Hi Everyone,

Sorry for the lack of recent updates on this blog.

As the Australian Academic year came to an end last November 2009, all 3 of your UWA MSPs have actually graduated!

Today is actually my first day in the office at Microsoft in Redmond, Washington as a Software Design Engineer (SDE)  working on Visual Studio Team System.

I wanted to say thanks, it’s been a great 2 years.

My How to get a Winter Internship has by far been the most popular post accounting for about 5% of all traffic to this blog ever.

New UWA MSPs should continue on along with the other WA MSPs with this blog in the coming 2010 year and beyond.

If you want to follow my progress you can subscribe to my twitter feed at http://www.twitter.com/ekulmi

Thanks again,

Luke
Former-UWA MSP, now Microsoft SDE

Lisa from Microsoft will be presenting at 2 events at UWA on the 27th August.

The first event is for ENGINERING AND COMPUTER SCIENCE students and the second is for BUSINESS students.

Meet the Company!

Fulltime and Intern

Software Development

27^th August

5pm

CSSE 1.24

People here love their work because they get to think big and dream big. Right now we’re looking for the next generation of Microsoft innovators. If you have talent and a passion for technology, this could be your big moment. 

Come find out more about our fulltime and internship opportunities technical opportunities in the United States!

Bring your résumé for a chance to win

Tons of great Microsoft

Prizes will be raffled and

FREE FOOD will be provided!

Questions? Contact uwa@student-partners.com.au

Meet the Company!

Fulltime and Intern

Marketing, Sales and Services

IN AUSTRALIA!!!

27^th August

4:00pm

CSSE 1.24

People here love their work because they get to think big and dream big. Right now we’re looking for the next generation of Microsoft innovators. If you have talent and a passion for technology, this could be your big moment. 

Come find out more about our fulltime and internship business opportunities in Australia.

Bring your résumé for a chance to win

Tons of great Microsoft

Prizes will be raffled and

FREE FOOD will be provided!

Questions?  Contact uwa@student-partners.com.au

Applications have opened again for Microsoft Internships for the engineering roles SDE and SDET.

As posted often on WA MSP, Microsoft Internships are an awesome way to get a headstart in your career, while learning a bunch and having heaps of fun.

A Real World Experience like No Other.  As an intern at Microsoft, you’ll have real responsibility, real work, and real opportunities to jumpstart your career. (You’ll get paid, too!) It’s an experience you’ll never find in a classroom. You’ll be given manageable assignments that you can complete while you’re here, and your efforts will likely take shape in Microsoft products—or be used by Microsoft teams—long after you return to school. And imagine millions of customers, not to mention your classmates, seeing your work! Some interns even parlay their experience into a job offer.

An Opportunity to Shine. Our interns make a real difference. Not by filing paperwork or running errands, but by developing real products. Here, you’ll run your own projects and put your skills to work. This is why our internship program is one of the most successful in the industry. You’ll learn more in 12 weeks than you would in a whole school year. It’s the kind of work that gets noticed by millions of people all over the world. Kind of redefines the whole concept of internships, don’t you think?

More information and full details can be downloaded at AU Internship 2009

If interested, please send your resume by July 22 to: ausrec@microsoft.com

For a heads up on the Internship process you may also like to read my earlier post at http://www.wamsp.com.au/2008/09/how-to-get-a-microsoft-winter-internship-for-australian-students/

One of the benefits of being a Microsoft Student Partner is that we get access to free Microsoft Certification Exam Vouchers for ourselves and to give away. Additionally Microsoft announced recently free technical exam vouchers for students through the DreamSpark program.

I thought I might as well work on my MCPD as .NET is one of my primary tools I use to write software.

I got myself a copy of Microsoft .NET Framework – Application Developer Foundation which is part of the self-paced training kit for the MCTS Exam 70-536.

At 794 pages this book is pretty huge. I was kind of overwhelmed at first. However when I started self-studying I found each chapter is broken down into bite-sized lessons. Each lesson is generally specified for about 40 mins, but I found I could read the lesson, and do the included exercise in about half that time. This was great for me, where often I’d only have 20-30 mins here and there to spend on this, and I could easily start a lesson knowing I could finish it off in the time I had free between other stuff I was doing.

