Yijie Wang
- From: Toronto, Ontario
- Major: Robotics Engineering
- Summer Plans: Research at the Acceleration Consortium programming robots to perform biochemical experiements
- Hobbies: Reading, writing, and piano
- Fun Fact: Yijie is pursuing a Minor in Global Leadership!
Since starting EngSci, you’ve been on RSX, UTMIST, and aUToronto. Why did you join these design teams and what did you learn from them?
One of the reasons why I chose EngSci was because it exposes you to many concepts. Coming here, I had no idea what I wanted to do in the future, so it was really nice that I got experience in different courses and disciplines through the curriculum. Also, I just like to try out different things through design teams and other activities when identifying my interests. That’s one of the good things about the program and the variety of opportunities that we have: I see something I like and engage with it, and then see how it goes.
Through my experiences with different teams, it’s really cool to hear about the experiences of the people I get to meet, especially those pursuing completely different paths. I think I’ve learned a lot from them, even though what they’re doing is completely different from what I’m doing. I think that’s also a benefit about trying different things.
You also competed in competitions such as the Clarke Prize Environmental Design Challenge and Hack the Student Life. How did you identify these opportunities and succeed in them?
I didn’t participate in any of these in first year because I missed all of the application deadlines; I only got to know about these opportunities when I saw people doing them! In second year, I realized that it’s important to engage in endeavors outside of academics and try different things. Different design teams and organizations like IEEE and UTMIST organize various hackathons, so I followed their Instagram pages to stay up to date on application deadlines and activities. I really like hackathons because you get to work with your friends and achieve more in 24 hours than you may have thought was possible. Even if you don’t have a team going into the hackathon, you can always form a team during it. I met many people from different programs during hackathons, so I think that’s cool, and I recommend anyone to try it.
Developing ideas is the hardest part about hackathons, especially since you’re on a time crunch. We learned to discuss potential ideas before entering the hackathon. In terms of what you want to accomplish at the hackathon, I think it’s based on your interests. Do you want to create something sustainable? Do you want to create something that helps others? Keeping your goal in mind keeps you interested and motivated to work on it.
Personal projects push you to do something you can think of yourself, while learning a lot in the process. They also help build your confidence! Hackathons and team-based projects are even better because you work collaboratively and make friends. These experiences add something on top of your academics and let you see what you can do with what you learn in courses. I gained my project experiences from hackathons and design teams, and that’s how I learned these skills.
What are the benefits of personal projects? What advice would you give to incoming students who have ideas for projects but don’t know how balance them and coursework?
Personal projects push you to do something you can think of yourself, while learning a lot in the process. They also help build your confidence! Hackathons and team-based projects are even better because you work collaboratively and make friends. These experiences add something on top of your academics and let you see what you can do with what you learn in courses. I gained my project experiences from hackathons and design teams, and that’s how I learned these skills.
I think the main thing is time management. It’s important to set expectations while acknowledging that you can’t always work on school.
You need to set aside time to do something else that you are interested in. Even if you think you’re not dedicating enough time to your academics, doing things you’re interested in can motivate you to work more efficiently. Don’t discard your interests and hobbies – keep them in mind when you talk to other people, look for resources online, and find specific opportunities that interest you.
I believe that once you set your mind to do something, you’ll find time to do it, and that’s how I did some of these projects. My main advice is to try out different things. A lot of opportunities come from these activities rather than just studying well.
How did you discover the Acceleration Consortium opportunity?
I found it on the EngSci Info Hub on Quercus, which is a great resource, especially when you don’t know where to find opportunities. They do a good job of listing many opportunities and scholarships. I also applied for other job opportunities through the Engineering Career Centre portal. I think those two resources are enough to land a job. Talking to other people and attending activities from different clubs that focus on different fields also give you a good idea of where to start.
What has been your favourite EngSci course or activity so far?
My favourite endeavor was my first hackathon experience because I had never done any hackathons before, even in high school. I was really surprised at how productive we were in 24 hours. It was an eye-opening experience, and it comes from trying out different things and figuring out your strengths and what you want to improve on.
My favorite course was linear algebra, MAT185. I liked writing proofs because it’s a very rigorous and logical process. It makes sense to me because everything is based on theorems and axioms. Another course I enjoyed in the second year was Praxis III. We got to form our own teams and build something. In the end, we had something to present to everybody, and it was really cool to see what we accomplished as second year students. We worked on garbage sorting in Bangladesh. We built a little robot that would lift garbage to an ergonomic height and used computer vision to identify recyclable materials, assisting workers with sorting. It was a cool prototype. The EngSci curriculum exposes you to many things which remain in your mind, [so that if you face a similar topic in the future] you know what to look for. This helps a lot when doing hands-on work instead of just learning the theoretical frameworks.
[To the incoming class], I think you’ve made a great choice coming to EngSci, not only because of the excellence of the courses and opportunities, but also the community here. Because everybody has the same schedule for the first two years, you really get to know your classmates and have a tightly knit group. And because EngSci is as hard as it is, everybody helps each other out and I think this is something that’s unique to our program. I think you’ll enjoy your time here, and good luck!
