• Anxiety when you start uni is natural.
• Advice from people who've been there is always helpful.
• This page is advice I've collected over 4 years at uni (doing a bachelor of IT & honours).

Committing to a Degree

• Choosing degree tough decision, but don't lose sleep over it: you get a uni degree to prove to employers you have a brain.... it won't necessarily limit your job to that field... it shows you can commit to something for X years.
• Changing degrees not something be ashamed of (each year you learn more), but make change sooner and not later.
• Many people who defer never come back.

Learning your way Around Uni

• Orientation weeks are fantastic - learn how to survive at uni - don't miss it - go to lots of seminars!
• It will take a few weeks before you find your bearing around uni.
• The further into semester, the more everyone worries about assessment etc - best time to make friends is the first few weeks: talk to everyone.

Attend Lectures

• You will find most lectures long & boring, but they get easier over time.
• Taking notes can help you stay awake.
• The important thing is you MUST come - even if you're half asleep, find it too easy, or find it too hard - you're always better off for going.
• Lecturers often give away critical information about assessment at the end of lectures.
• It should be a social thing, & just by seeing material, it's easier to take in the second time (don't panic if you don't understand it the first time).
• Students who skip lessons (thinking they can do the work at home) get complaisant, and fail.

"Out of sight, out of mind." - - well known principle.

Avoid the Last Minute Rush

• Don't leave everything to the last minute - this may have worked in high-school, but will eventually cost you big at uni.
• Try (AT LEAST ONCE) finishing something early "get it out of the way and then play" (good for self esteem too when you're the first one finished).
• Leading up to submission, it's likely your lecturer will say something which makes you realize you've made mistakes.
• Get early feedback. Show lecturer/tutor your work (before it's due) - ask him what's it's worth & how to improve it. Hopefully he'll give it a brief read, and give some good feedback. If you make all the changes he'll suggest it, you'll probably get a top mark. If this isn't appropriate/allowed at your uni find someone else qualified to proofread your assignment.

Take an Interest in Subjects

• Take a deliberate interest in your subjects. Don't run away the second when the lesson ends; stay behind & discuss assessment, problems and ideas with others (five minutes after a lecture can be more valuable than the whole lecture). If possible, there are real benefits if you get to know know your lecturers and tutors (just don't become a nuisance).

Taking Notes

• Every subject is different - may require different strategy.
• If lecture notes are good, printed all of them & take appropriate one(s) into class & highlighted them during lessons.
• If notes do not exist or are crap, I suggest writing your own. Writing stuff out of paper helps you understand it and memorize it (it's a great study technique).
• Reading a textbook can be daunting, but just bite the bullet & keep reading (if you struggle to finish each chapter keep going anyway; you can finish bits you missed during exam study period).
• Common problem: when reading a book, your mind wanders, & entire pages are lost on you. My recommendation is use highlighers: by highlighting the important sentences, you'll force yourself to pay attention, & if your mind wanders, you'll quickly notice when & where you've stopped highlighting.
  • If you've highlighted a chapter, you'll be able to read/skim it five times as quickly when you read it again (before the exam); it will that much more familiar & personalized.
• If you use the book frequently (or it's an open book exam) dog-tags are also helpful.

"Principle of temporal locality: objects referred to are likely to be referred to again in the near future" -- (not just applicable to computer memory)

Studying for Exams

• Exam time can be really stressful (the first time around especially).
• Don't party and get drunk after semester ends (wait until exams end).
• I find a start-early, laid-back approach works really well - anxiety is bad.

Sitting Exams

• If you're organized and pace yourself you, you probably have no reason to worry, and you won't have any guilt about not doing the best you can do. Don't ruin that by letting other people stress you out; avoid such people before and after the exam.
• Remember all that advice from teachers in high-school: that still applies.
  • All students make stupid mistakes on exams, but if you are calm and rational, you'll make less mistakes.
  • Spend at least ten minutes just reading each question (before pen-to-paper), to see what's there, and work out how much time you can devote to each question.
  • If you have to go quickly then go quickly. Identify the hardest/longest questions and do them last.
  • If you calculate that you have plenty of time per question then pace yourself - no shame being last out of exam. If a mere three hours counts for over fifty percent of your course, then you're either impatient or silly if your desire is to get out early. If you rush the whole thing and don't even bother to double check answers - you will make mistakes!
• When the exam is finished, go home, relax for a couple of hours (watch a cartoon or something) - and then start studying for the next one! Discussing answers straight after an exam rarely often makes you miserable, so don't participate in it - forget the exam you just sat, think about the next one. :-)

