ll get a few minutes at most with each company on your list.  Another reason to do your homework and think about what you’re going to say before you meet & greet.
• We highly recommend you pay attention to schmoozing potential employers rather than the food & drink that’s on offer; standing in line for a drink and socialising with your mates is NOT a great use of your time if there are companies to impress and summer internships to be secured!

Directions

• Here’s a map of Massey’s Wellington campus.  The Meet & Greet is in the Old Museum building, via entrance D off Buckle Street.
• If on public transport from the Railway Station, we suggest you grab a bus to the Basin Reserve (e.g. a No. 1 or No. 44) and walk up from there.
• If you’re driving, there is very limited visitor parking at Massey, you might have more luck on Tasman or Tory St’s.
• There’s plenty of bicycle parking around campus, for those of you on 2 wheels.

Looking forward to a fantastic Meet & Greet for SoT2010!

Don’t forget to RSVP – log into your account and check out the “Events” page.