Seen here with OmnoBot, the robotic candidate he entered into student elections, Stefan Martynkiw says it's important for students to get all they can out of the university experience.
(Edmonton) Stefan Martynkiw first set foot on the U of A campus grounds as a curious DiscoverE student back in 2003. This week, 13 years later, he's graduating with a degree in computer engineering.
What's more, Martynkiw already landed a job as a software developer with an Edmonton-based start-up. His passion for all things computer, nurtured in summer camp activities, has developed into a full-time job and a promising career.
"Here at the U of A I opened my eyes to doing all sorts of stuff like animation, playing around with making websites, trying all kinds of hands-on things there's no time for in a school year," says Martynkiw, reminiscing about his experiences as a DiscoverE student.
In addition to getting an early taste of programming at camps, Martynkiw visited some of the coolest labs and facilities on campus.
"One year I remember going on a tour of IST in the General Services Building. It was really neat to see gigantic server farms. It was a lot of fun to be on campus in the summer," says Martynkiw.
After three years of attending DiscoverE summer camps, Martynkiw, fresh out of high school, volunteered at the robotics camp where he once had been a student. Staying on campus and pursuing a degree in engineering was a given. "In Grade 12 all of my friends were going into engineering or science, so I figured I'll stick with my friends," says Martynkiw.
One of the things he appreciates most about the university experience is the diversity of areas covered by many courses he had to take towards a degree. Similar to many aspiring software engineers, Martynkiw took a first stab at coding at a very young age, but it was through formal classes that he learned about fields he didn't even know existed. "The thing with learning programming by yourself is that you only learn what you stumble into," he says.
University gave him a lot of freedom to set a flexible work schedule, and taught responsibility. "When I started university I had a tough time in the first year because I tried to do it like school before, like a nine-to-five kind of thing," says Martynkiw.
By the third year of the program, he learned to juggle school assignments, side weekend projects, and even a political campaign for a robotic candidate.
"In the last day of nominations I found out that no one was running for VP Finance. So in the last 20 minutes I managed to get enough signatures to run Omnibot for VP Finance," says Martynkiw. Omnibot, a battery-powered joke candidate in the Engineering Students' Society election, gathered real votes and boosted student participation.
"We wanted to shake things up a bit and get people who would not otherwise vote to notice and go like, "This is kind of funny. I wonder who else is running," says Martynkiw.
To benefit from the university life, Martynkiw encourages students to get involved with student groups and specialised clubs, develop efficient studying habits, and stay in touch with the peers.
"Go meet people. Those first couple of weeks in school, just sit next to different people every day, introduce yourself, step outside of your shell."
He's now developing Android applications for DriveWyze, an Edmonton-based start-up designing road-safety programs.
Martynkiw is passionate about what he does and is open to new opportunities.
"Don't really plan too far in advance. Have a rough idea of where you are going, but be prepared to change it," he says.