Industry Panel: Innovative Careers in Computer Science

As part of the CS  Imagine Day activities, we've organized a special Innovative Careers in Computer Science panel. Learn about what you can do with a CS  degree beyond software development/programming!

Industry experts working in areas such as communications, project management, QA, marketing and sales, web development and technical writing will discuss their career paths.  You'll  hear about their experiences, and their tips for success. There will also be a Q & A session. The event will take place on September 4 at 2:30pm in DMP 110.

Panelists:

Caitlin Tuba, IT Project Manager on the Cloud Enablement Team, TELUS
Keane Lim, Intern, Global Technology Legal Compliance, SAP
Christin Wiedemann, Senior Tester, PQA
Orvin Lau, Information Security Consultant
Renee Cheung, Enterprise Solutions Leader, ICBC
Albert Chen, Technical Marketing Engineer, NetApp (TBC - dependent on his work travel schedule)

NOTE: These busy industry experts are taking time away from their work to meet with our students. Please RSVP below to confirm your attendance at the panel ASAP.

Panelist Bios:

Caitlin Tuba
I graduated from the University of British Columbia in 2010 with a BSc in Computer Science, Microbiology and Immunology (Co-op Option).  After graduation I joined the Business Transformation Leadership Development Program (BTLDP) at TELUS, where I completed a year of web application development. Following this, I took a role as a business systems analyst, during which I was responsible for gathering requirements and completing assembly testing.  I then transitioned into my current position as IT Project Manager.  I appreciate the challenges involved in this new role; I especially enjoy arranging and aligning the moving pieces of an assignment and solving problems of the team members so they can effectively and confidently contribute to the project.

Keane Lim
I am currently working at SAP as an intern for Global Technology Legal Compliance. I graduated from UBC with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. I have also worked as a Technical Writer. One thing I enjoy about my current position is helping colleagues all over the world.

Christin Wiedeman  
I work as a software tester for the consulting company PQA - Professional Quality Assurance. For as long as I can remember I have been fascinated by science and technology, and I never really considered working with anything else. I studied physics, maths and mathematical statistics at Stockholm University, followed by a Ph.D. in experimental astro-particle physics. As part of my research work I developed simulation and analysis software tools in Fortran, C and C++, and executed the tools on the computer grid NorduGrid.
After graduating I decided I was ready to leave the academic world, and it felt natural to get a developer job since most of my time in graduate school had been spent programming. I started working for the consulting company HiQ in Stockholm, Sweden, and spent a year and a half writing VB.NET code for cash registers. While working as a developer I was introduced to testing, and it immediately felt like I had found my true vocation! As a software tester I feel that I actually use my whole skill set. I started working for another Swedish consulting company, AddQ, that focuses on testing and quality assurance. About a year ago I relocated to Vancouver, and started working for PQA.

Software testing is both creative and challenging, and provides several different career paths.

Orvin Lau
Orvin Lau graduated from UBC Computer Science in 1994, and since then has tried out a variety of different roles.  After finishing a Master’s Degree combining computer science and business, Orvin started his career as a junior consultant in a multinational consulting firm and tested out the “American Dream” by working in Seattle.  He then returned to Vancouver as a developer at BC Tel to work on what became Telus’s Velocity ADSL service, before being bitten by the “dot.com” bug and trying his hand at being an entrepreneur.  He didn’t lose his shirt when the market crashed, but instead tried consulting again with a smaller firm.  Finally, Orvin is now an independent information security consultant, running as a single-person business.

Renee Cheung
Renee has been involved with the web and web applications in some shape or form for over 10 years, be it as a developer of web applications, a designer (web, user experience, graphic), a business analysis leveraging web applications for driving business change or as a leader in an enterprise planning capacity.

In her current role at ICBC as Solutions Leader, Enterprise Services, she focuses on technology planning to support enterprise capabilities such as SharePoint 2010. In some of her previous roles at TELUS, she has worn multiple hats as strategist, business analyst, developer and as internal web brand owner. In her last role there, she has focused on web strategies relating to web portals as well as social and collaboration platforms.

She had completed her Bachelor of Science, majoring in Computer Science at UBC and more recently, has completed a Post Baccalaureate Diploma in Communications at SFU. She is currently working on her Masters of Digital Media at the Centre for Digital Media.

Albert Chen
Graduated in 2009, Albert is a Technical Marketing Engineer currently working at enterprise storage company called NetApp. When he is not working, he enjoys spending time with his friends, family as well as photography and traveling.