Why choose IT

• IT doesn't have the same hype and opportunities it use to, but if you like programming, or just love computers, then IT isn't a bad degree to do; it's only three years, and even if you do a 180 degree change in direction, you've still picked up lots of practical skills you'll use in any office job.
• You'll learn about problem solving and you'll learn about computers (well duh!).

Stay Realistic

• Thought of spending the "rest of your life in front of a computer" can be scary - but MOST people - not just those in IT - have desk jobs where they're stuck behind a computer.
• The trick is to stay healthy.... make sure you're not ALWAYS behind a computer. Just get out the house!
• I hope you like logic, and enjoy programming (and hopefully you have good problem solving skills), otherwise this may not be the right degree for you. Many people also have the illusion of becoming games programmers, and, although it's okay to dream big, you have to be realistic... only the best of the best become games programmers...... maybe your only website designing or "document monkey" material.

Develop your Resume and Portfolio - Paper and Online

• As you progress, start thinking about developing your resume. Every project you do can count towards you resume, and during holidays you should consider trying to gain other relevant experiences too.
• Find a good template for a resume (not mine though) and keep adding to it.
• Having your own website (like this one) is also a good idea, and just making it is a good experience. Make sure any websites (you can offer to make some for companies - good place to start your IT experience) you make are professional (not kiddy).
  • Making good website takes patience and experience, but for those without artistic talent: find a well designed site and replicate/modify their design (don't copy anything exactly; that's plagiarism!).
  • This site I made completely myself, starting with hand-drawn story board sketches (all projects should have a design and planning stage) and took about one week to make (another week to add content)... however my first website looked like crap! Like all things it takes practice to improve.
  • Remember; any man and his dog can make websites these days, if you want a real-life web-design job learn how to make dynamic websites (PHP and MySQL or ASP), effective website - not something overkill with loud pictures and no content.
• Another good idea: make yourself a business card and keep copies in your wallet - you never know when and who you can palm it off to. I made mine in Fireworks, but MS Publisher will do.

Networking and Hardware Skills

• The most important thing you can do at uni is people networking (and uni is a good place to develop these skills).
• Computer networking and hardware knowledge is also important, but I found we did VERY little hardware stuff in uni, the focus was all on software (databases, programming, a little bit of multimedia and so on).
• If you want better hardware skills, then I recommend you do that outside of uni. If there are no courses find some online material and just play around with inexpensive equipment:
• format it, install something, network it... break something accidentally, get frustrated that you can't find the problem, find a bigger nerd who can fix the problem, and buy him a popsicle for his troubles.... all part of the learning process.

The Anguishes of Programming

• Troubleshooting and programming can be VERY frustrating - a single bad line of code can cost you hours or even days, but there is a mantra we all used at JCU: "Don't code angry".
• The only way to solve a problem is by thinking rationally, and we all know anger makes you irrational. Here is philosophy you can apply throughout life: you can't enjoy life if you only view every obstacle as a problem. The trick is to see it as a challenge, and not a problem. When you conquer each little challenge you should celebrate you victory.

Smart Programming

"Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe" - - Abraham Lincoln

• "Don't spaghetti code" - almost all students ignore this advice, and most never ever realize what it costs them. Spaghetti coding is jumping straight into a problem without thinking or planning it first, and most of you are guilty of it.
  
