Attention Team Faculty Mentoring:  Please carefully read the entire memo below.

Soon you will be (or already have) setting up time to meet with your academic advisor to determine your Spring 2014 course schedule.  Below is the list of MATH course sections that are appropriate for your iCubed Team assignment.  You will need the following information to build your schedule (You may want to bring this with you to the meeting with your academic advisor).

Please choose appropriate course level for your declared major AND your current MATH course eligibility (placement test scores and/or C or better in MATH pre-requisite course). Each course requires that you select a lecture section AND one discussion section.

MATH150

Section 01-Lec (3820) MoWe    9:00-9:50am  Administration 101

And choose one:

Section 03-Dis (3822)  Mo 10:00-10:50am    Math & Psychology 106

Section 04-Dis (3823)  We 10:00-10:50am   Math & Psychology 106

MATH155

Section 04-Lec (5093)  TuTh 4:00-5:15pm  Sherman Hall 003

And choose one:

Section 05-Dis (5094)  Tu 5:30-6:20pm   Information Technology 102

Section 06-Dis (5095)  Th 5:30-6:20pm   Public Policy 105

MATH151

Section 01-Lec (3828)    MoWeFr       10:00-10:50am   Sherman Hall 003

And choose one:

Section 02-Dis (3829)   MoWe   11:00-11:50am   Math & Psychology 101

Section 03-Dis (3830)   MoWe   11:00-11:50am   Math Psychology 103

Section 04-Dis (3831)   MoWe   1:00-1:50pm   Sondheim 208

Section 05-Dis (3832)   MoWe   1:00-1:50pm   Sondheim 204

OR

Section 06-Lec (3857)    MoWeFr       1:00-1:50pm   Administration 101

And choose one:

Section 09-Dis (3860) MoFr   10:00-10:50am   Sondheim 202

Section 10-Dis (3861) MoFr   10:00-10:50am   Sondheim 114

OR

Section 11-Lec (3862)   TuTh     5:30-6:45pm Lecture Hall 1

And choose one:

Section 12-Dis (3863) TuTh    4:00-4:50pm   Math & Psychology 104

Section 13-Dis (7585) TuTh    4:00-4:50pm   Sondheim 111

Section 14-Dis (7586) TuTh    7:00-7:50pm   Math & Psychology 101

Section 15-Dis (7587) TuTh    7:00-7:50pm   Math & Psychology 103

MATH152

Section 01-Lec (3864)   MoWeFr    11:00-11:50am   Sherman Hall 003

And choose one:

Section 02-Dis (3865)     MoWe     10:00-10:50am   Sondheim 113

Section 03-Dis (3866)     MoWe     10:00-10:50am   Sondheim 112

Section 04-Dis (3867)     MoWe     9:00-9:50am       Math & Psychology 106

Section 05-Dis (4525)     MoWe     9:00-9:50am       Performing Arts & Humanities 107

OR

Section 06-Lec (3869)   TuTh   1-2:15pm   Administration 101

And choose one:

Section 09-Dis (3872)    TuTh     10:00-10:50am  Sondheim 208

Section 10-Dis (3873)    TuTh     10:00-10:50am  Sondheim 206

OR

Section 11-Lec (5591)   MoWe 5:30-6:45pm  Lecture Hall 1

And choose one:

Section 12-Dis (5592)   MoWe   4:00-4:50pm   Sondheim 111

Section 13-Dis (5593)   MoWe   4:00-4:50pm   Sondheim 113

Section 14-Dis (5594) MoWe   7:00-7:50pm    Math & Psychology 106

Section 15-Dis (7582) MoWe   7:00-7:50pm  Sondheim 109

Note:  If you are taking a course in the 200 level sequence or above, you will not require permission to add that course.

For questions about this memo or to receive permission to enroll please contact Dr. Tashauna Felix, iCubed Coordinator. Put "iCubed Student - Spring 2014 permission request" in the subject line.  In the email include your name, campus ID #, and the 4 digits numbers for the lecture AND discussion sections for the course you would like to enroll.

Two experimental Twitter “apps” that create a personalized, private feed of recommendations could be joined by many more.

Twitter’s main feature is that everyone’s updates mingle in one vast, public stream, even if each person has a filtered view of it. But two experiments being run by the company suggest it is dabbling with the idea of offering people private and personalized feeds alongside the public one.

On-Campus Interviews offer students a chance to conveniently interview for professional positions on campus.  Employers travel to our campus for the specific purpose of interviewing preselected students for currently open positions.  This is a great opportunity to interview with employers specifically interested in UMBC students and offers the advantage of a smaller applicant pool.  Interviews take place during the fall and spring. The logistics (viewing positions, applying, signing up for interview time slots, etc.) are all handled via UMBCworks.

Don't miss out on employers coming to UMBC to recruit YOU this fall! The following is a list of employers coming to conduct on-campus interviews with application deadlines within the next month.

Mueller Associates, Inc.
Position:  Mechanical Engineer
Resume Submission End:  October 22, 2013

Morgan Stanley
Position:  Operations Analyst Program
Resume Submission End:  October 23, 2013

AOL/Advertising.com
Position:  Associate Tech Support Engineer
Resume Submission End:  October 24, 2013

Worthington Financial Partners
Position:  Sales Associate & Management Trainee
Resume Submission End:  October 24, 2013

A full list of On-Campus Interviews scheduled is available on our website calendar and on UMBCworks, please check regularly for any updates or changes that may occur.

Emails from recruiters have a fairly infamous reputation in the technical community, partly because of their often spammy nature, and partly due to a lack of interest in the jobs they’re pitching.

The ideal recruitment email should basically be a pitch, motivating candidates to further explore the opportunity. Engineers are extremely fortunate–we’re not generally in want of a job. To hire the best, you have to entice them away from other work.

