Societies aligned with your course run a whole variety of events dedicated to having fun beyond the usual lectures. Some of these you probably shouldn't put on a CV (pub-crawls are generally not something employers are interested in). However, some events are worth considering putting on your CV. BCSS organise a variety of computer science related events, from hackathons to socials to workshops with companies.
Valeria's Time
BCSS competed against other universities in a '[capture the flag style event', entailing 5 hours of hacking through webpage logins and encrypted servers to try and Win.
I was in a team with 2 other girls, and our plan was to split the different challenges between us, and agreeing to take on another teammate's challenge if they needed help. We made use of AI tools and previous background knowledge of ciphers to crack the initial cypher texts. However some challenges were more advanced such as having to manipulate elements of websites and web addresses in order to get the secret keys to complete the challenges.
Overall it was a rewarding and challenging experience that has helped me work in a team, better use AI tools and learn more about the structure behind websites that was not covered in first year content.
Skills encoded
Competing in events around your subject gives an opportunity to put theory and practice from your course into real life. In Valeria's case, from competing she got the opportunity to develop hard skills like:
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- Cipher cracking
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- AI proficiency
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- Understanding of web addresses
Also, from similar team competition events, there are more skills that are developed that can be transferred to work outside of the same field:
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- Problem solving - In the capture the flag event, there was a variety of tasks set, each taking a level of ingenuity to solve
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- Teamwork and cooperation- Any task where you have to solve problems in a group requires a form of teamwork.
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- Delegation and organisation - There are lots of way to organise work, in Valeria's case it was delegate and work separately
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- Project management - Having limited time and resources in a pressured competition requires meticulous yet swift management to try and achieve as much as you can
Converting this to Interview Code
Taking part in events and societies give great talking points at interviews, not everything you mention on your interview has to be in your CV and vice-versa. Sometimes it's good to go beyond your CV to show yourself as a more well rounded character.
Before going into an interview, think about what the company is looking for in a candidate and what the values of the company. This can then direct your answers to be attuned to the role and bring out the best aspects of an experience like Capture the Flag.
Respond