• Your first few assignments, will probably be small enough that you can easily get away with spaghetti coding. But if, say, you have six months to write a software application, you should spend the first two months gathering requirements, planning a perfect solution, working out what modules, classes, methods and functions you need and how to conform to object oriented and software engineering principles. THEN you can start programming. An impatient person will jump straight into it.... but his code will be messy - and if he will possibly waste three months of more doing "rework".
• If you do it right the first time, adding extra functionality can be done in an instant. In the real world, software expands and undergoes through several versions; hence writing good code, object oriented is critical.
• If you're part of a team you HAVE to be able to plan and work together - it's a very, very valuable skill - don't go off on your own. In my (limited) experience: a by-the-book approach works better, coding in the same room is good, coding in pairs can work quite.... taking breaks are critical, and heroics is bad - you all need a central vision.

Documenting your Work

• Whenever you write a program, treat it like you were a professional.
• The lecturer is your client and your documentation should be written professionally - avoid the jokes and colloquialism (even though it's tempting for many of us) and don't use flowery english - use the principle of KISS.
• Even if it's a small project (even if the "project team" is just you), treat it like a bigger one.
• You should always write comments in code. You don't have to have one comment per line (many lines are dead obvious), but at least separate out blocks of code (maybe every four to eight lines) and include a comment which explains what's each "block" does.
• When you look at another persons code, or look back at your own code after forgetting what it was all about, you'll understand why commenting is critical.

Follow criteria to the letter

• When you're doing an assignment the criteria document is your bible. Place it on the wall, worship it and read it often. DON'T let it get buried under paper.
• The lecturer is your client/customer, and this criteria is your requirements document, do what is asked to the letter - the customer is always right. It very rarely benefits you to do more than this (grade-wise anyhow).
• In the full version I tell a true story of how a fairly poor programmer got a HD on a particular programming assignment, yet the most advanced student in the class, with the best project, failed. Unlike the first student, he did not tick off one criteria point after the other, and did his own thing. The irony is it would have taken him perhaps a single day to get his HD, but by doing his own thing he has spent weeks and failed.
• Come second year you will have very little time to spare, so I advise you to do only what each assignment asks - do only what you have to. And then, if there is time left over you can "gold plate it" - make it pretty and add extra functionality to impress your lecturer... (just know that there are rarely any marks for making it look good).
• If you ever do tutoring you will understand how marking works. Tutors spend VERY little time marking each assignment (say, 5-10 minutes per assignment), and check off each item on the check list/criteria sheet.
• If it's not obvious they lose marks.
• You can often lost marks in documentation if it's too long.
• Smart people lay their assignments out so that the marker can see the whole thing in an instant, read their concise answers/solutions/sections, and give them the mark one after the other.
• Always give the tutor/lecturer what he wants. Pretend you are the marker.

Be Organized Grasshopper.

• It should go without-out saying: be organized; keep everything together, and keep a neat, clean room. Not only will it save you time searching for stuff, but no-one likes a messy room - most chicks certainly don't.
• You should also have an organized computer. The more shit you install, the most junk, spyware and bugs you are likely to accumulate.
• If it gets over-crowded and crashes all the time, it might be time to format it and re-install everything (which might be a big undertaking the first time, but sometimes a necessity).
• Check your e-mail once a day (if you're computer student) and do housekeeping (sort e-mails into folders).
• Organize your files on disk: I find the best method is to have a separate folder for each subject, and also use folders for downloads, pictures, music etc. Just do a little planning, find a system you like and stick with it, or else, you'll spend hours searching for "lost files".
• TIP: Right click any folder in Explorer and click "search" to perform a recursive search for a file (also useful for listing/viewing files). Use * as a wildcard (eg: *.jpg).

Backup or Lose It Buddy

• How many copies of your documents do you keep at the moment? If the answer is one, take yourself outside and beat yourself to death with your own shoes.
• When you lose everything you'll feel sick to your stomach for weeks.
• As an IT student you are bound to have at least two significant losses of work every year. Whether you lose an hours work, a day's work, or everything (I and I mean everything) is up to you.
• Programs crash, so save every five minutes.
• Also, when you have a big piece of work, especially a programming assignment, copy the whole file or folder occasionally - maybe rename it to <foldername or file name>-backup1. If I do stuff up your program, you can go back and see where you went wrong. If you're familiar with version control software, even better. It's not uncommon to accidentally delete/modify something you need and then lose it by saving, which is why you need historical backups.
• Hardware fails all the time. If you think your hard-drive will last forever you are a fool!
  • Hard-drives have a finite life expectancy, and after a few years they will often just die and need replacing... you will lose everything.
  • My advice is to have two hard-drives, and use a program like "second copy", to automatically copy/update all the contents of your "My Documents" folder to your backup hard drive every week (or every day if you specify it).
  • If you lose one of your hard-drive (due to hardware failure or virus) your work will hopefully still exist on the other hard-drive.
  • I also suggest copy your important work to CD-Rs every so often, label them, and keep them somewhere safe (some people like to keep backups in a separate geographical location too - in case of natural disasters).

