November 7, 2020 • 24 mins
2020 has been a unique and challenging year for so many reasons. What was it like being a first-year student in the midst of all that? We sat down with Paul Clarke and Utkarsh Sharma — both first-year computer science students and members of the UQCS general committee — to talk about their experiences and how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted their first year at UQ.
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Intro/Outro Music: Awesome Call by Kevin MacLeod
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Matt (00:00):
Hi everyone.
And welcome to the Router, theofficial podcast of the UQ
Computing Society, where weexplore the human side of tech.
I'm your host, Matt filling infor Liv this week.
And today we'll be having a chatwith Utkarsh Sharma and Paul
Clarke, both first year studentsat UQ studying computer science.
Today, I'll be talking to themabout their experiences at uni
and especially how it has beenaffected by the COVID-19
(00:20):
pandemic.
Hi there.
Um, firstly, can you pleaseintroduce yourselves and what
you studying?
Utkarsh (00:39):
Uh, my name is Utkarsh and I'm a first year student
doing computer science from UQ.
Paul (00:45):
Hey there.
My name is Paul Clarke, um, andI'm a first year student, uh,
studying currently engineeringand computer science.
Matt (00:52):
Oh, sweet.
Thanks.
Um, first question I have to askconsidering it's exam week, how
has"SWOTVAC" or exam week beenso far?
Utkarsh (01:01):
Well, considering we only had four days of SWOTVAC.
It was, uh, it was quiteinteresting.
It wasn't much SWOTVAC.
It was mostly just stress and alot of stress.
Paul (01:12):
Mine's been a little better since I've.
Um, my first exam is on Friday,so I've got the equivalent of,
uh, around two weeks of SWOTVAC,because I've been having a great
time.
Matt (01:22):
That's good.
I've been in the"one week"category where I just have one
week of normal SWOTVAC and thenI'm straight into my one exam.
Um, but yeah, I mean, like Ifind it a bit annoying how they
just removed, I guess they justput exams in the first week.
Yep.
Utkarsh (01:38):
Yeah.
I don't know.
I don't appreciate that at all.
Considering I had one exam likeWednesday.
Yep.
Paul (01:44):
And I mean, in comparison to first semester when there was
three weeks of SWOTVAC, it'sdefinitely a big change to this
semester.
Yeah.
Matt (01:53):
Yeah.
I mean it's yeah.
Big change.
And since it's your first year,I guess you don't have much
experience with this SWOTVACtradition.
Utkarsh (02:03):
Yeah, exactly.
Well, there was SWOTVAC back inhigh school and stuff, I guess.
Matt (02:09):
Yeah.
Kind of.
Speaking of high school.
How's that been like thetransition from high school to
university?
Utkarsh (02:15):
Well, I think it's, I think it's been interesting and
I think COVID's affected a lotof the transitioning, but it's
actually been quite like, Iactually almost prefer uni
because, you know, uni's likesubjects, you can pretty much do
and that you like, which, youknow, high school there, some
subjects, which I didn't reallylike particularly, but uni's
(02:35):
completely different from that.
And there's only four subjects,which is also like a big plus as
well.
So you just feel like there'sless workload.
So, you know, I feel like thetransition's actually been, I
think I've had it better thanmost people in terms of that
kind of stuff.
Yeah.
Paul (02:48):
Yeah.
I, I definitely agree with youthere Utkarsh.
Um, the transition from highschool to uni has been pretty
good, honestly, COVID, hasn'treally affected their, I say too
much of that, but yeah, it'sdefinitely been a lot more fun
since we're doing courses thatwe actually really like now.
Matt (03:00):
Um, yeah.
Not having to do English oranything.
That's always.
Yeah.
And they're like your, yourstudy habits from high school do
they apply well to uni aspersonally, I found a lot of the
time I was like my firstsemester, if you need, it
(03:20):
started a train wreck because Ihad no idea how to study
properly.
I wasn't used to the idea oflike independent study.
Paul (03:26):
I think I had that same experience there.
I had a lot of good habits inhigh school.
And first semester of uni, whenthings became relaxed, all those
good habits kind of went out thewindow.
Utkarsh (03:39):
Yeah.
I feel like I had at yet adifferent experience to you guys
because I think I found that Iwas able to translate most of my
study habits from high school,like decently like, like alright
into uni.
So I didn't have much problem.
I do agree with Paul, like whenstuff got lax, I was, I was kind
of like, alright, what do I donow with my time?
I didn't really know what to do.
(04:01):
So, but it sort of in that time,I sort of like use that extra
time to like develop my ownskills.
So like doing a bit of extrastuff on the side as well.
So that's like, despite the factthat first, most everyone says
first year is meant to be easierthan like the rest.
And it's meant to be liketypically quite easy.
And that's what I found as well,just because of the fact that I
(04:21):
think I had good study habitsfrom high school, which kind of
made it a lot easier as well tomanage them.
Matt (04:27):
I think I still, I still feel like I'm developing those
study habits and especially Irelate to the thing where like,
when you don't have much, uh, doyou not just assessment, I just
sit doing nothing, which isn'tvery effective.
Um, yeah.
Anyway, I was just, I guessyeah.
Curious about like so far at uni, um, what, what have you found
(04:47):
like the most valuable for likeyour experience and things like
that Like, is it the lecturesthat you, so is it like
extracurricular things?
Like what's been the nicest partof uni so far?
Paul (04:56):
Honestly, I think the most valuable thing I've found so far
has to be UQCS.
I mean, like, I think thecourses are like, I've been
really useful as well, um, thatI've got into, but just the
sheer amount of experience, um,tech talks and of course pizza
that comes through the societyhas been one of the most awesome
(05:19):
things that I've found.
