In this episode of the router, we welcome David Gwynne to share some insights into making contributions to open source products. David is an Infrastructure Architect here at UQ, and has co-authored changes to the OpenBSD kernel. OpenBSD is a completely open source operating system that aims to provide transparency with the software that runs on you…

Internet as an everyday necessity for many of us, we browse through many websites from social medias, search engines, to breaking news on the internet. One minute of website downtime can cost companies of example Apple to lose tens of thousands of dollars during the release of newest MacBook, have you ever thought about what goes behind maintaining…

Today, Rachel has a chat with Graham Cummins from KJR, all about consultancy, KJR’s graduate opportunities, community in KJR, and their latest projects. Graham is a general regional manager at KJR. KJR is a Software Quality Engineering consultancy, and one of UQCS’s silver sponsors this year, with over 25 years of experience in tech consulting, sof…

As you may know, the UQCS AGM is coming up, and at the AGM we will elect a new committee for 2022. UQCS has been around for just over 10 years, and we thought that now would be a great time to have a chat to some of the past president and talk to them about what they learned during their time at the helm of one of UQ’s largest technology focused so…

Today, Liv has a chat to Dave Durbin from Canva, all about image processing and computer graphics, and their application to one of the largest graphic design platforms in the world. Dave is a team lead at Canva with a passion for computer graphics and computer vision. He has been with Canva for three and a half years, moving between different teams…

Today, we have an exciting episode at the intersection of computer science and mathematics! Ben Burton and Rhuaidi Burke, from the School of Mathematics and Physics at UQ, both work in the field of computational topology. They’re here to give a brief introduction to computational topology, as well as some of the unique challenges that arise when wr…

Today we’re chatting to Tony Lykke, @tl on Discord, 2015 UQ grad and current infrastructure engineer at Hudson River Trading in New York City. Join us as we explore both the world of infrastructure engineering and SRE in automated trading…and the world of the Big Apple, New York City. Tony works as a software engineer at Hudson River Trading in NYC…

Kendrick Tan, also known as @kendrick on Slack, has worked in the blockchain space for many years, and currently works at DFX in decentralised finance, where he is the Chief Technical Officer. He’s here to give us a 20-minute rundown on blockchain, Ethereum, decentralised finance and more, as well as addressing some of the concerns regarding the pa…

Join us for a brand new episode of the Router, where we chat with Dr Rob Bell, also known as “Dr Rob”, of Scope and Network Ten fame! He’s been inspiring students to pursue STEM on television for many years, and is joining us to talk about his experiences as a science educator. Dr Rob Bell, also known as Dr Rob, is a scientist, television presenter…

Harry Guthrie, also known as @guthers on Slack, is a recent UQCS alumni, studied software engineering, and has a wealth of experiences to share, from travelling in Illinois to China to co-founding a software company, Autop, and everything in between. Tune in to hear about how “saying yes” to opportunities can lead you to exciting and unexpected pla…

Will Toohey works full-time as a software engineer, but in his spare time he is a passionate rhythm game fan and hardware hobbyist. Today he’s gonna be telling all about his experiences working on side projects, and how you can get into hardware, no 4-year electrical engineering degree required! Will Toohey (also known as @mon on Slack) currently w…

Side projects can be daunting. You have a brilliant idea in your mind, but how do you get it into code? Kenton and Darren, both current uni students and side project veterans are here to give you guidance on how to start, finish and maintain your side projects. Darren Fu: "Hi everyone, my name is Darren and I’m a very-late-year software engineering…

Welcome to the first episode of season 2 of The Router! In this episode, we have Jodie Vlassis and Tanvir Ahmed to tell us all about their journey to, and their life in, Atlassian's Security team. Jodie Vlassis is a cyber security professional with 5 years’ experience in Cloud Security, governance/risk and compliance, government strategy and policy…

Want to make the most out of uni? Nick Lambourne, former president of UQCS and intrepid UQ alumni, is here to help. Join Nick as he walks you through his university experiences, from Brisbane to Silicon Valley and everywhere in between. It’s holiday season coming up and The Router will be taking a short break over Christmas and New Year. We’ll be r…

Curious about open source? Join Katie McLaughlin, current director of the Python Software Foundation and with over 5 years in open source contribution, as she shares her experience and tips for contributing to open source projects. Related links: Forge Your Future with Open Source http://fossforge.com/ PyCon Australia http://pycon.org.au/ Ruby Conf…

These days, there is much hype around data science and machine learning, but what's working in it actually like? Samual MacDonald, a machine learning researcher at Max Kelsen (a Brisbane-based AI/ML consultancy) gives insight into what a machine learning job actually looks like, and how he got there. Liking The Router so far, why not subscribe in y…

2020 has been a unique and challenging year for so many reasons. What was it like being a first-year student in the midst of all that? We sat down with Paul Clarke and Utkarsh Sharma — both first-year computer science students and members of the UQCS general committee — to talk about their experiences and how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted thei…