• JCU is great uni. The Cairns campus is a friendly, new and fairly small university, which is part of it's charm.
• A small, new uni like JCU cairns has advantages and disadvantages:
• Advantages: The buildings are all new, the facilities are great, the computer labs are good (although we have had a history of networking problems, and they place far too many security restrictions on student users), the campus is always tidy and the surrounds are stunning.
• Disadvantages: most small uni is hasn't had time to establish a big reputation like the other unis, many people don't realize JCU has a good reputation in IT (and we lead the field in several areas; especially marine biology), but we aren't yet a "research uni" - our uni is too young and small.
• My theory though is if you get a high GPA you'll get respect no matter what uni you're from.
• At our campus we don't really have any big clubs to join (we just don't have critical mass for it).
• JCU cairns is also notable for three demographic statistics:
  • the highest ratio of mature age people for any uni in Australia,
  • a high ratio of lecturers to students, and
  • one of the highest ratios of girls to boy for any uni in Australia.
• In IT, there will be very few girls in your classes, but you will notice straight away there are lots of mature age students (which you simply don't get at other unis, although it does vary a lot year to year). Come second year you'll probably appreciate that, just because they are older and may even be married with kids, doesn't make them all that different - most are really nice.
• Some people might wonder if they're missing out on something by going to a small uni. Well if you all you want is to party and get drunk, then maybe you do want to go to a bigger uni.... however JCU is unique and wonderful in that small class sizes and the atmosphere make it very easy to make friend and get to know staff. Whereas, at a bigger uni you might just be another faceless number, at JCU most lecturers will get to know you by a first name basis (especially if you make an effort).
• IT was particularly friendly, and by second year I was socializing with lecturers at uni. A group of us would basically just hang around the lecturer's offices and talk about nerd stuff; it was pretty cool.
• The other big group at JCU is the mentor program.
  • I joined the mentors half way through my honours year, but I wish I had joined earlier, it was a great group of people and a great program.

• At the time of writing I haven't moved to UQ, but, I have visited the uni, and St Lucia is a surprisingly beautiful campus.
• Based on stories from my friends, the most important thing to do at a big uni is ground yourself. If you live in on-campus accommodation things get noisy, but it's important you don't go out partying and drinking all the time. You're at uni to learn, not waste your parents money. If you're one of numerous students in a course, getting to know staff might be difficult, but if you make friends with the right people - smart people - you can succeed at in a big uni..... errr..... in theory anyhow.
• Most of my friends in larger uni's say all their friends are from college; and they don't really get much of a chance to make friends with people in their classes - which sounds like it sux - I believe tutes should be social and interactive.

The Introverted Geek

• I read a book once that said over two-thirds of people in IT are introverted.
• People who like technology are often very logic-oriented, and less attracted to something so complex and messy as human interaction and relationships. It's not necessarily something to be ashamed of, just be aware of it.

Relating to Normal People

"It's not what you know, it's who you know"

• Now, you may just be mildly introverted, but in my time I've know quite a few fellow computer students who were very nerdy, and hence my concern. Nerds get along great with each other, and develop their own unique sense of humour and camaraderie.
• In the real world however, you'll have to be able to interact with all types of people. You may be a very good student, and very good with computers, but that alone will not get you a job (or friends for that matter). You need to learn how to network, and the sooner you start forcing yourself to mix with different crowds the better.
• Most NORMAL people are not interested when you talk about hardware and software companies. Normal people will not understand or laugh at our nerd humour.
• If a girl is nearby and you're talking about Microsoft, or the latest computer game, she WILL LEAVE. Fact of life - very few girls are interested in that stuff. I'll talk more about girls later, but fact is some computer guys "talk shop" so often, they forget how to make "normal conversation", talk to average people (people who are far from computer experts).
• To be successful in life to have to be friendly, talk to people, listen to people, include people and relate to people. And I an expert? Hell no! I was a pretty shy person though most of high-school; but one day a teacher told me I should come out of my shell - and since then I felt I've made heaps of progress.

