#!SUITSSydney University IT Society

Daylight hours might be getting shorter, but we’ll keep you warm with all our events. Fire up those neurons at our Monday hack session (12pm, SIT 118), where we’ll look at predictions and probability from a programmer’s point of view. If you can stand the heat, show off your problem-solving skills at Optiver’s testing session (SIT 123), and maybe they’ll hire you! Can’t get enough? Join us at our Code Jam (4pm, SIT 117), and watch those algorithmic muscles grow.

No doubt you’re looking for a comforting lunch to warm you on these cold days — our Tuesday BBQ is still a hot deal at $2 for all you can eat. Or meet some of the inspiring women working at Deloitte at their Women in Business lunch (12pm, Law Lounge, New Law Building). Let off some steam at our Wednesday Games Night — we’ll be providing a cosy dinner, of course.

With love,
SUITS Exec
Huddled over our laptops, using them as heaters

Hack Session: Linear Classifiers

Presented by Tim O’Keefe

When: Monday 14th May, 12:00-1:00pm
Where: SIT 118

Linear regression is a simple learning algorithm that lets you predict the value of some output variable, when given training data. In this hack session we’ll go over the intuition and some of the equations needed to program linear regression, and then fill in some Python functions to actually get it working. We’ll close by going over some of the intuitions required to extend linear regression to logistic regression — a method which allows us to get the probability of an event. Both algorithms are widely used in data mining, finance, natural language processing, and many other applications.

Code Jam

When: Monday 14th May, 4:00-6:00pm
Where: SIT 117

A casual weekly session where we discuss algorithms and solve programming problems. Combined with regular hack sessions and a healthy(ish) diet of BBQ food and Thai, you’ll be building and toning those programming muscles in no time!

Games Night

When: Wednesday 16th May, 5:30-9:00pm
Where: SIT 124

Boardgames, console games and a hot dinner for all!

Positions Vacant

CosSoc seeks IT Officer

The Sydney Uni Costume Society is looking for a volunteer IT Officer to help with the upkeep and re-establishment of their website, as well as set up an online database of costumes so folks can browse them. In return, you’ll receive a glowing reference on your resume.

Interested? Email Liz at president@cossoc.org.

Linkz Volunteering

Linkz is partnering with the Central Australian Youth Link Up Service (CAYLUS) to support their programs delivered to young Indigenous people in remote communities. They’re looking for long-term volunteers to help with the everyday running of a popular local computer room, including supervising computer use and resolving any problems that arise.

All volunteer expenses will be covered, including flights, transport and accomodation. You’ll also receive about $200 a week to cover the cost of food and you’ll have the opportunity to travel to Alice Springs once a month.

Volunteers start in mid-June. Questions? Email Ashton at ashton@linkz.net.au.

Can’t bear to return to your IDE after The Incident? Come share your debugging horror stories with us at our Monday hack session (12pm, SIT 118) and get closure. After that, flex your algorithmic muscles at our Code Jam (4pm, SIT 117) and you’ll be set to slap your next program into submission.

You’ll need protein after your neuron workout, so join us at our Tuesday BBQ for a tasty, tasty refuelling. Let loose on Wednesday at Games Night, starring free Thai!

Thank you to all of last week’s rock-climbers — we need to do that again!

With love,
SUITS Exec
Got an idea for an event? Make a suggestion on our Facebook page, and we’ll see what we can do.

Hack Session: Debugging Horror Stories

Presented by YOU and Peter Ward

When: Monday 7th April, 12:00-1:00pm
Where: SIT 118

We’ve all had those moments — your program wouldn’t do what it was meant to do, no matter what you tried. And code just hasn’t responded as well to a $20 note ever since that government crackdown on bribery in programming. This is a support group for the traumatised and the weary. Share your story. Even if you don’t have one (which you probably do), you can get a nice big dose of schadenfreude out of other people’s stories.

Code Jam

When: Monday 7th April, 4:00-6:00pm
Where: SIT 117

A casual weekly session where we discuss algorithms and solve programming problems. Combined with regular hack sessions and a healthy(ish) diet of BBQ food and Thai, you’ll be building and toning those programming muscles in no time!

Games Night

When: Wednesday 9th May, 5:30-9:00pm
Where: SIT 124

Boardgames, console games and Thai food for all! We’ll be bringing in new, better boardgames soon, so watch this space!

Positions Vacant

Deloitte Development Program

Are you a student with an interest in pursuing a career in Professional Services? Our 2012 Deloitte Development Program is a two-day interactive program, offering you professional development, an insight into life at Deloitte and the opportunity to secure a Summer Vacation position. If you are an undergraduate student in your first year of a single degree, or your third year of a double degree, you are eligible to apply.

