September Announcements
9/27/18
Study Jam / Study CRAM Session! 🧠Saturday, October 6 from 7 AM - 11 AM PT || 10 AM - 2 PM ET
With weeks to go before the final deadline, we think it’s time we changed the name from Study Jam to Stud Cram ! Bring your caffeine and get an early start on the day. :sunny: As always, the goal will be *project submission* but we’ll also be surprising you with icebreaker questions just for fun:
Here’s a taste (no pun intended):
- Deep Dish or Thin Crust? 🍕
- Two things you can’t live without are?
- The best thing about <Your State> is...
If you’d like to lend your technical support during the Cram Session, we’d love the help! Sign up here
Celebrating 100 Days of Code
Some of you are getting very close to completing the 100 Days of Code challenge! Celebrate your accomplishment by using the 💯emoji next to your post in the #gwg_100_days_of_code channel! Congrats to everyone who have taken the pledge so far and keep up the great work!
Student Webinars
We are so proud of all the student videos that have been produced! Check out the latest from @Jenna Koslowski called *Making Time When You Have No Time*. If you have an idea for a webinar that could help your classmates reach the finish line, create it, and we’ll post it on the Grow with Google site here.
Where are Kelsey & Brenda? 🤷♀️🤷♀️
From Monday through Wednesday of next week, Kelsey and I will be at a Community Manager conference and may be slow to answer you back. Please note we are also moving Office Hours from Tuesday to Thursday (2:00 PM PT || 5:00 PM ET) for next week only.
Have a safe & productive weekend!
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9/24/2018
How was your weekend, scholars? For those early birds that joined us online early Saturday morning we hope that you were able to get some work done. Here are a few things that you need to know this week:
INFOSYS HIRING EVENT
Don’t forget - Infosys wants to hire Web and Android students from Udacity! They currently have positions open in Raleigh, North Carolina. They are opening their doors and welcoming a select number of Udacity students into their offices there on Thursday Oct. 11th at 7:00pm-9:00pm ET. The application is due today! Be sure to fill it out be the end of the day today if you are interested in attending the event!
CAREER MONTH
Four weeks ago you made a commitment to make progress towards the job you want. During Career Month, you joined thousands of fellow Udacity students from around the world and tackled the job hunt head on. *Great job!* Now that Career Month is over, we would love to hear from you! How you are feeling about the job hunt? Do you feel more prepared? Inspired to take action? Please take a few quick minutes and share your feedback with us! https://www.research.net/r/ScholarshipCareerFollowUp
STUDY JAM SIGN IN
I had such a great morning with you all on Saturday! I hope you were able to work on your projects and get all the help you needed to succeed :rocket: If you haven’t already, please make sure you have signed in so that we know that you participated!
AND P8 WALKTHROUGH - CAPSTONE STAGE 2
Saturday, September 29 at 10 AM PST - Jeriel, the AND Project Coach, will be going through the steps required to complete AND Project 8. Make sure to come to the session with your questions! Zoom link here.
*Remember that we’re archiving all the webinars on our Tech Webinars page. Just look for your track’s section to watch all the walkthroughs to date!
As always, please reach out if you need anything! Have a productive week!
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9/21/18 Announcement
Happy Friday! Wow, can you believe another week has gone by? See below for some exciting announcements :celebrate:
Drumroll please….. SWAG DESIGN COMPETITION 👕
After many requests, we are launching a swag design competition! :shirt: The competition is an opportunity for you to create swag for the Grow with Google US program. Similar to the EMEA competition, the top 5 finalist will be used to create merch on TeeSpring. The profits from all swag sold will be donated to the World Literacy Foundation. This non-profit was chosen because of their commitment to democratizing education - the Udacity mission! What a great way for students to help other students. Make sure to check them out! So, here’s what you’ve gotta do to participate:
- Check out all of the instructions on the Design Competition Google Page here
- Make sure you follow the Udacity branding guidelines - you can only use the Udacity logos that have been shared on the Google page. We’ve also shared the Udacity colors!
- All designs will be reviewed by the Udacity Design Team - the Design Team will remove any designs that do not follow the guidelines
- Join the #design_competition channel to chat about what your working on, find teammates (if you’d like), and share fun ideas/inspiration!
All submissions must be in by October 5th and submitted via the form on the Design Competition Google Page. Voting will end on October 12th and all submissions can be seen in the “Gallery” portion of the Google Page
Have fun! Looking forward to rocking a t-shirt designed by YOU!
A huge thank you to @Catie Lynn (ABND) for leading the charge. If you have any questions about the competition, please reach out to her!
INFOSYS HIRING EVENT
Infosys is looking to hire Web and Android students from Udacity! They currently have positions open in Raleigh, North Carolina. They are opening their doors and welcoming a select number of Udacity students into their offices there on Thursday Oct. 11th at 7:00pm-9:00pm ET. Infosys, a Udacity Hiring Partner, is especially interested in the chance to meet students in-person. These in-person events, Udacity Hiring Partner Previews, are a chance to do just that! If you apply to attend and you’re invited by Infosys, you’ll get to mingle with company leaders, recruiters, and engineers, and experience life as a team member.