Um, definitely something youwouldn't find easily in high
school.
Yeah.
Utkarsh (05:26):
I feel like, obviously I agree with Paul, but the other
aspect I feel like is one of thethings I found really enjoyable
about uni is like, it's a loteasier to make friends with
people because everyone has thesame interests as you.
And like one of the best ways todo that is obvious three,
obviously through all thesesocieties.
And, you know, I obviously, Iagree with Paul with all the
(05:47):
free food, obviously you nevercause I'm a big sucker for all
that stuff.
So that was a big plus as well.
But, you know, especially inthe, well, I guess COVID has
affected a lot of the tutes andpracs, I guess kind of hard to
socialize with people as much asI would've wanted, but like in
second semester when we didstarted having in-person like
some of them were in personpracs, it was really fun to get
(06:11):
to know people and like put aname to the face because I'd
been talking to people like inlectures that I had didn't
really know who they were, like,how they look like something
like that.
Right.
But then when I got to thesepracs and actually met them, you
know, it's sort of like puttinga name to a face and then, you
know, help kind of just helpedme like kind of develop friends.
And I'm sure you can kind ofagree with this Matt.
(06:31):
Like the people you've met inyour first year degree, are like
still friends with you now.
Matt (06:35):
Yeah.
I mean like, um, I guess to anextent there are a few people
who have stuck around with thewhole time, but I have noticed
that my like friend group, Ipersonally goes along with a lot
of like what classes I do.
Like if I don't have a classwith someone, I just, maybe
that's just because I'm a badfriend.
I don't know.
But like, uh, I guess, yeah, itreally helps if you like stuff
(06:56):
that the people who like in yourdegree and things like that, and
you'll go in the same path andlike the same speed and
everything doing the samecourses and things like that.
What, like what sort of courseswhere like in person, was it
like programming or otherpractical courses or?
Utkarsh (07:12):
CSSE2010 and for the people who aren't at UQ,
introduction to computer systemscourse, and it all involves
quite a lot of like circuitbuilding and stuff like that.
So that was, there was an optionto make it online, but I felt
like that'd be too difficult dueto the nature of the course.
Matt (07:32):
Yeah.
I, I, yeah.
As someone who did 2010, whatwas it a year and a half ago?
I think.
Um, yeah, I don't think I wouldhave been possible to get
through that course without somesort of practical component,
like, or at least like asimulation of it, because a lot
of the time you spend like onbreadboards and things like
that, right.
Like wiring up stuff, I believeyour like main project is a
(07:53):
hardware kind of, you know?
Yeah.
You got your little washingmachine simulator this time,
right?
Not like asteroids or anythingbut washing machine.
Uh, yeah, but I guess, um, Iit's a good segue into, in
general, like COVID, um, Iprobably spent, I don't know,
(08:13):
three or four weeks, at least Iremember in semester one
in-person.
And then, Oh man, it was, itseems like foreign to me having,
having lectures in a room withother people sitting there.
Paul (08:32):
Yeah.
I remember that so well, becausepersonally I really, Um, enjoy,
um, going to, I, I reallyenjoyed going to lectures and
meeting new people and all that.
And I think in those three weekswe had in semester one, I
actually met a couple of goodpeople.
Right.
But then suddenly everythingjust disappeared with COVID and
all that.
And I haven't been in touch withthem at all lately and it's just
(08:53):
not, so it's kind of a littlebit sad really, but, um, I kind
of wished that, um, in semesterone we had the whole, obviously
the whole semester to do, um,more uni side of stuff.
Um, that would've been a lotmore funner, but, um, I guess
doing everything from home alsohad a little bit, some benefits
here and there because you getto sleep into, um, whatever time
(09:17):
and then wake up and do yourstuff
Matt (09:18):
So it's just like, I guess you wake up and you have a
lecture in five minutes.
I'll open up the zoom app on myphone.
Yeah, exactly.
Utkarsh (09:27):
Perfect.
Perfect timing.
You're brushing your teeth whilewatching.
Matt (09:31):
Yeah.
Utkarsh (09:36):
Well I quite agree with Paul here.
You know, I feel like, but I'mgoing to say maybe a bit of
controversial opinion.
I didn't mind the fact thateverything was online except for
the social aspect, like thesocializing aspect.
I didn't actually mindeverything being online because
you know, traveling time to uni,especially for me, it was
probably one of the biggestthings.
It's almost like one hour or oneand a half hours sometimes.
(09:57):
And like it like saved almostthree hours of journey, like
every day to go into uni andgoing out of uni.
So, you know, it think becauseof all this COVID stuff, I may
take more stuff online that,that, you know, that is
possible.
You know, it's like, I wouldn'ttake like electrical engineering
course online, but maybesomething like coding course, I
(10:18):
may be more inclined to take itonline now just because I kind
of, I can see that, you know,it's actually worked for me.
Like it hasn't been too bad forme.
So that's kind of good in thataspect as well.
I guess for me.
Matt (10:33):
I guess one other thing that I don't think many people
were thinking about isconsequences of COVID means that
online teaching is going to beeven after COVID as you, as long
as there are UQ students outsideof Australia who can't get back
in, there's going to be onlineteaching as an option for quite
a while.
I imagined like about a year aso.
(10:54):
So it's going to affect a lotthe uni experience, even not,
not just this year, but nextyear too, which I guess is a bit
of, and it might even affectlike forever how uni is taught.
Cause I'm sure they're saving alot of money, you know, not
having lectures in person orroom bookings or anything like
that.
You can just run it from yourhouse or whatever.
(11:15):
And people seem to have a lotmore technology now to like,
like, uh, using iPads and all ofthat to do that lectures.