Computer games are evil, and television is the devil

• Don't play computer games! At the start of every semester I used to uninstall all my games so I remove the temptation.
• Television and computer games are evil, when you think of all the obesity and anti-social behaviour they have caused in society. It's not just playing games though - computer nerds surf the web, download files (what type of files you can probably guess), and chat on the internet for hours these days. It's not healthy. I'll repeat that: spending all day on a computer is not healthy
• The most successful people I know (or know of), watch less than an hour of tele per day; some even cut it out completely.

Be Active and Exercise (the most important advice of all)

• The best advice in this whole document is this: exercise.
• I wasn't always thin; the change started when someone took the time to just take the time to say: "you should really exercise" - he was suggesting a way I could improve my life. He was right.
• I started losing weight and generally becoming more confident when I started jogging. I hated it at first, but I persisted, and soon I started enjoying it. If you want to learn about the benefits (start here)... basically: you get fit, you get confident, and it feels good.
• If you're a computer student, or if you're just overweight, get away from your computer and exercise. Even if you don't exercise you should get out of the house and do SOMETHING at least once every day. Even walking around uni makes you fitter.
• I'll reiterate. Exercise improves your live, but especially critical for those who work with computers.
• Joining a sports team or club might be the best thing you've ever done (and they also force you to meet new people).

• It's something we all think about, even if we don't talk about it.
• Very few IT students have girlfriends, and most of them are lonely - fact.
• I'm no expert in this particular field, but I know most of the theory (and so would like to think all my advice is sound) :-).
• The main reason computer students don't have girlfriends is because they don't talk to girl and, in fact, are terrified of girls. Wow, imagine that! The old joke "oh my god, it's a girl, run for it", is part joke, and part truth. There may be the occasional "computer girl" in one of your classes, but even with them you might struggle - and here's why. Men are from mars and women are from venus. Women talk about their feeling a lot more than men, they are more sensitive than us, more multi-taking, they hug a lot, and they do girly things.
• If you're doing IT, and you don't already have a girlfriend, there is a good chance you'll be single for the next three years (there are very few girls in IT). I think of it as falling into a trap. I made really, really great friends in IT, and we did everything together. We sat together in the refectory, we played sport, watched movies occasionally... but always together. The irony was, in our uni, no-one had more fun, or made more noise, than the IT boys. However, with all the noise we generated, (and the fact none of us knew any women), meant few of us ever got a chance to talk to girls.
  
• It's like this fellas. If you want a girlfriend then do something about it! You will not get a girlfriend hanging out with a nerdy group of guys, which doesn't mean abandoning old friends completely, it might just means making new ones. At UQ I imagine it would be as easy as piss - just join a club (force yourself to go if you have to), and the rest should follow... gradually you'll get better at talking to not just girls, but people from all walks of life. At JCU it was near impossible. It's made harder by the fact that unless a person is in your same course, you'll see them once, talk to them, but might not bump into them again for half a year.
  
• If you really want to meet girls I highly recommend learning to dance - i.e. couples dancing. This might be throwing you into the deep end, and be frightening as hell at first, but it's just a great thing to do. The benefits are as follow: you'll learn a new life skill, girls like a guy who can dance, you'll gain confidence just be being around women and leading them (even though you'll inevitable suck the first month or so), and you'll meet heaps of nice people. The best thing I found actually, was that Salsa dancing was a way to unwind, and completely forget about uni and work up a sweat; dancing is more energetic than you think! Okay, that's enough about dancing, as a disclaimer, there were almost no girls my age at the place I danced, but I still had heaps of fun. I'm sure there are other ways to meet women, sporting clubs and so on, but couples dancing is really, really fun.
  
