Recently, when attempting to recruit UM Computer Science students I found myself facing a number of obstacles. UM seems to have a lot going on for large companies to recruit, but as a small local company it was not easy for me. Over the years I have very successfully utilized students from the School of Information, but that was the result of personal contacts and relationship building over the years. Since, these days people under 25 are using many new ways to network, such as Facebook, I thought it would be interesting to seek comments from people as to how we can get beyond just postings and resumes in a database and think about employing some Web 2.0 social networking ideas. My first step is taking an email sent to a small list of people and posting it to this blog. Next, I am hoping to get some comments from the A2B3 lunch group and maybe we’ll create a Wiki or do something in Facebook. The are about 22,000 registered Facebook users in Ann Arbor.
Email from a UM Computer Science Professor
. . . My understanding is that Ann Arbor has a number of companies and entrepreneurs that are in need of software development help (Amy can provide more complete information). Companies often require software help, but are unable to pay for full-or-part-time developers. Many
entrepreneurs do not have seed money, and need software help to develop prototypes.In teaching 285 and 398 for the past few years, I’ve talked with a number of students who were very interested in working on real software projects. I think there is value in discussing how to connect
motivated and interested UM computer science students with local companies and entrepreneurs. The companies and entrepreneurs get software help, and students get real software development experience. Other benefits include the potential of retaining local talent and helping to grow a technology base in Ann Arbor. Given the Michigan economy, I think there is a real need and opportunity here. . . .
Topic: 
i suffer through this every summer when i try to hire interns. i’m not as fortunate to have a deep network in umich cs or cpre, not having either attended or worked there. however, i do have real needs for interns, contractor, and part-time help, but have virtually no luck finding these people. i’ve tried craigslist, with some success, but for the most part, it’s a challenge even finding these people, let alone matching interests and needs.
a wiki would be a great start, facebook, perhaps, especially given it’s prominence among the youts. and personally, i’d love to see a social network application that actually provides value to the participants, other than a voyeuristic thrill - this would be a great step towards providing tangible value to a social networking platform.
ship it!
bob
I haven’t tried working with U-M students, but I did try doing the intern thing with some students from Washtenaw Community College. My results were mixed. On some projects, it worked out fine, but on others, it took me as much time or more to explain and evaluate the work as it would have taken me to do just do it.
Having said that, the observations “…companies and entrepreneurs get software help, and students get real software development experience,” and “other benefits include the potential of retaining local talent and helping to grow a technology base in Ann Arbor” are true enough. Just be aware about what you’re getting into.