So yeah, I feel like it's goingto change things long term.
Utkarsh (11:28):
We'll see, we'll see how this kind of affects our uni
experience, I guess is along-term as well.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You're in your third year.
So I guess it's almost almostover for you.
Matt (11:37):
I still have, I still have like two more years to go, but
like, yeah.
But uh, I just hope this, I hopethere's a return to normality
sometime soon.
Yeah.
Can't hope for anything.
Um, so Paul, you mentioned youwere doing engineering.
So at least in my one semesterexperience of engineering, there
was this big team project calledENGG1100 and follow-on 1200 that
(12:01):
I never did, but that was, Iguess the bulk of that
experience was just meeting upwith my team friends and working
on this hardware, like robot,something like that.
Um, so I guess COVID affectedthat.
How was that experience?
Paul (12:20):
Yeah.
Well, um, yeah, so we also didthe, um, autonomous landmine,
your project for ENGG1100.
Um, and initially it started out, um, as was intended for the
course right for the first threeweeks.
But then, um, after that therewas a whole, um, change in like
the course completely.
So in the end we would actually,um, engineering the robot
(12:43):
anymore.
We were really only kind ofmaking the design for it online.
Um, and with our teams, thoseare, those are also, um, just
literally meeting up online onzoom, uh, for just for our team
meetings and all that.
And I remember for our, um, likeour sort of, kind of interim,
(13:04):
um, demo day, if you will, um,halfway through the semester,
that was the first time I thinkI met, I had, um, everyone in my
team face to face apart fromone.
And then at the end of thesemester, like at the very last
point at that demo day was thefirst time in the entire
semester that I actually saw myentire team.
(13:28):
Um, so it was, it was prettybizarre, but it, it was, um, it
wasn't like a, definitely a bigshame that we couldn't engineer
our, but in the end we had a lotof fun making it and would have
been a lot of, lot of,definitely more fun to actually
engineer it ourselves.
Matt (13:43):
Oh yeah.
I mean, yeah, the bulk of my funwas testing it on the final day
and then everything was likebreaking, but it was so funny
how it was all breaking.
Paul (13:53):
Likely thing for us was that, um, with the, with the
coding side of it, I was on thecoding.
Right.
Um, and pretty much I, I codedit.
Right.
But I never actually had to testif the code would work or not.
Right.
I would only.
I just only had to comment it.
Right.
And pretty much I was told atthat point that the tutors would
know if your code would work ornot.
(14:14):
Um, and so I kind of trusted inthat and we ended up with a
really good mark in the end.
So I'll trust them.
Matt (14:20):
They didn't actually run the code.
Cause it's all like a designproject now.
Right.
So they just have a look at yourdesign and they, yeah.
Well, that's interesting.
Cause I found the most difficulthe was debugging and you kind of
debug when you're just writingcode, like from, from uh, what's
it called without testing.
(14:41):
That's interesting.
Well, I guess there's not reallyany other option, right?
Like they can't make you do.
Paul (14:47):
Yeah.
I mean, like if we're notengineering a robot, we can't
really test the code out.
Yeah.
Matt (14:52):
I'd heard in other courses, whether it was like
solo or maybe small teamprojects wet, they actually sent
out parts like, Oh yeah.
Or something like that, but withthe 6 person and that's probably
not realistic.
And then it's also likeeveryone's going off different
places.
I have to keep remembering thatpeople aren't all in Brisbane
(15:13):
just waiting at home.
And there are people who've goneto like all different parts of
the world just to be back withtheir families.
Paul (15:19):
With ENGG1200.
So like the course afterENGG1100 that I did this
semester, we actually had a mixof people in our team.
Right.
So we had a mix of external andflexible delivery students.
So I think we had, um, most ofus were flexible delivery who
came to uni, but then we had,um, um, someone who was like
(15:42):
literally doing the course fromChina.
And then there was someone elsewho was doing the course from
Rockhampton.
Right.
So that, that was pretty much,um, our team.
And I know one of my otherfriend's teams, right.
He had a course.
So he had a team that was, um,like I think two or three
flexible delivery students,including himself and the rest
(16:05):
were external delivery from justall around Australia and a bit
of China, I think as well.
So I think definitely the wholeCOVID situation has made the
teams a lot more flexible
Matt (16:18):
And I guess yeah.
For it, for a hardware project,that would be weird.
That there's only like one ortwo software team projects and
even those, uh, yeah, like I, Ijust finished my third year, uh,
DECO team project.
Um, and we had the privilege ofbeing able to just meet up in
person every week.
Cause we're all, you know, inBrisbane all come into uni.
(16:42):
So that was a nice, refreshingchange.
It just sort of felt likenormal.
Um, of course we had to wearmasks in the studio.
Yeah.
Things like that.
And nice.
Um, I guess the next question isnow that you've done your first
year, uh, overall, how have you,I guess, was it better, worse
(17:04):
than you expected?
Utkarsh (17:05):
That's a bit of an interesting question.
Matt (17:05):
I guess, I guess this sort of point have been, has been
like brushed her in a fewprevious ones as well, I guess
like on a grand overall, likerating, is it good or bad or yes
.
Yeah.
Utkarsh (17:23):
I feel like it's good.
It could have been betterobviously, but you know, I feel
like there are definitely somegood aspects, I guess, to come
out of all the, of thesituation, as unfortunate as it
was, I guess there are some goodaspects that came out of it,
some bad ones.
So, you know, I don't, I didn'tmind it as much as some other
(17:45):
people may have in otherdisciplines because, you know,
computer science, a lot of itwas quiet, like doing it online.
Wasn't really much of a problem,much of an issue, except like
obviously with the exception Ofsome courses.
