mon petit blogue sans importance...

quest for interns, part 2

(follow-up to the quest for interns) We had a couple of comments on my post on akoha's blog about getting interns, so i thought i'd do a little follow-up. I don't much like ping-plogging (blogging about someone else's post in response to your post, etc.) (yes, i just made up that term), but i just have a few more comments of my own.

One comment is a ping back from a post in Montreal Tech Watch that talks about the situation in universities in Montréal, in response to mine.  Heri wishes us good luck and laments that students are being taught the basic skills that the large companies want their new employees to have when they come in, instead of teaching them about learning, working efficiently and being critical. I agree in many ways: the language and tools that are used in university should be just that: tools. Not all problems are nails, and Java is not the one hammer that can force them in. Learning many tools and languages is a good thing, and if the student comes out of the computer science program and doesn't know Java all that well and CGI is pissed that they have to train them for a month, then so be it. You should never take a job where you already know what's required to know to do your job. You'll get bored within a month for sure... I was flabbergasted to see how most students are using Java to solve all of their assignments; in many cases the school does give them the choice (though in many, not), but they use Java to teach them object-oriented programming! How is one supposed to learn multiple inheritance or how to do polymorphism without operator overloading, then? It's like teaching one car racing using a Pinto. In a way, it helps me, however. With so much conformism in school, it's very easy to spot students with independent thought, and we do look for that.

The other comment was from another startup in Montréal, Nü Echo, and related a post of theirs from a couple of weeks back which was saying that they've had success recruiting students at Polytechnique. What's funny is that his comment is basically saying "you need to work a little more and you'll have success like we do", but the blog post itself is relating how the first year they only got a few CVs, and it took those students to go back to school and talk about us for them to get a better response this year. That's exactly my point: the students don't seem inclined to apply to those brand new positions at startups. Of course when their hear it was great they're more inclined, but at Waterloo we had a great response from the get-go. Why is it different here? As we grow and become known, i have no doubts it'll be quite easy, but i'd like it to be easy for the next startups from the first time they post their internships. He's right on one count, though: i've been to the Polytechnique wine&cheese last year in my previous job, and we need to do that more.

by wiswaud on 21 February 2008
Tags: akoha, english, hiring