Please take a moment to review the positions they are hiring for here, and provide a brief summary about why you feel that you are a great fit for the open role using the Infosys Application form. Make sure to update your Udacity profile and make it public!
NEGOTIATING YOUR OFFER
If you were unable to join us this morning for the Negotiating Your Offer webinar _or_ you did join us and experienced our technical difficulties (:see_no_evil:), you can watch the entire webinar here.
Denise, a recruiter for Udacity, shares some invaluable tips on how to navigate the negotiation process. I learned quite a bit from her and I bet you will too!
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9/17/18 Announcement
Here are a few updates to get your through the weekend. Mark your calendars for events coming up next week!
IBM CALL FOR CODE
IBM is making a special invitation for Udacity students and graduates to answer the Call for Code (https://developer.ibm.com/callforcode/hacks/cfc-udacity-prep/), a multi-year initiative to mobilize developers and technologists to use their skills to drive positive social impact. It’s not too late to participate in this year’s Global Challenge with the goal of improving preparedness and relief for natural disasters. Form a team, register, and submit a solution by September 24th to be considered for this year’s grand prize. You can also attend the last all-day virtual Hackathon event on September 14th (_today_) to brush up on relevant skills and get inspired to answer the call (https://callforcode.org/virtual/). If you submit a project, please let Brenda and I know!
PROJECT WALKTHROUGHS & WEBINARS
Tuesday, 9/18 @ 3 PM PT || 6 PM ET - FEND and MWS students are invited to a project walkthrough of *Restaurant Review App, Stage 1* with Project Coach @RyanWaite.ProjectCoach [FEND, MWS]. Ryan will be starting this project from scratch and covering how to bundle node packages for the browsers like `idb`? Register here for Zoom link:
Support your classmates by attending one of these upcoming webinars:
- Thursday, 9/20 @ 6 PM PT || 9 PM ET - *Retrofit: Basics, Benefits, and ideally Deep-Dive* with @AAQ [AND--(SCz, CA)]
- Sunday, 9/23 @ 1:30 PM PT || 4:30 PM ET - *Digital Accessibility Part 2: Focus on ARIA for FEND P5 and P7* with @JaniceM
STUDY JAM WITH KELSEY
170 students joined us on Slack for last Saturday’s Study Jam session and we’re holding another session _next Saturday, September 22nd_ to help you get those projects completed! Mark your calendars and use the 4 hours to get technical help and project guidance!
SHARE YOUR STORY DEADLINE
This Sunday, Sept 16th is the deadline for cohorts to turn in their stories and submit the challenge completion form. Each story is worth 50 points (200 extra points if everyone in your cohort submits their story). An added reminder that if you are recording your webinar for Challenge #4 to send Brenda and Kelsey the webinar link so we can award your cohort the points! Challenge Details page here.
SLACK CHANNELS
*#turtle_squad* = If you’ve fallen behind or find yourself struggling, join the turtle squad to receive amazing support and advice from others in a similar situation
*#motivation* = hop into the #motivation channel for daily pick-me-ups. The GIFs alone will put a huge smile on your face
*#careers* = Join #careers to ask career-related questions, offer job tips, post career opportunities, and share how your own job hunt is going
*#networking* = *NEW* A place to swap LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. and make connections. Thanks @Crystal
Tip: Find these Slack channels (and more!) by clicking on “Channels +” in the left nav
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Happy Monday! How was your weekend? We have two things we'd like to share with you for the week:
1. Grow with Google Summit - Call for Stories and Projects
The Grow with Google Summit is taking place next week and it’s an opportunity for Udacity to show Google the impact the program has had on student’s lives and career. We would _love_ the opportunity to showcase your unique project (a personal, group or Udacity project) and your career growth stories. If you’d like to share with us, you can submit your projects and stories in the forms below. We need all submissions in by the end of *Thursday, September 13th*. If we choose to highlight your story and/or project, we will send you a DM letting you know!
2. Week 3 of Career Month: Interviewing
September 12 - 2 PM PST|| 5 PM EST
September 12 - 4 PM PST|| 7 PM EST
If you have a question for our panel speakers on Wednesday about preparing for a technical interview please submit them here! The entire session will be Q&A and we'd love to hear what questions you have about the technical interview process. They are experts on the subject and I want to make sure they are able to share their wisdom with you!
Acing an Interview with Positive Psychology (Rebroadcast)
September 11 - 5 PM PST|| 8 PM EST
September 13 - 4 PM PST|| 7 PM EST
Have a wonderful and productive week! As always, please reach out if you need anything at all.
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9/8/18 Announcement
Happy Saturday Scholars! We are happy to see you online and ready to go for today's Study Jam! :study_jam: We encourage you to take these next four hours and delve into your projects. This time is reserved for you to get stuff done! :muscle:
Remember, there will be live help in Slack so make sure to ask your questions! No matter where you are in the program, there is no shame in reaching out for help. That’s how we all grow and learn!
Sign in so that we know that you were here:
See the full list of student leaders and when they will be live answering questions here:
If you need anything at all during the day, send me a DM!