So, you know, I didn't feel likeI was missing out on too much in
terms of the learning aspect ofthe, instead of like the
learning side of things.
Yeah.
Paul (18:12):
I think, um, in comparison to high school, I mean, uni kind
of blows things out of the water.
I mean, yeah.
Um, first semester, yeah.
Obviously it, it had its kind ofdownfalls with the completely
online side of things, but Ithink in that sense semester two
kind of redeemed it, um, becausewe kind of got the uni
experience in semester two, um,which is still better than
(18:32):
nothing.
Right.
And I think even if semester onewas online, I think you, since
UQCS was still doing a lot oftheir things, like from the
online events and all that, westill felt kind of included with
the whole, um, uni life.
Right.
So I don't think it was all bad.
(18:53):
Yeah.
Matt (18:53):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think, I think having thosecommunities set up from like
move to online, help helpedthings quite a bit.
Just keeping everyone involved.
I don't know if the, the socialevents and things like that, um,
were as good of a substitute asthe real thing, but I guess at
least seeing a few faces.
The whole cliche of zoom, socialevents.
Ah, yes.
Yes.
(19:21):
Nice.
I mean, hopefully we can havereal in-person events.
Um, I guess for the remainder ofyou, like your degree, do you
have any plans and then did youhave any like ideas of what you
wanted to do?
Um, and like, if so, have theybeen affected by COVID at all?
Like,I guess personally I've hada lot of plans that I've just
been thrown completely outbecause of, um, COVID that I was
planning to do before Igraduated.
Paul (19:53):
Um, yeah, definitely.
Um, I know you guys alreadyknow, but um, I definitely
wanted to go on exchange toKorea in semester two next year.
Um, had had it all planned outthat sort of thing.
And then I was kind of hit withthe, uh, um, next year or
exchanges are canceled due toCOVID.
That was, that, that sucked alot since now I have to replant
(20:13):
a lot of my courses and allthat, but I mean, what can you
do?
Um, so there's the, so that'sobviously kind of a bummer and
all that.
Um, but I think before Igraduate, um, I'm still working
for like a lot of experience inthat sort of sense.
So, um, my current goal is toget as many internships as I
possibly can for the moment,because I reckon that like
(20:36):
getting those internships willgive me that experience and
insight.
I need to kind of give me anunderstanding of what I want to
do in the future.
So kind of my big goal before igraduate is internships.
Yeah.
Utkarsh (20:51):
Yeah.
That's quite a big thing aswell.
And I feel like, you know, Ifeel like, uh, like joining the
societies, especially UQCS helpsquite a lot with that.
Um, and you know, um, I guessI'm kind of looking forward,
just continuing my degree as itis, because I didn't, I guess I
didn't really have grand planslike Paul it of going on
(21:12):
exchange or something, you know,I was just content, but just
doing my degree at UQ.
So I wasn't, it didn't, itdoesn't, I don't think clearly
it has affected much of my plansanyway.
Not that cause just cause Ididn't have many plans like on
like what to do specifically.
Matt (21:28):
All right.
Fair enough.
Yeah.
I guess it affects peopledifferently in different ways.
Um, I guess my final question,uh, in terms of like your career
path, I know you're very earlyin your degree, but this is a
question that a lot of peoplelove asking first years.
Uh, do you have an idea of whatsort of career you want to go
into when you graduate like asoftware engineer or any other
sort of
Utkarsh (21:53):
Well, um, my plan was that I've I guess like everyone
in the, but I guess I'm, I'mwanting to go into data science.
Yeah.
It's quite, yeah.
It's quite a, I guess it's just,it's just the thing where it's
at, I guess nowadays, I guess I,from saying that, so I guess I'm
just joining the bandwagon and.
Exactly.
So that's kind of what I want tobe in three, four years,
depending on, you know, what I'ddo with my degree.
Paul (22:23):
Yeah.
Look, I think I've had my eye ona bit of like front-end web
development a little bit.
Um, but part from that, I stillkind of lack the experience that
I want before I make a soliddecision.
That's why I'm, I'm stilllooking for those internships.
Matt (22:40):
Yeah.
I think experience is the mostvaluable thing.
Like that's what I've beentrying to do to get experience
in as many things as possible,like trying out and math stuff
and try out like backend workand things like that.
And I think that's like, you've,you've got plenty of time, I
think to try all these thingsout, like you doing three year
degrees, I think three, three orfour years ago.
(23:02):
So, um, yeah, you got anotherone or two summers to experiment
and try things out and you caneven do stuff like, I guess
during, during the year, justlike casual jobs and there's
plenty of opportunities, I guessyou're really well set for all
those different things.
Utkarsh (23:18):
Exactly know the future is uncertain, especially
nowadays.
So, you know, who knows, whoknows what our degrees will take
us, you know?
Yeah.
Matt (23:25):
Uh, I guess any, any other final comments or, or words or
any advice to you on, I don'tknow what advice you can give as
a first, but yeah,
Utkarsh (23:39):
I think we've said everything that needs to be said
in interviews also to any, uh,employees looking out who are
listening to this, if you arelooking for prospective interns,
uh, you can always feel free tomessage us and hit us up on
Slack.
Our Slack handles, are,@UtkarshSharma.
So just my name.
Yeah.
Paul (23:59):
And mine is@filez.
Matt (24:05):
Um, yeah.
So you heard it here first, ifyou're looking for a first year,
um, software developer oranything like that, then you
know who to call.
Um, and yeah, I guess thatthat's pretty much it for the
podcast.
So thanks so much again forcoming along.
Um, you sharing your experiencesand things like that were
fantastic and really insightful,
Utkarsh (24:26):
Thank you for having us.
