UCalgary Tech Recruiting w/ BobaTalks’ Jeff Nguyen

While this isn’t quite a tech blog, this post should have some important insights for any UCalgary students interested in a tech career.

After seeing that Jeff Nguyen, a recruiter in the student space, founder of BobaTalks (which provides free mentorship for students), and prolific "LinkedInfluencer" (the good kind) was going to have a booth at CalgaryHacks 2025, I knew I had to reach out. As someone deeply involved in both student mentorship and tech recruiting, he seemed like the perfect person to chat with about student recruiting, starting with how UCalgary students can stand out in the job market. 

Q: UCalgary has good computer science courses and fantastic clubs. Even so, many students here find it tough to break into big or even mid-sized tech companies because there's not a lot of direct access to recruiters. What's your take on the best way for students in a market like ours to get noticed?

Jeff: I believe that computer science is one of those fields where you should use your first year or two to explore all the smaller opportunities around you. It doesn't matter whether you are at UCalgary, a smaller college, an institute, or somewhere like Harvard; almost all CS students start at 0 during their first two years - and that’s okay. But it's usually the students who make the most of those two years, who are the most competitive when it comes time for their 3rd year recruiting. Being open-minded about volunteering, clubs, projects, and even upskilling helps tons!

My go-to advice for any student who is trying to break into "FAANG" or "Big Tech" is to get comfortable with the curriculum, try as many opportunities as you can, and learn as many technologies as possible in your first two years.

I have often found that the students who get noticed are the ones who have an ample amount of “data” on their resume - they use this to snowball!

Q: For students who have already followed this advice and have personal projects and previous internships, it can still be a challenge to stand out from what might be hundreds of other good resumes. Are there any specific things that might differentiate an exceptional resume from a really good resume for most recruiters?

Jeff: I can't speak for all recruiters, but I think that I can speak for all good recruiters. There is a difference between a resume that has a tech stack + a bunch of experiences, and a resume that has a tech stack where that tech stack is backed up.

A great example of this, to me, is Java. There is a difference between a student who tells me that they have Java in their skill set when their resume is just an overview of all the internships they've had, and a student who has tailored their bullet points around how they've used Java. Even if a student hasn’t used Java in their internships, they include projects that use it.

Larger schools tend to have more opportunities for students to build those projects (clubs, RSOs, hackathons, co-ops, etc) - but these aren’t exclusive to larger schools! Students from even smaller schools can still do the same thing, on their own or with others.

Since a well-supported tech stack is important, I asked whether students should go as far as tailoring their resumes to different languages.

The answer is no, because that would be insane. I would say that most software internships are fungible, which is essentially a fancy corporate way to say, "I can take a student with a very agnostic skillset, find them a team, and we believe that they can learn how to work on this new team".

There are some companies who really want specific skills - and they’ll say so on their job description. They often ask for specialized skills when recruiting where they fill very niche skill sets on very niche teams. You don't need to create a specialized resume for each tech stack, but you should think of creating projects to back up the tech stacks that you have on your resume.

There are certain things that you do not need to back up, such as HTML/CSS. I do think you need to back Java up, and that you need to backup niche languages like Golang/Ruby for those more specific job postings.

Q: Once a strong resume is ready, the next challenge is timing—how important is applying early?

Jeff: I do think speed matters more than anything. But that comes with so many contingencies, such as that you've networked and tried to secure a referral a full quarter before recruiting season. If recruiting season is 9 months before the season of the internship, then you should be networking in the fall for summer internships.

This also comes with the assumption that you've done things like optimized your resume to the best you can and upskilled yourself. If you've done those, then apply as quickly as possible.

All companies work on a very loose first come first serve basis, and it's usually the students who aren't aware enough or wait for referrals who never get their foot in.

Being on top of jobs and opportunities is just a great skill that all people have to learn at some point or another.

Q: Does the speed at which we complete an online Leetcode-style assessment matter?

Jeff: No - some of you might need four hours, others might just need forty minutes. You don't get evaluated on how fast you do something, but on how well you do something. 

Q: Does it matter how early you do the online assessment, if you're given a two-week timespan for example?

Jeff: Yes, if you do it earlier, then you will be put into due process in the system earlier. We’re unlikely to prioritize candidates who complete it later when we already have two weeks of people and recruiting season is limited for us. 

UCalgary students often wonder if their school puts them at a disadvantage compared to more established tech pipelines. I asked Jeff whether he’s noticed any patterns across different universities and what UCalgary can do to better support its students.

Jeff: I'm going to bring up these three schools, and not in a way like "UCalgary is not as good", but I will say that UWaterloo, U of T, and UBC have a ton of events that engage their student community. There are hackathons for sure, but also conferences and clubs that have huge opportunities to engage externally.

Co-op programs originally referred to partnerships between companies and universities. It's because of the universities' partnerships with these companies that allows more direct recruitment with them. The universities have worked out these partnerships a long time ago, and any school like UCalgary should invest heavily into their student body as their student body will usually be the one activating these external partnerships with the school.

Q: Do you have any thoughts on the state of tech recruitment, and any negatives you see in it?

Many students romanticise certain companies because of the prestige, lifestyle, salaries, etc. As a student, you should have aspirations and dreams - they keep you accountable and make you work harder.

The problem I have with that in the tech recruiting world is that it makes a lot of people feel entitled, like "Oh, they only offered me X amount of starting salary," and it creates a culture where the bar is so high, not to mention the mental health implications.

I wish that there was a bit more humanity in tech recruiting where people are OK with working for a smaller company, or companies that are a little different from the norm. Some students don't want to work in those larger companies, and I respect that. Just as I respect students who do want to work in them. I just abhor language that insinuates one choice is superior to another. 

I want students to be more open-minded and understand that they are going to be around for a very long time and if you only have this one thought in your mind that "this is where I want to be", you're going to be very disappointed if it doesn't work out. It's good to have goals, but there are so many great opportunities around you that you may be dismissing.

Q: Do you have any advice on finding authentic mentors? Sometimes mentorship can feel very transactional and awkward.

We tend to identify with people who maybe we aspire to become, and people who we can relate to. For a student, I fundamentally believe the best mentors for students are people a little bit older. So, if you're a first year, a fourth year would be a good mentor. If you're later on in your degree, a new grad would be a good mentor. If you're a new grad, then a mid-level person would be appropriate.

The best mentor is someone who's recently gone through what you've been through, but is also in a position that you respect. I strongly disagree with the idea that your mentor needs to have clout or status. There are a lot of horrible senior-level people who would be terrible mentors, and others who are not in high positions who would be amazing mentors.

Thank you for your time, Jeff!

His final takeaways? Stay open-minded, build experience, and focus on the long game.

If you want to catch his Amazon booth and more at CalgaryHacks, sign up to attend with the added benefit of boosting your resume, getting free food, and having fun.

Thank you for reading – hope this fed your anappetite for some tech career advice, and please leave your thoughts in the comments!

Ana :)