March 21-25, 2011 is National Co-operative Education Week. Celebrating over 50 years of co-operative education in Canada, the week-long event is organized by the Canadian Association for Co-operative Education (CAFCE).
BCIT’s first co-op program started in 1988 and now sees over 900 students enrolled annually. BCIT’s co-op students graduate with several months of industry experience in addition to their BCIT academic training; many are offered jobs by their co-op employers even prior to graduation.
“Co-operative education is an educational model rather than a job placement strategy,” explains Cynthia Maclean, program head and coordinator, BCIT Cooperative Education. “With co-operative education, employers and educators share the responsibility of preparing students for the workforce. Employers become co-educators, helping students to become productive members of society. All parties benefit from this work and learning model.”
BCIT alumnus Sean Calder can attest to the benefits of the co-op program.
“The co-op experience for me was an incredibly rewarding one,” says Sean. “While the Computer Systems Technology co-op program was in a bit of a transitional phase during the time I went through it, they were still able to find and present to me various job postings that I could follow up on. This gave me some extremely valuable interview experience and opened my eyes up to what the process might be like when applying for real industry openings after graduation.”
Sean’s co-op placement, a role in systems administration which lasted two full semesters, helped him build his skills and contacts in the high-tech sector. And when he graduated, the experience allowed him to find a contract as an IT assistant at Next Level Games, a third-party game development studio in Vancouver. Although Sean’s main interest was in programming — not systems administration — the job “seemed like a great opportunity to work with a highly regarded company in a position where [he] could learn a great deal.”
As the IT assistant, Sean was able to contribute using both IT and programming skills. “When I wasn’t attending to daily responsibilities, I was given the green light to look for ways to improve company processes and tasks through the use of various scripts, plug-ins and web applications,” he explains. “The utilities I created really served as a way to have my programming ability noticed.”
At the same time, Sean began taking the Bachelor of Technology in Computer Systems Technology at BCIT through Part-time Studies.
After about a year with Next Level Games, Sean had an opportunity to take on the role of a front end programmer, a position he has held ever since. “I have been in the role for about a year now and am still enjoying it, which is a pretty awesome thing for anyone to be able to say.”
“I would absolutely recommend the co-op program to other students,” he continues. “Many may look at the two semesters needed to take in the co-op program and be discouraged as it adds additional time required to finish their certification. For me however, I found it more valuable to make the contacts and acquire real industry experience while making money to pay for the rest of my diploma.”
Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan will make a special proclamation on Monday, March 21, acknowledging the valuable role that co-operative education plays in post-secondary education.
BCIT’s Centre for Workplace Education (CWE) is located on the Burnaby Campus in Building NW5 and is open Monday to Friday from 8:30 to 4:30 daily. For more information on co-operative education at BCIT, please visit bcit.ca/co-op.