Paul (24:29):
Thank you.
Matt (24:31):
That's all we have for you today.
And we hope you'll join us intwo weeks for the next episode
of The Router until then, youcan join our community at
slack.uqcs.org.
Hi everyone.
And welcome to the Router, theofficial podcast of the UQ
Computing Society, where weexplore the human side of tech.
I'm your host, Matt filling infor Liv this week.
And today we'll be having a chatwith Utkarsh Sharma and Paul
Clarke, both first year studentsat UQ studying computer science.
Today, I'll be talking to themabout their experiences at uni
and especially how it has beenaffected by the COVID-19
(00:20):
pandemic.
Hi there.
Um, firstly, can you pleaseintroduce yourselves and what
you studying?
Utkarsh (00:39):
Uh, my name is Utkarsh and I'm a first year student
doing computer science from UQ.
Paul (00:45):
Hey there.
My name is Paul Clarke, um, andI'm a first year student, uh,
studying currently engineeringand computer science.
Matt (00:52):
Oh, sweet.
Thanks.
Um, first question I have to askconsidering it's exam week, how
has"SWOTVAC" or exam week beenso far?
Utkarsh (01:01):
Well, considering we only had four days of SWOTVAC.
It was, uh, it was quiteinteresting.
It wasn't much SWOTVAC.
It was mostly just stress and alot of stress.
Paul (01:12):
Mine's been a little better since I've.
Um, my first exam is on Friday,so I've got the equivalent of,
uh, around two weeks of SWOTVAC,because I've been having a great
time.
Matt (01:22):
That's good.
I've been in the"one week"category where I just have one
week of normal SWOTVAC and thenI'm straight into my one exam.
Um, but yeah, I mean, like Ifind it a bit annoying how they
just removed, I guess they justput exams in the first week.
Yep.
Utkarsh (01:38):
Yeah.
I don't know.
I don't appreciate that at all.
Considering I had one exam likeWednesday.
Yep.
Paul (01:44):
And I mean, in comparison to first semester when there was
three weeks of SWOTVAC, it'sdefinitely a big change to this
semester.
Yeah.
Matt (01:53):
Yeah.
I mean it's yeah.
Big change.
And since it's your first year,I guess you don't have much
experience with this SWOTVACtradition.
Utkarsh (02:03):
Yeah, exactly.
Well, there was SWOTVAC back inhigh school and stuff, I guess.
Matt (02:09):
Yeah.
Kind of.
Speaking of high school.
How's that been like thetransition from high school to
university?
Utkarsh (02:15):
Well, I think it's, I think it's been interesting and
I think COVID's affected a lotof the transitioning, but it's
actually been quite like, Iactually almost prefer uni
because, you know, uni's likesubjects, you can pretty much do
and that you like, which, youknow, high school there, some
subjects, which I didn't reallylike particularly, but uni's
(02:35):
completely different from that.
And there's only four subjects,which is also like a big plus as
well.
So you just feel like there'sless workload.
So, you know, I feel like thetransition's actually been, I
think I've had it better thanmost people in terms of that
kind of stuff.
Yeah.
Paul (02:48):
Yeah.
I, I definitely agree with youthere Utkarsh.
Um, the transition from highschool to uni has been pretty
good, honestly, COVID, hasn'treally affected their, I say too
much of that, but yeah, it'sdefinitely been a lot more fun
since we're doing courses thatwe actually really like now.
Matt (03:00):
Um, yeah.
Not having to do English oranything.
That's always.
Yeah.
And they're like your, yourstudy habits from high school do
they apply well to uni aspersonally, I found a lot of the
time I was like my firstsemester, if you need, it
(03:20):
started a train wreck because Ihad no idea how to study
properly.
I wasn't used to the idea oflike independent study.
Paul (03:26):
I think I had that same experience there.
I had a lot of good habits inhigh school.
And first semester of uni, whenthings became relaxed, all those
good habits kind of went out thewindow.
Utkarsh (03:39):
Yeah.
I feel like I had at yet adifferent experience to you guys
because I think I found that Iwas able to translate most of my
study habits from high school,like decently like, like alright
into uni.
So I didn't have much problem.
I do agree with Paul, like whenstuff got lax, I was, I was kind
of like, alright, what do I donow with my time?
I didn't really know what to do.
(04:01):
So, but it sort of in that time,I sort of like use that extra
time to like develop my ownskills.
So like doing a bit of extrastuff on the side as well.
So that's like, despite the factthat first, most everyone says
first year is meant to be easierthan like the rest.
And it's meant to be liketypically quite easy.
And that's what I found as well,just because of the fact that I
(04:21):
think I had good study habitsfrom high school, which kind of
made it a lot easier as well tomanage them.
Matt (04:27):
I think I still, I still feel like I'm developing those
study habits and especially Irelate to the thing where like,
when you don't have much, uh, doyou not just assessment, I just
sit doing nothing, which isn'tvery effective.
Um, yeah.
Anyway, I was just, I guessyeah.
Curious about like so far at uni, um, what, what have you found
(04:47):
like the most valuable for likeyour experience and things like
that Like, is it the lecturesthat you, so is it like
extracurricular things?
Like what's been the nicest partof uni so far?
Paul (04:56):
Honestly, I think the most valuable thing I've found so far
has to be UQCS.
I mean, like, I think thecourses are like, I've been
really useful as well, um, thatI've got into, but just the
sheer amount of experience, um,tech talks and of course pizza
that comes through the societyhas been one of the most awesome
(05:19):
things that I've found.
Um, definitely something youwouldn't find easily in high
school.
Yeah.