The Deloitte Development Program will provide you with the opportunity to:

• Learn about Deloitte and our career opportunities
• Experience the life of a Deloittian and spend a half a day with one of our Partners
• Sharpen your business etiquette and networking skills
• Receive coaching on applications and interview skills.

The Deloitte Development Program will be held in Sydney on 3 and 4 July 2012 and in Melbourne on 17 and 18 July 2012.

To apply to this unique and invaluable learning opportunity you must be an Australian Citizen, permanent resident of Australia or an international student who meets our international students criteria, with two or more years left to complete your degree (single or double) in Accounting, Actuarial Studies, Business, Commerce, Economics, Engineering/Computer Software, Finance, HR/OH&S, Information Systems, Web Design or IT/IS/ICT.

To apply for the opportunity to participate in the Deloitte Development Program please visit our website www.graduates.deloitte.com.au and submit an online application with your resume attached.

Applications open on 16 April 2012 and we will be recruiting until 15 June 2012 — positions will fill fast, so get your application in early.

It’s your future. How far will you take it?

OBITER Law Journal

OBITER is a student run intercollegiate law journal which is scheduled for release in September 2012. This project is completely not-for-profit and the journal will be free. 3000 print copies will be distributed across the USYD, MQ, UNSW and UTS. The journal will cover a wide range of contentious legal issues that are actually engaging and interesting. All students across Australia will be given the opportunity to submit works to OBITER. There will be no barriers to involvement.

OBITER is looking to establish a strong presence on the web. This will be a fantastic opportunity for IT students to be a part of a thriving student initiative.

Students are invited to apply for:

• Director of Web Design
• Online Content Manager

Please send your CV to apply@nexusmedia.net.au by 11 May 2012. We would love to have you on our team! Be a part of it.

ACT Public Service Graduate Program 2013

Applications for the 2013 ACT Public Service Graduate Program are now open. You’ll be placed in a real job that has real responsibilities. It’s a big step towards a career that’s both professionally challenging and personally rewarding. The ACT Public Service Graduate Program will build on your academic success and extend your personal and professional skills through challenging on and off-the-job training and three work rotations across the service.

For more information and to apply, complete an online application at jobs.act.gov.au.

Join SUITS at St Peters for our first sports event of the year!

Hello viewers, and thanks for tuning in to Week of Fortune! As it so happens, the week of the lucky number 7 is not actually that lucky, because we don’t have a social night this Wednesday. But that’s okay, because you’ve won a public holiday! But wait, there’s more! Next week’s social night will be rock climbing at St Peters! I need to stop yelling! I’ll be right back!

Ahem.

This week, Carlo Zancanaro will be hosting our Monday hack session, Introduction to Lisp/Clojure, which will be followed by our Tuesday BBQ. Don’t forget that our sponsors at Deloitte are holding a Tech Challenge on 1st May, so RSVP by this Wednesday. They will also star in the Careers Office’s Fast-track to Employment workshop on Thursday, the details of which are below.

With love,
SUITS Exec
Tune in next week for more prizes and surprises on… Week! Of! Fortune! *applause*

Careers Event: Fast-track to Employment, featuring Deloitte

When: Thursday 26th April, 4:00-6:00pm
Where: Institute Lecture Theatre 2 (Institute is the building next to Merewether on City Road)
RSVP: Email your name, SID, degree and major to business.careersrsvp@sydney.edu.au.

By now, you might be feeling a little disillusioned by your workload. Step back, take control of your career decisions and aim for the job offer of your dreams in this workshop. You’ll learn how to communicate your unique business skills to future employers and how to show them you’re passionate about the job.

RSVPs are not necessary, but are appreciated.

Hack Session: Introduction to Lisp/Clojure

Presented by Carlo Zancanaro

When: Monday 23rd April, 12:00-1:00pm
Where: SIT 118

I can’t give Lisp a higher recommendation than Randall Munroe (artist of XKCD) did, so here are your obligatory XKCD strips.

SIT Basser Seminars

New Memory Technology and Its Impact on Systems Software

When: Tuesday 24th April, 11:00am
Where: SIT Boardroom (SIT 124)
More: here.

Flash memory is fast. Phase change memory is faster. Professor Heon Y. Yeom discusses what phase change memory means to systems software development, and how you can use it most efficiently.

Place-Based Information Systems: Textual Location Identification and Visualization

When: Thursday 26th April, 1:00pm
Where: SIT 123 (next to the Boardroom)
More: here.

Professor Hanan Samet talks about the STEWARD (Spatio-Textual Extraction on the Web Aiding Retrieval of Documents) system, which automatically identifies the spatial location (physical location) of a given textual location (place name).

