Three good things about being a UH ICS student

Permalink Reply by Mitchell Sakuda on August 24, 2017 at 5:35pm

1. Being able to network with fellow ICS students and faculty online via Slack, email, in person.

2. Software benefits through the department.

3. Curriculum is well-rounded so I feel that I have a better knowledge in all aspects of computer science.

Permalink Reply by Natasha Meinzen on August 24, 2017 at 6:01pm

1) I like how the software engineering course is structured and how it focuses on not only teaching students concepts, but also guides students towards creating a professional portfolio.

2) The software needed for various projects is provided.

3) Faculty being available to answer questions.

Permalink Reply by Jun Okabe on August 24, 2017 at 7:15pm

1)The large amount of event announcements and job opportunities by email and by slack is extremely helpful.

2)The ICS community in UH Manoa are always available for help and advice.

3)The ICSpace (POST318B) is great for students to hang out and study.

Permalink Reply by Innika Pang on August 24, 2017 at 7:55pm

1. Opportunities to meet and collaborate with other students within the ICS program. This opportunity is rare in other classes, especially large lecture classes. Being able to collaborate with other students is great since it provides an opportunity to network with others and be a part of a community.

2. As others have suggested, the frequent messages of job opportunities for students. This constant communication of job/internship opportunities is not seen very often in other majors and makes the UH ICS program rather unique in this aspect. Coming from a social science background, being notified of job/internship opportunities is very rare and they usually are for a non-social science company, such as CVS.

3. Allowing students to adapt and function in a high stress environment for many classes. Although this may be seen in a negative light, it helps students to learn how to act during high stress situations and develop problem solving skills quickly. It gives them the opportunity to grow and see how their futures might look like (being in a high stress environment).

Permalink Reply by Kirsten on August 24, 2017 at 8:34pm

One good thing that UH ICS program is providing includes a study space (POST 318B). Another good thing includes the different platforms being free and supplied for each class (ex: Eclipse for 111). A third good thing includes opportunities to connect with future employers.

Kirsten Takanishi

Permalink Reply by Full Name on August 24, 2017 at 8:48pm

1. Since the Computer Science program is relatively small compared to other programs like Civil Engineering, the community of students and faculty is uniquely close knit. This is partly because the small population allows you to make personal connections with a majority of the individuals in the program. Nowhere is this more apparent that in IC Space which is such a welcoming place that it feels like a home to most of my classmates.

2. The BS program is well made in that sense that the core classes and the order in which they must be taken forces students to form a strong foundation in computer science skills. Unlike my friends in Electrical Engineering and Civil Engineering, I feel like from freshman year we are taught digestible concepts that will be used in every CS career, not theoretical knowledge that is so vast and unfiltered it will be easily forgotten.

3. The best thing about the ICS program is the flexibility and choice you have, especially in you Junior and Senior years. If you look at Engineering degree plans nearly all of the course have already been prescribed, virtually no classes related to the major are electives. That is not the case in ICS where you can choose 5 400 level classes and even some "required" courses have alternatives.

Permalink Reply by Camelia Lai on August 24, 2017 at 9:50pm

Three good things about ICS at UH:

1) The faculty tries really hard to keep students notified about opportunities for internships, jobs, and other things to get involved in. I think the Slack group was a good idea and it helps with keeping the faculty and students on the same page.

2) Not all of the classes are heavily based on group work, but I really enjoy the ones that are. The group work and group projects in class really encourage us otherwise antisocial ICS majors to interact, get to know each other, make friends, and work together. I am currently taking two 300 level ICS classes that both emphasize group work, and I have already made more friends in this first week than in I did in my first two semesters in college combined (where I took other ICS classes that did not have any group projects at all.)

3) We don't only learn computer science but other life skills as well, like professional development, writing, etc.

Permalink Reply by Kevin Cho on August 24, 2017 at 10:53pm

1. Breadth of Classes: I believe that the class selection that the ICS department offers has a good breadth for diving into areas that interests you. Areas such as distributed systems, AI, and machine learning are covered in at least one class in the ICS department. These are all hot areas in the tech industry currently which would hopefully equip ICS students with the tools to work in those industries.

Permalink Reply by Logan Uyeda on August 24, 2017 at 11:09pm

1) Amusingly, in contrast to what some the students have voiced on the "Three bad things about being an ICS student" thread, I rather appreciate the sense of community in the ICS department. Between clubs like ACM and GreyHats, areas like the ICS Space at POST, and all the various Slack groups, I really feel like I can reach out and talk to people and get help when I need it.

2) ICS is a challenge, a puzzle, much of it is figuring out how to use what you know to solve a problem. It's invigorating trying to find a solution, when there are bugs it is frustrating but also motivating. I can lose hours coding and still want to do more. Programming is fun in its own right.

3) Diversity. Each professor has their own style that you need to learn to adapt to, their own preferred methods. You learn to do things many ways rather than just one.

Permalink Reply by Andrew Obatake on August 24, 2017 at 11:09pm

Context: Computer Engineering Student and ICS 314 is the first Computer Science course that I have taken.

1. Good choice of class topics at the 300-400 level. Those topics also seem to be highly relevant in the tech industry.

2. The emphasis on group work and interaction is a great intro to the real world. Almost no software solution is created by a single person, so students should learn to be able to work effectively in a team.

3. The fact that professional development is being added into a class is great. No required course in the computer engineering department does this.

Permalink Reply by April-Angela Bala on August 25, 2017 at 8:37am

1. Gerald always makes sure we are constantly aware of any events, job opportunities, seminars, or announcements via email (and now Slack).

2. I like that the classes in our program are more on the smaller class size, rather than it being a 200+ student lecture class. Having transferred from KCC, it was one thing that took a while for me to get used to, especially since I needed to take my chemistry and physics classes here.

3. There is a variety of classes for us to take, this way we are not studying a particular focus area. If a student wanted to, they could. But I like that there are all these different topics for me to learn about.

Permalink Reply by Tyler Dorn on August 25, 2017 at 12:02pm

I think the atmosphere in ICS is very helpful, as the people you meet are very driven and helpful, and are willing to sit down and explain things for you. Most people I've met have been kind. I also like that you can get windows 10 from Microsoft Imagine.

Three good things about being a UH ICS student

Replies to This Discussion

Sponsors