Utkarsh (05:26):
I feel like, obviously I agree with Paul, but the other
aspect I feel like is one of thethings I found really enjoyable
about uni is like, it's a loteasier to make friends with
people because everyone has thesame interests as you.
And like one of the best ways todo that is obvious three,
obviously through all thesesocieties.
And, you know, I obviously, Iagree with Paul with all the
(05:47):
free food, obviously you nevercause I'm a big sucker for all
that stuff.
So that was a big plus as well.
But, you know, especially inthe, well, I guess COVID has
affected a lot of the tutes andpracs, I guess kind of hard to
socialize with people as much asI would've wanted, but like in
second semester when we didstarted having in-person like
some of them were in personpracs, it was really fun to get
(06:11):
to know people and like put aname to the face because I'd
been talking to people like inlectures that I had didn't
really know who they were, like,how they look like something
like that.
Right.
But then when I got to thesepracs and actually met them, you
know, it's sort of like puttinga name to a face and then, you
know, help kind of just helpedme like kind of develop friends.
And I'm sure you can kind ofagree with this Matt.
(06:31):
Like the people you've met inyour first year degree, are like
still friends with you now.
Matt (06:35):
Yeah.
I mean like, um, I guess to anextent there are a few people
who have stuck around with thewhole time, but I have noticed
that my like friend group, Ipersonally goes along with a lot
of like what classes I do.
Like if I don't have a classwith someone, I just, maybe
that's just because I'm a badfriend.
I don't know.
But like, uh, I guess, yeah, itreally helps if you like stuff
(06:56):
that the people who like in yourdegree and things like that, and
you'll go in the same path andlike the same speed and
everything doing the samecourses and things like that.
What, like what sort of courseswhere like in person, was it
like programming or otherpractical courses or?
Utkarsh (07:12):
CSSE2010 and for the people who aren't at UQ,
introduction to computer systemscourse, and it all involves
quite a lot of like circuitbuilding and stuff like that.
So that was, there was an optionto make it online, but I felt
like that'd be too difficult dueto the nature of the course.
Matt (07:32):
Yeah.
I, I, yeah.
As someone who did 2010, whatwas it a year and a half ago?
I think.
Um, yeah, I don't think I wouldhave been possible to get
through that course without somesort of practical component,
like, or at least like asimulation of it, because a lot
of the time you spend like onbreadboards and things like
that, right.
Like wiring up stuff, I believeyour like main project is a
(07:53):
hardware kind of, you know?
Yeah.
You got your little washingmachine simulator this time,
right?
Not like asteroids or anythingbut washing machine.
Uh, yeah, but I guess, um, Iit's a good segue into, in
general, like COVID, um, Iprobably spent, I don't know,
(08:13):
three or four weeks, at least Iremember in semester one
in-person.
And then, Oh man, it was, itseems like foreign to me having,
having lectures in a room withother people sitting there.
Paul (08:32):
Yeah.
I remember that so well, becausepersonally I really, Um, enjoy,
um, going to, I, I reallyenjoyed going to lectures and
meeting new people and all that.
And I think in those three weekswe had in semester one, I
actually met a couple of goodpeople.
Right.
But then suddenly everythingjust disappeared with COVID and
all that.
And I haven't been in touch withthem at all lately and it's just
(08:53):
not, so it's kind of a littlebit sad really, but, um, I kind
of wished that, um, in semesterone we had the whole, obviously
the whole semester to do, um,more uni side of stuff.
Um, that would've been a lotmore funner, but, um, I guess
doing everything from home alsohad a little bit, some benefits
here and there because you getto sleep into, um, whatever time
(09:17):
and then wake up and do yourstuff
Matt (09:18):
So it's just like, I guess you wake up and you have a
lecture in five minutes.
I'll open up the zoom app on myphone.
Yeah, exactly.
Utkarsh (09:27):
Perfect.
Perfect timing.
You're brushing your teeth whilewatching.
Matt (09:31):
Yeah.
Utkarsh (09:36):
Well I quite agree with Paul here.
You know, I feel like, but I'mgoing to say maybe a bit of
controversial opinion.
I didn't mind the fact thateverything was online except for
the social aspect, like thesocializing aspect.
I didn't actually mindeverything being online because
you know, traveling time to uni,especially for me, it was
probably one of the biggestthings.
It's almost like one hour or oneand a half hours sometimes.
(09:57):
And like it like saved almostthree hours of journey, like
every day to go into uni andgoing out of uni.
So, you know, it think becauseof all this COVID stuff, I may
take more stuff online that,that, you know, that is
possible.
You know, it's like, I wouldn'ttake like electrical engineering
course online, but maybesomething like coding course, I
(10:18):
may be more inclined to take itonline now just because I kind
of, I can see that, you know,it's actually worked for me.
Like it hasn't been too bad forme.
So that's kind of good in thataspect as well.
I guess for me.
Matt (10:33):
I guess one other thing that I don't think many people
were thinking about isconsequences of COVID means that
online teaching is going to beeven after COVID as you, as long
as there are UQ students outsideof Australia who can't get back
in, there's going to be onlineteaching as an option for quite
a while.
I imagined like about a year aso.
(10:54):
So it's going to affect a lotthe uni experience, even not,
not just this year, but nextyear too, which I guess is a bit
of, and it might even affectlike forever how uni is taught.
Cause I'm sure they're saving alot of money, you know, not
having lectures in person orroom bookings or anything like
that.
You can just run it from yourhouse or whatever.
(11:15):
And people seem to have a lotmore technology now to like,
like, uh, using iPads and all ofthat to do that lectures.
So yeah, I feel like it's goingto change things long term.
Utkarsh (11:28):
We'll see, we'll see how this kind of affects our uni
experience, I guess is along-term as well.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You're in your third year.