Rock Climbing with SUITS

When: Wednesday 2nd May, 6:30-9:00pm
Where: Sydney Indoor Climbing Gym, St Peters
RSVP/More: Facebook event

Join SUITS at St Peters for our first sports event of the semester!

We’ll meet up in the School of IT Foyer at 5:30pm and walk to Redfern, where we’ll catch a train to St Peters. If you prefer, you can meet us at the Climbing Gym at 6:30.

You don’t need to be a pro: we’ll get a briefing on arrival, and there are plenty of walls for climbers of all skill levels, including beginners (and the kids walls are awesome too).

Cost is $15 per person, plus transport costs. We’ll provide dinner, of course.

Positions Vacant

Boston Consulting Group Scholarships

Do you have a brilliant academic mind? Are you in your penultimate year of study? Are you a great leader? Creative? A problem-solver? A team player? A great communicator? The Boston Consulting Group has two $15,000 scholarships, and one of them might have your name on it. You don’t need previous business experience, but you should be curious about business.

Apply at http://apply.bcg.com/bcgscholarship2012 by 12 noon, Sunday 29th April.

Hope you enjoyed your break! You now have eight weeks ahead of you until Stuvac. We know, we know. But it won’t be all bad — we’ll be brightening up those weeks with event after event. We’re starting with our handy Monday hack session, Introduction to Git, followed by our Tuesday BBQ (still the best on campus), and our Wednesday Games Night.

This Saturday, SIT will also be hosting the first round of the ANZAC League Programming Competition, so it’s time to whip out your competitive programming skills (which may or may not still be warm from Google’s Code Jam). Designed as practice for the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest, it’s the first stepping stone towards your domination of the world via programming competition. Now all you need is an army of robots.

With love,
SUITS Exec
More details on the League below…

ANZAC League Programming Competition

When: Saturday 21st April, 12:00-5:00pm
Where: SIT Labs 114-118

Interested in putting your coding and algorithmic skills to the test in the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest, the largest programming competition for university students, that attracts 25,000 competitors worldwide? The regional contest takes place in semester 2, and as preparation, the Australia and New Zealand Algorithmics and Computing (ANZAC) League is held over six separate rounds each year. It’s a fun challenge for anyone who likes to code and solve problems.

Teams of three compete to solve the most problems in 5 hours, in Java, C or C++. If you are interested in competing (whether you have a team in mind or not), please contact us at progcomp@suits.org.au, or speak to anyone on the executive.

Hack Session: Introduction to Git

Presented by Sasha Bermeister

When: Monday 16th April, 12:00-1:00pm
Where: SIT 118

Listen up: you’re going to need version control. Git keeps track of all the changes you make to your code, and allows collaboration to boot! Learning how to use it now is going to make life (and, possibly, world domination) easier for you later. And there is no better person to introduce you to Git than Sasha Bermeister, who has tutored at the National Computer Science School and may well be your tutor this semester. Come: it will be good for you.

Explore Asia with Deutsche Bank

When: Thursday 3rd May, 12:00-2:00pm
Where: Level 16, 126 Phillip Street, Sydney CBD
RSVP/More: here

Asia is home to some of the world’s fastest growing economies and Deutsche Bank’s presence in the region continues to grow. With ambitious plans for the future, they’re giving more graduates the opportunity to work internationally.

Deutsche Bank is hosting an Explore Asia with Deutsche Bank event to showcase the opportunities on offer within their Corporate and Investment Bank division. The events will provide a fantastic opportunity for a select group of students to network with business representatives from Hong Kong and Singapore, and to find out what a career in Asia is all about.

Positions Vacant

DirectSMS seeks Web/Systems Developer

DirectSMS is looking for a self-motivated programmer in their final year of study to design, develop, test and document new system features on a casual basis (with flexible hours!). You’ll need excellent communication and time management skills, a professional manner, a sense of humour and the ability to work in a team. You’ll also need to be familiar with PHP, JavaScript, Java, SQL and Apache HTTP Server. Previous experience and/or Drupal CMS skills would be a plus.

Think you’re the right person for the job? Send your resume and academic transcript to careers@directsms.com.au along with a letter telling them about yourself. More details are available at their full ad on the Careers Centre website.

The Sun Social

The Sun Social – an exciting tablet app designed by Sydney Uni students capable of generating profits for publishers and broadcasters without relying on advertising or paywalls, is looking for IT students to help develop the app for the market. An understanding of iOS would be useful. Remuneration negotiable as payment or equity. Contact Alastair Rival Lee at alee4793@uni.sydney.edu.au.