Unfortunately many recruitment emails seem canned at best, automated to spam out to the widest audience possible. It’s a wonder these emails work, if indeed they do at all. Looking back through my inbox, here’s some of the mistakes I often see recruiters making:

• Canned, with only the name changed
• Asking people to email in their CV or resume
• Not mentioning the company name, only an unspecified ‘client’
• Urging you to spam your friends with the opportunity
• Mention ninja, rockstars, or showing a general technical incompetence
• Advertising a job in country I’m not in, or for a language I don’t use.

The problem stems from two very different worlds colliding, one technical, one not–there’s no wonder it’s a source of friction. Recruiters are trying to hire for jobs that they don’t understand, let alone make technical evaluations for.

Let’s take an email I received the other day (anonymized) as an example:

Hi Alex,

How are you? I just came across your profile and thought you could be a great fit for a company that I am recruiting for in San Francisco called FirstWorldProblemsFixed.

Not a great start. It doesn’t look like any effort has been put into this–indeed my name seems to be the only customization in an otherwise canned email. There’s no explanation of what the company is, or why I’d want to join.

We are looking for only the best to join this team. If you are a rock star ninja, please send your updated resume to me and let me know when you have some time for a quick chat so I can tell you more.

If the recruiter had done their homework, they’d just look at my work online rather than asking for a resume. Indeed, I don’t even have a resume - an active GitHub account should be enough for most programming jobs. Also, what exactly is a rock star ninja?

If you’re not interested, could you please share the open job on your channels anyways, mention it to your RoR friends, that would be so cool, thank you!

And they finish with a desperate plea to spam all my other friends.

Best, Jessica

Clearly this particular example is a bit of a straw man, and there are certainly better emails from recruiters. However I’m sure we can agree that the general trend is pretty abysmal.

The reality is that if you’re cold emailing a candidate you’re already at a big disadvantage. Referrals are the best method of recruiting bar none. Take advantage of your company’s combined social network, a short email from a founder or engineer will do wonders.

For example, here’s the Facebook message I got from John which ultimately led to me leaving Twitter for Stripe. It’s short, to the point, and referral based (a mutual friend introduced us at a party).

I’ve been working on a little tool to ‘lint’ recruiting emails, running them through a number of rules to try and provide feedback on how to improve them. It’s by no means fool proof, but does provide an effective first countermeasure against poor recruitment emails.

The code behind it is completely open source, and feel free to amend or improve the rules as you see fit.

Attention Team Active Learning:  Please carefully read the entire memo below.

Soon you will be (or already have) setting up time to meet with your academic advisor to determine your Spring 2014 course schedule. 

If you are in Team Active Learning and ARE NOT  currently taking (Fall 2013) a   MATH course (150, 155, 151, or 152) with a discussion held in the CASTLE classroom (UC115D), below is the list of MATH course sections that are appropriate for your iCubed Team assignment.  You will need the following information to build your schedule (You may want to bring this with you to the meeting with your academic advisor).

Please choose appropriate course level for your declared major AND your current MATH course eligibility (placement test scores and/or C or better in MATH pre-requisite course). Each course requires that you select a lecture section AND one discussion section.

MATH150

Section 05-Lec (3824)  MoWe  9:00-9:50am Administration 101

And choose one:

Section 07-Dis (3826)     Mo   10:00-10:50am   Math & Psychology 104 

Section 08-Dis (3827)     We   10:00-10:50am  Math & Psychology 104

OR

Section09- Lec (7595)   TuTh 5:30-6:20pm   Administration 101

And choose one:

Section 11-Dis (7597)  Th  6:30-7:20pm   Math & Psychology 106

Section 12-Dis (7598)  Th  6:30-7:20pm   Biological Sciences 120 

OR

Section 13-Lec (7599)   TuTh 5:30-6:20pm   Administration 101

And choose one:

Section 15-Dis (7601)  Tu  6:30-7:20pm   Math & Psychology 106

Section 16-Dis (7602)  Tu  6:30-7:20pm   Fine Arts 215

MATH155

Section 01-Lec (3833) MoWeFr  11:00-11:50am     Administration 101

And choose one:

Section 02-Dis (5091)     Mo 10:00-10:50am   UC 115D

Section 03-Dis (5092)     We 10:00-10:50am  UC 115D  

MATH151

Section 06-Lec (3857)    MoWeFr     1:00-1:50pm   Administration 101

And choose:

Section 07-Dis (3858)     MoFr   9:00-9:50am  UC 115D     

Section 08-Dis (3859)     MoFr   9:00-9:50am  UC 115D      

MATH152

Section 06-Lec (3869)   TuTh   1-2:15pm   Administration 101

And choose:

Section 07-Dis (3870)  TuTh  11:30am-12:20pm  UC 115D 

Section 08-Dis (3871)  TuTh  11:30am-12:20pm  UC 115D

If you are in the Team Active Learning group, and are CURRENTLY taking (Fall 2013) a Calculus-sequence MATH course (150, 155, 151, or 152) with a discussion held in the CASTLE classroom (UC115D), you should NOT sign up for a CASTLE discussion in Spring 2013.  

*Note: There are no CASTLE discussion sections associated with MATH106.  If this is the MATH course for which you are eligible, you may select any section.  Also,  if you are taking a course in the 200 level sequence or above, you will not require permission to add that course.

For questions about this memo or to receive permission to enroll please contact  Dr.Tashauna Felix, iCubed Coordinator.  Put "iCubed Student - Spring 2014 permission request" in the subject line.  In the email include your name, campus ID #, and the 4 digits numbers for the lecture AND discussion sections for the course you would like to enroll.