So I guess it's almost almostover for you.
Matt (11:37):
I still have, I still have like two more years to go, but
like, yeah.
But uh, I just hope this, I hopethere's a return to normality
sometime soon.
Yeah.
Can't hope for anything.
Um, so Paul, you mentioned youwere doing engineering.
So at least in my one semesterexperience of engineering, there
was this big team project calledENGG1100 and follow-on 1200 that
(12:01):
I never did, but that was, Iguess the bulk of that
experience was just meeting upwith my team friends and working
on this hardware, like robot,something like that.
Um, so I guess COVID affectedthat.
How was that experience?
Paul (12:20):
Yeah.
Well, um, yeah, so we also didthe, um, autonomous landmine,
your project for ENGG1100.
Um, and initially it started out, um, as was intended for the
course right for the first threeweeks.
But then, um, after that therewas a whole, um, change in like
the course completely.
So in the end we would actually,um, engineering the robot
(12:43):
anymore.
We were really only kind ofmaking the design for it online.
Um, and with our teams, thoseare, those are also, um, just
literally meeting up online onzoom, uh, for just for our team
meetings and all that.
And I remember for our, um, likeour sort of, kind of interim,
(13:04):
um, demo day, if you will, um,halfway through the semester,
that was the first time I thinkI met, I had, um, everyone in my
team face to face apart fromone.
And then at the end of thesemester, like at the very last
point at that demo day was thefirst time in the entire
semester that I actually saw myentire team.
(13:28):
Um, so it was, it was prettybizarre, but it, it was, um, it
wasn't like a, definitely a bigshame that we couldn't engineer
our, but in the end we had a lotof fun making it and would have
been a lot of, lot of,definitely more fun to actually
engineer it ourselves.
Matt (13:43):
Oh yeah.
I mean, yeah, the bulk of my funwas testing it on the final day
and then everything was likebreaking, but it was so funny
how it was all breaking.
Paul (13:53):
Likely thing for us was that, um, with the, with the
coding side of it, I was on thecoding.
Right.
Um, and pretty much I, I codedit.
Right.
But I never actually had to testif the code would work or not.
Right.
I would only.
I just only had to comment it.
Right.
And pretty much I was told atthat point that the tutors would
know if your code would work ornot.
(14:14):
Um, and so I kind of trusted inthat and we ended up with a
really good mark in the end.
So I'll trust them.
Matt (14:20):
They didn't actually run the code.
Cause it's all like a designproject now.
Right.
So they just have a look at yourdesign and they, yeah.
Well, that's interesting.
Cause I found the most difficulthe was debugging and you kind of
debug when you're just writingcode, like from, from uh, what's
it called without testing.
(14:41):
That's interesting.
Well, I guess there's not reallyany other option, right?
Like they can't make you do.
Paul (14:47):
Yeah.
I mean, like if we're notengineering a robot, we can't
really test the code out.
Yeah.
Matt (14:52):
I'd heard in other courses, whether it was like
solo or maybe small teamprojects wet, they actually sent
out parts like, Oh yeah.
Or something like that, but withthe 6 person and that's probably
not realistic.
And then it's also likeeveryone's going off different
places.
I have to keep remembering thatpeople aren't all in Brisbane
(15:13):
just waiting at home.
And there are people who've goneto like all different parts of
the world just to be back withtheir families.
Paul (15:19):
With ENGG1200.
So like the course afterENGG1100 that I did this
semester, we actually had a mixof people in our team.
Right.
So we had a mix of external andflexible delivery students.
So I think we had, um, most ofus were flexible delivery who
came to uni, but then we had,um, um, someone who was like
(15:42):
literally doing the course fromChina.
And then there was someone elsewho was doing the course from
Rockhampton.
Right.
So that, that was pretty much,um, our team.
And I know one of my otherfriend's teams, right.
He had a course.
So he had a team that was, um,like I think two or three
flexible delivery students,including himself and the rest
(16:05):
were external delivery from justall around Australia and a bit
of China, I think as well.
So I think definitely the wholeCOVID situation has made the
teams a lot more flexible
Matt (16:18):
And I guess yeah.
For it, for a hardware project,that would be weird.
That there's only like one ortwo software team projects and
even those, uh, yeah, like I, Ijust finished my third year, uh,
DECO team project.
Um, and we had the privilege ofbeing able to just meet up in
person every week.
Cause we're all, you know, inBrisbane all come into uni.
(16:42):
So that was a nice, refreshingchange.
It just sort of felt likenormal.
Um, of course we had to wearmasks in the studio.
Yeah.
Things like that.
And nice.
Um, I guess the next question isnow that you've done your first
year, uh, overall, how have you,I guess, was it better, worse
(17:04):
than you expected?
Utkarsh (17:05):
That's a bit of an interesting question.
Matt (17:05):
I guess, I guess this sort of point have been, has been
like brushed her in a fewprevious ones as well, I guess
like on a grand overall, likerating, is it good or bad or yes
.
Yeah.
Utkarsh (17:23):
I feel like it's good.
It could have been betterobviously, but you know, I feel
like there are definitely somegood aspects, I guess, to come
out of all the, of thesituation, as unfortunate as it
was, I guess there are some goodaspects that came out of it,
some bad ones.
So, you know, I don't, I didn'tmind it as much as some other
(17:45):
people may have in otherdisciplines because, you know,
computer science, a lot of itwas quiet, like doing it online.
Wasn't really much of a problem,much of an issue, except like
obviously with the exception Ofsome courses.
So, you know, I didn't feel likeI was missing out on too much in
terms of the learning aspect ofthe, instead of like the
learning side of things.
Yeah.
Paul (18:12):
I think, um, in comparison to high school, I mean, uni kind
of blows things out of the water.
