Hawaiʻi's Technology Community
What do you want from a "Local High Tech Day"?
Greetings, all,
Gerald Lau (glau@hawaii.edu) and I want to build on the success of last year's pizza lunches with local industry organizations by instituting twice a year "Local High Tech Days". The basic idea is to have a two hour, noon-time meeting with pizza where local high tech organizations can provide brief, 15 minute presentations about their organizations, and ICS students can come listen and learn about local professional opportunities.
What I'm interesting in learning is what you would like to have happen in order to make this day as much of a success as possible. If you attended any of the meetings last year (as a student or as a company representative), what was good and should be retained? What should we remove or add in order to improve it this year? If you didn't attend last year, what should we do this year to encourage your participation?
Gerald Lau (glau@hawaii.edu) and I want to build on the success of last year's pizza lunches with local industry organizations by instituting twice a year "Local High Tech Days". The basic idea is to have a two hour, noon-time meeting with pizza where local high tech organizations can provide brief, 15 minute presentations about their organizations, and ICS students can come listen and learn about local professional opportunities.
What I'm interesting in learning is what you would like to have happen in order to make this day as much of a success as possible. If you attended any of the meetings last year (as a student or as a company representative), what was good and should be retained? What should we remove or add in order to improve it this year? If you didn't attend last year, what should we do this year to encourage your participation?
Views: 68
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Erin Kim on
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I was one of the many that attended last year's "Local High Tech Days". Pizza, drinks, and people. I felt that it brought ICS students great insight as to what the island of Oahu had to offer in the field of Computer Science. I really enjoyed the way the presentations were concise and talked about the company and projects/achievements they had to offer. Everyone has their own direction that they wanted to pursue, whether it would be an internship, co-op, computer programming, IT, etc. and an informational session like this could fill the gaps as far as the big question "What now?" I would highly recommend ICS students attending, even if you aren't on the brink of graduation, the knowledge gained is really beneficial.
One thing that I really thought was great was the after-presentation-talks. This is where you get to just chat, share your resume and goals with the people representing each company. The nice displays, free pens, and goodies were a bonus too, but something to definitely take away from this is the conversations and connection between these reps. It's not everyday you get to "put yourself out there". Don't forget the career opportunity sheets! -
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Permalink Reply by Daniel A on
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I did not attend last year's presentation because I did not know about the event. To encourage our participation, pizza is good start, other than food I am not sure what else could lure students to participate. I will be attending the presentation this year.
As a person who will be graduating in 2009 I would like to know the following.
- Are there jobs out there for a freshly minted computer science graduate?
- What kind of work will an entry-level employee be doing?
- How much training, if any goes on?
- Aside from the standard skill set, what other proficiencies are employers looking for?
I suspect I will have more questions when we are given the opportunity to speak with the employers.
Daniel Arakaki -
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Permalink Reply by Daniel Leuck on
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We would be happy to do a presentation and answer questions about opportunities at Ikayzo, ooi and other local companies.
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Permalink Reply by Arthur Shum on
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From past experiences at similar events, I found that the brief questions and answers period that followed each presentation was often more informative than the presentation itself, especially for hearing other people's questions. So I would suggest allotting more time for Q&A. At one event, the department invited alumni back for a panel session to share their first-hand experiences transitioning from being a student to being a new worker, and to answer any questions students might have. There was also a sign-up sheet to match students with mentors based upon their professional interests.
As for increasing attendance, ice cream is good. Maybe hold a prize drawing if the department can afford it. -
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Permalink Reply by Tyler Wolff on
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Although I have never been to one of these gatherings, I am definitely interested in the concept of it all. Now that I am near the end of my college career I will soon be out looking for local tech jobs, and nothing could be better than having a pizza luncheon with local industry organizations. I personally have a lot of questions regarding Hawaii's current job market, like what sort of jobs are available to newly graduated students in Hawaii, and what sort of requirements/experience are needed for these jobs. I'd like to know exactly what sort of work a entry level programmer could expect to be doing at their first job. Moreover, I'd like to see first hand the types of technologies company's are using in Hawaii. I believe this sort of information is essential to know and can really be helpful for job searching in the future.
So for me at least, being an ICS senior (about to enter the working world) would motivate me the most to go to a "Local High Tech Day." I'm not so sure if I would have gone to an event like this two years ago. However, I probably would have gone if any of my teachers had told me about it and encouraged me to go. I think that is key. I don't really remember ever hearing about these events before so it would be good to promote them through various ICS classes. Another thing that might attract students is extra time at the end of all the presentations to go and talk to some of the organizations personally to ask more questions, etc. That would be a plus. -
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Permalink Reply by Daniel Tian on
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I haven't attended any of the pizza events, but I think it's a great idea for companies to introduce students to what jobs are available in Hawaii, and it's also a great way to recruit them straight out of college. However, what I personally would like to see is something catered towards those of us who are planning to leave Hawaii after graduation. Some tips on resume writing, advice on interviews, and even talks about what's hot in the industry right now can help anyone, whether they're staying in Hawaii or not. My plan is to go to a foreign country, so I would like to hear information about the tech industry in other countries and how easy it is for someone from the US to work in a foreign climate. Also, I'm interested in hearing people's stories about when they first started applying for jobs. I for one am not sure about what I want to do after I graduate and it might help to hear how people landed the job they got and what they did during their job search.
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Permalink Reply by Yasu Kaneshige on
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I didn't join last year since I didn't know about Tech Day. I will take a look this year. Below is what I am interested in.
What does the company do?
History of the company such as what difficulty they had and how they overcame.
How many employees are working?
What position is available?
What skill do I need?
Approximate amount of pay.
I hear outsourcing to other companies such as India is getting common these day. I want to hear how it affects us, such as our pay is going to be lower or there will be less opportunity for us to work. I hope I can also get to know other developers and exchange information. -
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Permalink Reply by aaron kagawa on
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What: ICS Industry Day
* Presentations: 20 minute presentations about your company, internship programs, employment opportunities, details on your technology, etc.
* Q&A Session: Last time we had question and answer session after the event in the hallway. I think the students really liked that. We can setup small tables to put your recruiting material on
* Here is a picture of our last industry day: http://bp1.blogger.com/_iKK6sG0z8MA/R9z_oIdzJLI/AAAAAAAAAoA/loFi581...
When: November 20th 10:30AM to 2:30.
* Presentations: 11:00am – 1:30pm (the end of the presentations will depend on how many organizations we get)
11:00 Oceanit
11:20 Alion Science
11:40 Referentia
12:00 Datahouse
12:20 Ikayzo
12:40 Camber Corporation
1:00 Concentris Systems
1:20 Wrap Up
* Q&A Session: 1:30pm – 2:30pm
Where: UH ICS Department – POST Building 318B -
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