• By the way, don't ever seem to eager or desperate, it scares women off... so even if you're crazy about a girl, play it cool: "you seem like a nice girl, would you like a coffee or something" (note that "coffee" implies sophistication), will girl down better than "I think I love you". And hey; if she says no, she's not rejecting you, she's rejecting the coffee; you'll find another girl. Lots of people have fear of rejection, so just be spontaneous, and if a girl says no, smile and say "that's cool" - it doesn't matter, you have nothing to lose by asking, and everything to gain (each time it should get easier too).
• "Playing it cool" is the best way to behave when you're talking to a girl. Even if you're not male-model material (hell who is?) if you have confidence, you have a chance. Having an ego doesn't necessarily mean you're an arrogant prick; it means you hold your head high and carry yourself with confidence.
• Oh, if you do get a girlfriend I don't really know what advice to give you :-). I guess, don't fall in love to heavily, don't get too attached and take things slowly. It's not uncommon to be going out with a girl who isn't right for you (most people put on an act on the first few dates). I've had a few friends who didn't belong with their girlfriends and/or boyfriend. In most relationships someone dominates, but if you're getting used or poorly treated you better hope your friends will help ground you and tell you want a tool you are for putting up with such nastiness.
• On the other hand, if she's a special girl, and yet you don't shower her with affection - then you're a god-damn fool.
• Remember you still have your whole life ahead of you, and you're allowed to take chances and make mistakes. In other words, it's not the end of the world if you get dumped.
• So there you go... love advice from the inexperienced, but good advice nonetheless. My final message is one of hope:
  • It will happen, you just need to be patient.

Don't Let Rejection Get you Down.

• Even once you have your degree, job hunting is difficult, and, for most people, a depressing experience too.
• There are pretty much NO jobs in IT in Cairns, save for a few people who do web-development, and a few stores that sell computer hardware. There is certainly nothing advanced or stable in the way of programming here, so those who get IT degrees in Cairns should be prepared to leave to a place like Brisbane or Sydney if they want decent employment.
• It's not uncommon to apply for a lot of jobs, and get lots of rejections - or maybe not get replies at all, as we my experience applying for website jobs in Cairns at the end of first year.
• A year later, a terrific part time holiday job actually found me. I'd made good friend with our main IT lecturer in Cairns, and a Queensland Senator had asked him if he knew anyone willing to make a website. Now this was incredibly luckily really, and turned out to be a brilliant experience, but it shows you that by making friends, opportunities present themselves.
• Uni is a really good place to work too. If you talk around you might surprise yourself by landing a pretty sweet part-time job. Make sure you're on the employment mailing lists too of course!

Applying for Jobs: Do it in Person, not Electronically.

• Networking during uni is a good start, but when looking for work outside of the sheltered world of university you have to double your networking efforts.
• I read a book called "The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Finding Your Dream Job Online" which was quite interesting. The "shotgun approach", is where you do some preparation, send an e-mail to every advertisement you can find (possibly even hundreds of adds), keep records of all mail, and hope you get somewhere. However, even Brisbane is probably not large enough for this to work - it's very easy for employers to say: "we don't have anything to suit you" or not reply at all. An e-mail does not have a face - it's just text, and it's very easy to reject - there is no "attachment".
• I suggest visiting companies in person - finding some excuse, befriending someone who works there, or just rocking up with a confident, friendly smile "I've just started looking for work, and was thinking about working here, is there someone I can speak too". Start with little steps.
  
• Networking is about getting out of the house and talking to people.
• As soon as you place a face to a name, that name has meaning... meaning to employers, to lecturers, to girls, to anyone. Don't look desperate either. Any one of these people would be lucky to have you, so hold that head up, and if you face rejection then that's their loss (that's the type of outlook you should adopt). If you are not a confident person uni is your chance to grow.
  
• Most jobs positions are never even advertised, they are given to people by word of mouth. If you have contacts, and develop a reputation as a friendly person, a reasonable person, and someone competent (well in at least some area anyhow), you might be offered jobs you would never have found out about otherwise. Friend and family can help you, so accept their help.
• See full version of advice page for examples.