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9/7/18 Announcement
We’ve got lots of activities lined up to help you with your project work and move you towards that finish line. Take a look….
GET YOUR JAM ON
Imagine 4 solid hours devoted to project work with experienced classmates standing by to offer their assistance! Study Jams are one of the THE best resources we have to help you make some serious progress. Join us on Slack tomorrow, Saturday September 8th in your track’s live_help channel. We’ll have FULL coverage starting at 8 AM PT || 11 AM ET.
WEBINARS
Drop into one of upcoming live webinars:
- Saturday, 9/8 @ 8:30 AM PT - Closures/modular pattern with the timer project with @Carlos F. [FEND] || YouTube Live link here:
- Saturday, 9/8 @ 10 AM PT - Learn SCSS - A preprocessor for CSS (Sassy CSS) with @Debs || Zoom link here
- Sunday, 9/9 @ 1 PM PT - Digital Accessibility Part I: Focus on HTML and CSS with @Michael Jackson || Zoom link here:
- Sunday 9/9 @SabrinaT & @Michael Jackson will be recording a Q&A session with Andrew A, a software engineer! Andrew is a backend software engineer at a Silicon Valley startup focussed on improving efficiency at hospitals through data analytics. Please submit any questions you have for Andrew about topics such as his tech background, day to day work life, interest in software development, and more. || Questions form here
HELPING HAND
The results of our piloted 1:1 session are in! 73% of students have been able to overcome a roadblock and over half can now submit their project and have gained confidence in their own abilities!
Sign up to be a Student Guide or request a session
WELCOME BACK, RYAN
Popular Project Coach, Ryan Waite is officially back to help out in Front-End! To kick things off, Ryan is hosting an open Q&A webinar on Zoom on Monday, September 10th @ 3 PM PT || 6 PM ET . Bring your FEND project questions and get Ryan’s personal help! || Register here to receive the Zoom event link
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9/5/18 CAREER MONTH ANNOUNCEMENT:
September 12 - 2 PM PST|| 5 PM EST
What does it take to stand out in an interview and how do you prepare? A Udacity hiring manager and a Udacity software engineer will be sharing their insights and taking live questions.
September 12 - 4 PM PST|| 7 PM EST
Matt, a Content Developer with Udacity’s Career Services, will be reviewing the soft skills required for an interview. For the first 30 minutes of his webinar, Matt will go over how to prepare for an interview, especially as a career changer. He will also cover some quick tips on networking to land that interview. For the second half of the webinar, Matt will be taking live questions from students.
Acing an Interview with Positive Psychology (Rebroadcast)
September 11 - 5 PM PST|| 8 PM EST
An exclusive session with the VP of Talent Acquisition at Bertelsmann, Dr. Nico Rose. A speaker at Intersect 2018 and expert in positive psychology, in this session he covers how to instantaneously relax right before your interview, how to learn more about your real strengths so you can bring them to the interview – and better understand what jobs you should be looking for in the first place.
September 13 - 4 PM PST|| 7 PM EST
Martin McGovern, a Udacity Career Advisor, will cover how to follow-up after an interview, what to do if you haven’t heard back and tips for staying positive even if you don’t get the job.
Mock Interviews
Register Here:
During these sessions, you will learn how to conduct a mock interview. You will have the opportunity to practice interviewing, being interviewed and will receive feedback from your peers at the end of the event.
SUBMIT QUESTIONS FOR SPEAKERS HERE
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9/4/18 Announcement
Happy Tuesday, scholars! Have you recovered from the long holiday weekend?! We have a little over 6 weeks left in the program - that's still plenty of time to make some serious progress! Make yourself a schedule to get things done. Most importantly, ask for help when you need it. We'll help you find the answer!
We are on our second week of Career Month! Join this week’s webinars on resume review and crafting a story. Details on our Grow with Google site here:
NEXT STUDY JAM ON SEPT 8TH
Take advantage of these last few weekends and meet us on Slack this Saturday from 8 AM - Noon PT. Everyone will be online working on their projects and we’ll have Study Jam leaders in your track’s live_help channel (e.g. #abnd_live_help, #fend_live_help etc) if you need assistance.
If you’re able to volunteer to provide technical help - we’d love to have you join us! Sign up here
RYAN WAITE IS BACK!
Ryan is back in FEND and eager to share his sage wisdom, give you a motivational boost, and answer your project questions. The webinar will take place on *Monday, September 10th @ 3 PM PT. [Note: Bring your questions - Ryan will be taking all questions LIVE! Register here for Zoom link:
STUDENT WEBINAR CORRECTION
The Digital Accessibility Part I: Focus on HTML and CSS webinar is set for Sunday, Sept. 9th @ 1 PM PT, not Saturday, the 8th.
STUDENT & COHORT WEBINARS
Please send your webinar information (recorded and live) from the Webinar Challenge to Brenda & Kelsey so we can post them on the Student Webinars page and award your team the points!
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In closing,
As we grow closer to the October deadline, nerves may become frazzled and our patience may wear thin but we ask that you continue to treat each other with respect and show kindness when answering (and asking! questions). There is nothing greater or more powerful than a supportive community. Let’s make it to that finish line together!