The book itself has 16 chapters (listed below) on the fundamentals of the Microsoft .NET Framework. Although it says it expects the reader to have some experience, I found it explained well enough for even newer developers to understand.

Every lesson is followed by both a summary and a small multi-choice lesson review, which is great as we know the key to learning is repetition. Additionally each chapter also gives a summary and a review, along with case scenarios and suggested practices.

Like most Microsoft Press books, this book also comes with a companion CD. This includes practice tests and exam questions from each chapter. One thing I found on the CD was an included PDF of the entire book! This was great for downloading to my phone and notebook and being able to read a lesson when I had a spare 10 mins.

A couple of things I found useful were:

• The small lesson sizes
• “Real World” examples and best practices
• The integration of lessons and exam objectives
• Mini labs

Microsoft also provides resources for universities to teach Microsoft Certification through the IT Academy program. This would allow you to learn through some structured program at your university.

For the rest of us, the self-study training kits are a more cost-effective approach than a third party institution, which for me as a student is not really a feasible choice. But the book provided everything I need to pass the exam.

You can get a copy of this book at www.mspress.com.au.

I also have a copy of Microsoft .NET Framework – Application Developer Foundation to give away to a UWA Student, along with a second-shot exam voucher. To enter, please leave any comment below, and I will randomly draw a winner within the next week. Please use your @student.uwa.edu.au E-mail address in the comment.

Luke
Aussie MSP Lead
The University of Western Australia

UWA MSPs are proud supporters of the UWA IEEE Student Branch.

THIS COMING TUESDAY 7th APRIL, UWA IEEE Student Branch presents:

THE IEEE ICE CREAM SOCIAL

Tuesday 7th April, 12:30pm, EE Courtyard

Calling all CSSE students, bring your friends and come by the EE (Electrical Engineering) Courtyard this Tuesday during common lunch (between 12:30pm and 1:45pm) for a refreshing, ice-cold snack on a hot day – and find out about the benefits of IEEE membership.

There is a selection of *FREE* ice-creams for those who show their

2009 IEEE membership card and with great ice-creams starting at only $1, even non-members can get in on the action!

There has never been a better time to join IEEE – The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers – be a part of the world’s largest professional technical society and find out what the Branch can offer you. With the tough economic climate, cool-off and relax with an ice-cream and drink and learn how IEEE membership can give you the edge.

Looking for Grad or Vac work? Put yourself ahead of the rest with IEEE.

Take the opportunity to come down and sign-up or renew your existing membership while enjoying a selection of ice-creams and drinks.

IEEE memberships are now HALF PRICE (just $12.50 USD, and you get membership until 31st Dec 2009), so it is a great time to be a part of

*your* organisation. Get involved in your degree, join the IEEE.

See you there!

Cheers,

Yang-Lit Phay

–

2009 Vice-Chairperson

University of Western Australia IEEE Student Branch http://www.uwaieee.org/ enquiries@uwaieee.org

Winner of the 2007 and 2008 IEEE Australia Council Most Outstanding Student Branch Award Winner of the 2008 IEEE Asia Pacific Most Outstanding Student Branch Award

Want to be a part of the award winning UWA IEEE Student Branch Committee? See us today!

UWA Microsoft Student Partners have teamed up with the UWA CSSC to run a monthly Xbox 360 games night.

The CSSC E-mail out is copied below:

Hello to all the club members out there!

There are times when getting together with your fellow intellectuals
and enjoy some mindless FPS action.

With that in mind the CSSC has grouped up with our UWA Microsoft
student partners and organised what is planned to be the first in a
monthly Halo Tournament.

So here’s what you need to know:

When : Tuesday the 31st of March, 6pm – 9pm 

Where : 1.24 seminar room (the seminar room outside administration on
the first floor…of csse)

What else? : the Halo tournament will run like this, there will teams
of two (either find a friend or be randomly assigned) with a round
robin style set up. No sign up is required, and we will be doing a
pizza run at some point.

It’d be great to see you all there, so get ready for killing some
aliens.

Luke
Aussie MSP Lead
The University of Western Australia

Microsoft loves students. And they want students to have the best access to software and technology. For Microsoft software there is two main ways to do this.

