The purpose of RadGrad is to allow undergraduate computer science and computer engineering students to improve their STEM degree experience through a well-balanced, organized path. Many students use their GPA to indicate how they are doing in their school work, meaning the better the GPA, the better they are doing, and therefore a better job. However, as technology advances, engineers are bound to face a competitive job market. Now instead of just your GPA, recruiters are looking for a well-rounded student that has the ability to lifelong learn and apply it to their projects. This balanced lifestyle is encapsulated into RadGrad, which is built around seven constructs: “Interests, Career Goals, Courses, Opportunities, Degree Plans, ICE (Innovation, Competency, and Experience), and Levels.”. Instead of just a GPA, students can now plan out projects, internships, experiences, and meetups to learn fundamental values such as leadership, social innovation, communication, and networking with others. These skills will then help you be less likely to fall behind in the face of automation and the changing job landscape. In addition, you will learn how a company operates daily, how to quickly adapt on the fly in any situation, how to become an open thinker, and communicate with others.
After using RadGrad, I have found many computer engineering communities and meetups specifically in the realm of machine learning and artificial intelligence: Hawaii Machine Learning Meetup. Additionally, like most students, I based my academic and professional success on my GPA, and, RadGrad has allowed me to see the lack of projects in my field of studies. In this case, RadGrad indicated that I had a lack of “Innovation” the “I” in ICE. It then provided me with upcoming opportunities that would allow me to gain innovation points such as “research projects, hackathons, or other activities producing new insights or technologies.” In addition to communities and projects, RadGad has introduced me to internship opportunities such as Google Summer of coding, NSA internships, AMD, etc. One thing that was beneficial to me was saving these internships and putting them into a four-year program through a planner. This helped me visualize my goals and see where I needed to be each part of the way.
Overall, RadGrad provides computer science majors a great way to plan for their future and have an organized way to do so. However, RadGrad can still be developed more for computer engineers as there are few EE courses listed and minimal opportunities to apply to our planners. As for computer science majors, using RadGrad will significantly benefit you. It ensures that you experience a well-balanced education with projects, a way to network with others, internships and careers, and lastly, similar courses to those you are interested in.
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