I mean, yeah.
Um, first semester, yeah.
Obviously it, it had its kind ofdownfalls with the completely
online side of things, but Ithink in that sense semester two
kind of redeemed it, um, becausewe kind of got the uni
experience in semester two, um,which is still better than
(18:32):
nothing.
Right.
And I think even if semester onewas online, I think you, since
UQCS was still doing a lot oftheir things, like from the
online events and all that, westill felt kind of included with
the whole, um, uni life.
Right.
So I don't think it was all bad.
(18:53):
Yeah.
Matt (18:53):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think, I think having thosecommunities set up from like
move to online, help helpedthings quite a bit.
Just keeping everyone involved.
I don't know if the, the socialevents and things like that, um,
were as good of a substitute asthe real thing, but I guess at
least seeing a few faces.
The whole cliche of zoom, socialevents.
Ah, yes.
Yes.
(19:21):
Nice.
I mean, hopefully we can havereal in-person events.
Um, I guess for the remainder ofyou, like your degree, do you
have any plans and then did youhave any like ideas of what you
wanted to do?
Um, and like, if so, have theybeen affected by COVID at all?
Like,I guess personally I've hada lot of plans that I've just
been thrown completely outbecause of, um, COVID that I was
planning to do before Igraduated.
Paul (19:53):
Um, yeah, definitely.
Um, I know you guys alreadyknow, but um, I definitely
wanted to go on exchange toKorea in semester two next year.
Um, had had it all planned outthat sort of thing.
And then I was kind of hit withthe, uh, um, next year or
exchanges are canceled due toCOVID.
That was, that, that sucked alot since now I have to replant
(20:13):
a lot of my courses and allthat, but I mean, what can you
do?
Um, so there's the, so that'sobviously kind of a bummer and
all that.
Um, but I think before Igraduate, um, I'm still working
for like a lot of experience inthat sort of sense.
So, um, my current goal is toget as many internships as I
possibly can for the moment,because I reckon that like
(20:36):
getting those internships willgive me that experience and
insight.
I need to kind of give me anunderstanding of what I want to
do in the future.
So kind of my big goal before igraduate is internships.
Yeah.
Utkarsh (20:51):
Yeah.
That's quite a big thing aswell.
And I feel like, you know, Ifeel like, uh, like joining the
societies, especially UQCS helpsquite a lot with that.
Um, and you know, um, I guessI'm kind of looking forward,
just continuing my degree as itis, because I didn't, I guess I
didn't really have grand planslike Paul it of going on
(21:12):
exchange or something, you know,I was just content, but just
doing my degree at UQ.
So I wasn't, it didn't, itdoesn't, I don't think clearly
it has affected much of my plansanyway.
Not that cause just cause Ididn't have many plans like on
like what to do specifically.
Matt (21:28):
All right.
Fair enough.
Yeah.
I guess it affects peopledifferently in different ways.
Um, I guess my final question,uh, in terms of like your career
path, I know you're very earlyin your degree, but this is a
question that a lot of peoplelove asking first years.
Uh, do you have an idea of whatsort of career you want to go
into when you graduate like asoftware engineer or any other
sort of
Utkarsh (21:53):
Well, um, my plan was that I've I guess like everyone
in the, but I guess I'm, I'mwanting to go into data science.
Yeah.
It's quite, yeah.
It's quite a, I guess it's just,it's just the thing where it's
at, I guess nowadays, I guess I,from saying that, so I guess I'm
just joining the bandwagon and.
Exactly.
So that's kind of what I want tobe in three, four years,
depending on, you know, what I'ddo with my degree.
Paul (22:23):
Yeah.
Look, I think I've had my eye ona bit of like front-end web
development a little bit.
Um, but part from that, I stillkind of lack the experience that
I want before I make a soliddecision.
That's why I'm, I'm stilllooking for those internships.
Matt (22:40):
Yeah.
I think experience is the mostvaluable thing.
Like that's what I've beentrying to do to get experience
in as many things as possible,like trying out and math stuff
and try out like backend workand things like that.
And I think that's like, you've,you've got plenty of time, I
think to try all these thingsout, like you doing three year
degrees, I think three, three orfour years ago.
(23:02):
So, um, yeah, you got anotherone or two summers to experiment
and try things out and you caneven do stuff like, I guess
during, during the year, justlike casual jobs and there's
plenty of opportunities, I guessyou're really well set for all
those different things.
Utkarsh (23:18):
Exactly know the future is uncertain, especially
nowadays.
So, you know, who knows, whoknows what our degrees will take
us, you know?
Yeah.
Matt (23:25):
Uh, I guess any, any other final comments or, or words or
any advice to you on, I don'tknow what advice you can give as
a first, but yeah,
Utkarsh (23:39):
I think we've said everything that needs to be said
in interviews also to any, uh,employees looking out who are
listening to this, if you arelooking for prospective interns,
uh, you can always feel free tomessage us and hit us up on
Slack.
Our Slack handles, are,@UtkarshSharma.
So just my name.
Yeah.
Paul (23:59):
And mine is@filez.
Matt (24:05):
Um, yeah.
So you heard it here first, ifyou're looking for a first year,
um, software developer oranything like that, then you
know who to call.
Um, and yeah, I guess thatthat's pretty much it for the
podcast.
So thanks so much again forcoming along.
Um, you sharing your experiencesand things like that were
fantastic and really insightful,
Utkarsh (24:26):
Thank you for having us.
Paul (24:29):
Thank you.
Matt (24:31):
That's all we have for you today.
And we hope you'll join us intwo weeks for the next episode
of The Router until then, youcan join our community at
slack.uqcs.org.
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