1. DreamSpark – any university student has access to this, technology wise or otherwise
2. MSDN-AA – each university specifically signs up for this. Generally this is available only for Computing & Engineering students. The university can sign up for MSDN-AA on its own or to IT Academy with includes MSDN-AA.

The good news is both Curtin and UWA both have signed up for MSDN-AA.

MSDN-AA primarily works by allowing students to borrow DVDs of the software and installing it on their machine. For Curtin students you can get the media from ComSSA, and UWA students should ask at the CSSE reception desk.

ELMS for MSDN-AA is an addon for MSDN-AA which allows the students to download the software online, not just install off pre-burned media. UWA has signed up for this and if you are a Computer Science student you should have received an invite for you to register. Once you have registered you can download the software at http://msdn70.e-academy.com/au_37792

For more information, please contact ComSAA at comssa@lists.curtin.edu.au for Curtin students or go to http://web.csse.uwa.edu.au/school_and_systems_information/school_systems_information/downloads for UWA students.

A couple of students noted why bother if they can just pirate the software? I would say just for the easy of use. No worrying about keygens or serials, updates all work and any genuine advantage addons just work.

Luke
Aussie MSP Lead
The University of Western Australia

The UWA IEEE Student Branch won the top Region 10 (Asia-Pacific) student branch for 2008, and are leaders in promoting and fostering technology for students at UWA.

The biggest event they are involved in each year is the IEEE Networking Forum, the largest careers fair of its kind for WA engineering and computer science students.

WA MSPs are excited to announce once again they will be teaming up with the UWA IEEE Student Branch to bring even bigger and better events to students in 2009.

Luke
Aussie MSP Lead
The University of Western Australia

On Thursday and Friday last week, MSPs from all over Australia gathered at Microsoft’s Australian HQ for the Aussie MSP Summit 2009.

We were treated to two awesome days of presentations, workshops, gaming, food, prizes and plenty of free stuff.

Day 1 kicked off with some intros to awesome programs available to students such as DreamSpark, Imagine Cup, Students 2 Business, Microsoft Student Partners, MSDN-AA, Student Tech Clubs, Channel8 and more. Microsoft provided lunch with a chance to checkout some cool technologies in the cafeteria. The afternoon continued with presentations from Microsoft staff on Microsoft programs such as It’s Not Piracy, Microsoft Learning, MSPress, IT Academy, Imagine Cup and technologies such as Windows Live and Windows Mobile.

After a big first day, we all jumped into the bus and headed to the Great Northern Hotel for dinner and drinks.

Around 9pm we made it back to Microsoft Australia and went straight to the Xbox room. We were lucky to be able to play Halo Wars before its release along with other great games. Gears of War 2, Call of Duty and Forza seemed popular!

At the end of the night the MSPs were shocked to hear they would all be given Xbox 360s along with 4 games and an extra controller! Microsoft has gone out of their way to ensure when MSPs share their love of technology with the community, they can actually share it!

After a quick refresh on the previous days content, Day 2 started with a presentation from GP on where MSPs fit into the big picture at Microsoft. Michael Kordahi followed with an awesome presentation on the future of technology. Andrew Coates demonstrated Live Meeting and Nick Hodge presented on Microsoft’s Open Source program. Lunch was provided by the guys from Atomic Magazine who asked us to give away their magazines at our events… awesome for students all-round!

But one of the highlights for me, was each MSP getting up to present a 5 minute demo on stuff they are passionate about.

Of course there were prizes throughout the event, for the best questions and the most involvement from MSPs.

After  2 full days, MSPs headed back to their homes, Xbox under one arm, and various other loot under the other and heads full of ideas on how they can share their passion, excitement and love of technology with their fellow students.

In fact, some already have, such as Sean’s O-Week Presentation along with his post on new stuff added to DreamSpark.

All Aussie MSPs are fired up and equipped, so join us for an awesome 2009!

Luke
Aussie MSP Lead
The University of Western Australia

When the Windows 7 beta was released last week, MSDN subscribers got to jump the queue, and were given access to Windows 7 two days before the public… and without all the site up-down stuff.

One of the benefits to being a Microsoft Student Partner is you not only get access to a great range of Microsoft resources, but you also get a free subscription to MSDN.

