Society Spotlight: UC DEVS
By Ruby Thomas
Semester one o-week. It marks a time when students come back to campus for a year of study and student life. And integral to the quintessential university experience are of course clubs and societies! On market day, all of these groups around campus set up shop on the sunny concourse – one of these was UC DEVS – the University of Canberra’s developers, engineers and visionaries society!
Earlier this week, I got a chance to speak to the president and vice president of UC DEVS, Eduardo and Joshua. UC DEVS was only founded last year after Eduardo and Joshua met in a lecture. There was previously no specific society for IT students, and after a lecturer suggested they start the club, Eduardo and Joshua decided they would be the ones to make it happen.
The society aims to provide a supportive environment for students to network, socialise, get help on assignments and work on projects. Alongside these goals, UC DEVS have some specific events planned for the semester. Early in semester one, they plan to hold a pizza and board games event for members to socialise and get to know each other. Last semester, the society held a similar event with a lot of success – around 40 students attended!
As the semester rolls on, UC DEVS will organise a coding and pizza event, networking events, as well as “hackathons.” Eduardo explained “hackathons” are programming competitions, where students meet over a weekend and use IT skills to build something in a compressed timeframe. Themes may include developing a website, or creating a game with Java, for example.
Although the society was founded specifically with IT students in mind, Eduardo and Joshua said all students, regardless of their discipline, are welcome. While some of their activities are social, others are focused on IT skills. Perhaps ambitiously, Eduardo and Joshua said they are willing to teach basic skills to anyone interested, in a true expression of the group’s welcoming nature. Last semester, UC DEVS held multiple workshops, including introductions to Python. Joshua said some inexperienced students attended these events with success.
UC DEVS is highly contactable on their discord, Instagram, Facebook and email. Memberships are $5, available through the UCX website.