Confident People Win Jobs

• There was is a piece of advice a friend of mine, Jon Roberts, e-mailed everyone after he moved to Brisbane. I'll copy the whole e-mail here, but the basic idea was this: "to get a job in IT, you have to lie", or at least be creative when applying for a job in IT. To get experience you need a job, but it seems every job wants someone with experience, so it's a catch twenty two.
• Do the over-confident thing and say: "I don't have that specific experience, but I have similar experience and I guarantee you I'll be proficient in <that language or program> before you even give me my first pay check". If you work hard you can hopefully live up to your claims - in any case you having nothing to lose by making that claim.

Job Interview: Prepare to Sell Yourself

• When you apply for a job you have to be ready to sell yourself.
• It's better to come off as overconfident than shy (modesty is bad).
• In an interview attitude is half the battle, the other half is preparation.
• I'm going to ask a few questions now as if I was an employer, and if you can't answer them in a professional way and answer them immediately, you're not ready for an interview.
  • q1) "Tell me about about a time when you've been part of a team, what was your role in the project and what were some problems you encountered?".
  • q2) "Why do you want to apply at this company?" .
  • q3) "What type of experience do you have in programming?".
  • q4) "I noticed you don't have much experience in industry. Why should we employ you, with your degree when we could employ someone else with more experience?"
• These are but a few of many challenging questions you might face, and I'd be surprised if you didn't stuttered/struggle when answering them. The first question is actually one I was asked on a application form once, and the most important thing to recognize is that it is actually three questions - so you should break it up as such.
  • ans1)
    "(#1) When have I been part of a team. Well, I've been in quite a few team projects. Most recently I was in a group of several students and our task was to designing an efficient, dynamic web site for a gift-registry company.
    (#2) What was my role in that project. My main role in the project was to liaise with the clients and work out their specific requirements ... <etc> ...
    (#2) What problems did we encounter. Well our team didn't have any major problems during the project, and was a success, but there was a bit of a personality clash between two of our team members and I helped resolve that by ... <etc>" - this is a much better answer; you probably can't produce an answer like this off-cuff - you have to prepare.
• Some of the other questions are almost just as challenging, but if you research the company, and work out what relevant skills you have, what questions they'll ask, you should be prepared.
  • ans2) "I applied for this job, because it's one of the best jobs I have seen advertised. I also think your company would be a good company to work for and I think I'll be challenged here." - once again, just a rough idea.
  • ans3) "Well, I've done quite a few programming .... <blah, blah>"
  • ans4) "Admittedly, my experience in industry is limited, but I've performed very well at uni, and have been successful in every project I've ever done, so naturally I'm going to perform very well in this company too."
• All these answer are answers of a confident person. You should also try and give the impression that you've only just started looking for work, and you're still in the process of "choosing where to work" - because you are in demand. If employees know you've been searching for months they might think "there's probably something wrong with this guy if no-one wants him". In real-estate the describe a property that hasn't been sold after several months as "stale".
• Also: if you think your employer/interviewer has a sense of humour then have some fun with them. Don't frown the whole interview. Smile and shake their hand firmly when you meet them, and make a casual comment about the weather (or any other piece of small talk), because it's likely to get you on friendlier terms and help you relax.
• If you're really interested make sure you look at some job seeking sites for more advice on job hunting techniques. Better yet, read a book.

• One reasons I stayed in JCU for undergrad was money. By staying at home I saved HEAPs of it.
• That said, it's difficult for me, as a person who lived at home, to give you budgeting advice.
• My most important advice is: don't spend all your money/allowance partying. Some of my friends spend $60-$120 every night they went clubbing - I spend, on average $10 every night I go clubbing. The difference is alcohol. You should be able to have fun without alcohol. There is nothing wrong with a social drink; just make sure you stay sober enough to manage your wallet, and maintain commonsense. If not, you WILL do something stupid which you'll regret tomorrow, or, in some cases, something you'll regret for the rest of your life.
• Textbooks are another thing you can save money on. About $100 per text book, one book per subject, means up to $1000 on textbooks every year.
  • Sometimes if you ask the lecturer "do I really need this book", he might say no (I've bought a couple of books I've never even opened).
  • Go to the second hand bookshop before anyone else, and see if they have a book you need.
  • You can always borrow from the library too.
• If you'll never need a book again, you can try and sell it though second hand bookstores - they generally sell for 75% original price, and take maybe 20% commission. That example would give you back $60 for a $100 book, but they are fairly efficient and can save you a lot of mucking around.
  