So if you are going to be a University student in 2009 and have a passion for technology, apply to become a Microsoft Student Partner today for the 2009 year.

Luke
UWA MSP 

Being an MSP demands dedication. We encourage every MSP to undertake 4 activities and numerous voluntary activities throughout the year which are designed to suit everyone’s level of ability and creativity. Activities range from giving technical lectures on campus, writing articles for the student newsletter to entering the Imagine Cup or running your own computer society.

BUT… we will recognize and reward each activity you undertake. The more you do, the more chances you’ll have of wining one of our fantastic end-of-year prizes. MSPs get together, share experiences, attend Microsoft training and events and even get together for the odd meal or friendly drink.

In order to be eligible, you must be:

• Over 18
• An undergraduate or post-graduate student at an Australian university
• Studying a full-time technology-related degree or course and able to name a reference from your departments
• Passionate about technology and willing to share your expertise with others at your school
• For more information, please contact Karo Esmaili at: i-karoes@microsoft.com

 Click here to download MSP Application form

Send your completed application form via email to: i-karoes@microsoft.com

For more information about Microsoft Student Partners go to http://www.student-partners.com

In what can only be described as an unforgettable and amazing finals race two teams – Team Emo (Michael Lawrence & Daniel Fozdar) and Team Dunno (Judah Lieblich & Jonathan Toby) raced through to a death (frag) defying draw after three rounds! Check out the amazing score sheet:

After three rounds with no possibility to declare a winner – neither in frags nor games, it was decided to declare both teams King of Halo!

Final Standings

Congratulations to Team Emo and Team Dunno and to everyone else who participated in the first (of many) UWA Halo shootout!

To the MVP - Microsoft mini-golf!	The Finals Get Intense	Team Emo and Team Dunno (check out the scores!)
To CSSC - Halo 3 for their new Xbox 360!	Till Next Time!

It’s that time of year again – exams are bearing down, stress is building up and projects are due. In order to help relieve the stress a bit UWA MSPs are running a Halo shootout during swot vac! Held after all of your projects are handed in but just before the real exam stress sets in this your oppurunity to frag your friends and let out same steam.

We’ll be holding 2v2v2v2 games (i.e 4 teams of 2 per round) in a frag count shootout afterwhich the leaders will progress to an elimination ladder. There’ll be a slew of prizes and giveaways on the day, not just for the winners but also for random criteria (such as most frags in a single game etc).

When? November 4th
Where? CSSE 1.24
Team? Bring your buddy along on the day, otherwise, randomly assigned by our robotic overlord

Signup: http://events.wamsp.com.au/halo

See you there!

Just back from Imagine ‘08 – what an awesome event!

The event was opened by Luke who stepped everyone through a number of videos highlighting the Power of students. Luke also discussed Dreamspark which has finally landed Down Under and Imagine Cup ‘09. Who knows? Maybe this year we’ll finally see a UWA team!

David then stepped in with “Gaming your way onto Facebook” – an awesome demo which stepped through the creation of a Popfly shoot-em-up which was then published, with leaderboard, to Facebook.

Next we ran a quick session about the MS Internship process. UWA has 3 interns going this year, the second highest from any university (apart from UQ), beating out universities like UNSW and USyd and decimating Victoria (none!). Great news for anyone at UWA who may have thought that being too far over West was a disadvantage.

I then followed up with a quick overview some online services being offered by Microsoft – Deep Zoom, Photosynth and Live Mesh, if you haven’t checked them out – do so! Don’t forget to sign up for the UWA Live Mesh Comp as well and beat out the other unis (including our blog brothers from Curtin)…

From there we moved to on to the IEEE supported free BBQ for participants where we handed out a boat load of swag and prizes to some happy recipients.

We’re always interested in feedback – so leave us a message (or two) with what you thought.

See you at our next event!

There’s only two days before Imagine 08 so if you haven’t already registered CLICK HERE to register now.

Luke
UWA MSP
http://twitter.com/ekulmi

UWA MSPs would like to announce their Live Mesh Competition.

Simply sign up for Live Mesh through our gateway and go into the draw to win a stack of prizes.

You can even increase your chances by adding your own content to our Mesh.

For more details and to sign up CLICK HERE.