• If you do live away from home, I guess budgeting carefully is the critical thing. Next year I move into a share house, I've done up a budget sheet estimating my incomes and spending and I intend to keep careful records of everything.
• Working during uni is something most of us will do at some stage or another. It's good for some extra cash, but be careful. I've had friends who get "addicted", and take on more and more hours. Once you start making money you don't want to stop. But if you take on too many hours a week your uni work will suffer.
• Another side affect of making money is your expenditures will often go up. You'll start buying things/gadgets/car-accessories you don't really need. Even though you're making more, your bank balance might be just as low as before.
• I do the smart thing and save. I set up my streamline/keycard account so that it automatically transfers a set amount into a savings/holdings account - that way I'm always saving.
  • By the way, Citibank has very good, non-balance dependent interest rates for holding accounts (it's owned by the Saudis). Net banking rocks and B-pay rocks, but always keep an eye on your money, (especially when your dealing with it online).
• There are moments in life when distrust is commonsense: for instance, you should never trust any e-mail from someone you don't personally know, and never trust salesmen: especially car salesmen and real-estate agents. Always assume they are lying, and telling half-truths - the best con-artists come across as genuine people.
  • I read a fantastic book called "Don't sign anything", by Neil Jenman - fantastic book, very eye-opening. Lot's of my friends have had awful experiences with real-estate agents and landlords, which is why you have to know your rights, and "don't sign anything" until you're certain you're protected.
• Even with a pitiful uni-student income you can save money, and live decently. You should have emergency money available at all times. Don't be a person who never has more than a few hundred in the bank, and is always bitching that they can't pay next weeks rent.
• Incidentally, never lend more than a few dollars to friends, and if you do, write it down, or you WILL forget.
• You should keep a spreadsheet for everything.

• This section is NOT for most people. Most people I know should socialize LESS and STUDY MORE. However there are lots of people out there all work and no play - and this section is for you.
• Advice I give to overachievers is simple. Have fun at university. Most people will have fun by default, but there are always a few people in society that take their work and grades so seriously they forget how to have fun.
• "Don't take life to seriously".
• What you might find is that it helps to get away from study for a few hours each day - it keeps you fresh. Don't burn out by studying five hours straight - that's just crazy.... take a break in the middle and maybe go for a jog. By the time you're back from your jog, you'll feel pretty good - you'll be refreshed, relaxed, revitalized - and you'll be able to study again with new energy.
• Take some chances in life. You should enjoy your youth, not live in a bubble.
• When your friend ask you to go out, don't make lame excuses - "don't over think it just do it".

• Honours, is like a preview/taste of what research and a PhD is all about. In my case I actually felt it was a good use of a year too, I leant a lot about how research works.
• Research is very different from your normal jobs where you're following regulations and doing what you're told..... it's a strange, world of papers, journals, set-backs, problems, and hopefully reward (hopefully being the key word in that sentence). If I have time I might write a separate document "advice for honours students".
  
• If you're thinking about lecturing and/or teaching (at any stage in life) you should definitely try tutoring subjects as soon as possible. Even that's not your intention it looks good on your resume, and you'll understand the subject much better by teaching it (explaining a concept to someone always helps you understand it better yourself).
• I doubt students have the same opportunities to tutor in big unis as I did at JCU, but if you're keen you should approach your lecturers and tell them you're keen.

Congratulations, you've almost finished! This may be the summarized version, with no jokes, and no examples, but it's still pretty bloody long! I hope that you found my advice helpful and/or reassuring - who knows, perhaps some of the advice which helps improve my life will help improve your life too. I have meant every word I typed in this document, and my final advice/summary is most important of all:

You're at uni to learn, but there is more to learn at uni than book theory.
Don't take too life to seriously, smile, and the rest should follow.

All the best people.
  Sincerely,
       the swan.