Google.com is the most visited website in the world, and the company that backs it, Google, is one of the largest tech companies in the world. As a result, many computing students see it as a dream company to work for, but what’s it like actually working there? Emily Bennett, UQ computer science honours alum & current Googler, shares her experience…

Product Managers are a key part of modern software companies all over the world, but very few people can tell you exactly what it is they do. Lucky for you, we've found a friendly PM who's willing to break it down. Jonathan Katahanas has been working in product management for SaaS applications at Atlassian for more than three years since graduating…

Have you ever come across documentation for a library or framework that was so good it made development painless? As it turns out, there's a whole field responsible for making that feeling a reality: technical writing. Lucas Costi is a technical writer at GitHub (you might have heard of it) and he's kindly joined us to talk about what his role invo…

This week on the router we're joined by UQ alumni and successful startup founder Robert Quinn. We talk to Rob about his journey through some of the world's most prestigious startup accelerators with his co-founder Wei, as well as the very personal motivation behind their mission to tackle sepsis using machine learning. Liking The Router so far, why…

This week on the Router we're joined by Dr Jessica Korte, a researcher at The University of Queensland who is currently working on an end-to-end technology pipeline for recognising and producing Auslan (the Australian Sign Language). We talk about her journey through honours and PhD programs and her current work at UQ, as well as what the three ele…

Most of us have heard of functional programming, but most of us also "nope out" fairly quickly on seeing our first few lines of Haskell. UQCS alum, Googler, and resident Scala aficionado Max Bo (@MaxwellBo) joins us to talk through why it's worth putting in that initial extra effort, how he got started, and how the "functional renaissance" has come…

Ryan Kurz (@lighthou on Slack) has had more internships than anyone else we know. From startups to giants like SAP and Google, he’s pretty much seen it all. Join us as we find out what he’s learned from all of that experience and what he’d recommend for finding the job of your dreams. Host: Olivia Mackenzie-Ross Music: Awesome Call by Kevin MacLeod…

Mike O'Shea hails from Co Kerry and he is quite literally AS HARD AS NAILS. This man has climbed remote peaks and trekked across ice caps in temperates as low as -50 degrees. Here Mike tells us why he takes on these mammoth challenges and about some of the incredible incidents along the way. A really incredible insight into Polar Expeditions and ad…

When Brian Maher told his family he wanted to run the marathon they all burst out laughing. At the time, Brian struggled to run just 1km. However, determined to prove his family wrong, Brian put on his trainers and hit the pavement to train for his big day. A year later, Brian completed five marathons in 5 days. A year later he ran 126 miles non-st…

Rob Cummins was a difficult teenager. He smokes, drank and liked to cause trouble. By the time he hit his 20s, he was smoking up to 60 cigarettes a day. Life took a major turn when he bought a mountain bike and realised he quite enjoyed the pain of competing. And there really has been no stopping him ever since. Rob tells us all about his journey f…

Rookies Claire McCluskey and Nick Russell recently sailed across the Atlantic. The idea was hatched over a few pints in the pub. The only thing standing between them and the adventure was the fact that neither of them had huge experience of offshore sailing! But that wasn't enough to stand in their way. The duo took on courses and dedicated three y…

Columbia Sportswear athlete, Richard Nunan, is one of Ireland's top endurance athletes. He has completed the Wicklow Round, competed at the Adventure Racing World Championships and is a regular on the Irish mountain running scene. On 27 August, Columbia Sportswear athlete Richard Nunan and his teammates, Thure Fuhrmann and Zoran Škrba, embarked on …

Karen Darke was a keen runner, climber and orienteer when she fell off a cliff and became paralysed from the chest down at age 21. However, this life-changing accident did not quell her passion for adventure. With the help of friends and in a large part thanks to her creativity and perseverance, Karen discovered that most things are still possible,…

Irish woman, Olive McGloin, became the first woman in the world to walk the Pacific Crest Trail, from the borders of Mexico to Canada and back again, non-stop in 2014. (It’s the same 2,650-mile route (one way) that Reese Witherspoon’s character walks some 1,000 miles of in the film Wild.) She encountered deadly snakes, mountain lions, severe storms…

In 2009, Kiko Matthews had a nearly fatal brain tumour, which resulted in Cushing's disease. She was treated at King's College Hospital, and had to undergo neurosurgery. In August 2017, she had another tumour, which occurred while she was training for the Atlantic crossing. On 22 March 2018, she became the fastest female to row the Atlantic, solo a…

John O'Regan has run marathons and ultra marathons in some of the world's toughest environments from Antartica to the Sahara. However, his involvement in running is not restricted to his own personal goals. Last year, John guided blind runner Sinead Kane in her bid to run seven marathons on seven continents in seven days and he has helped countless…

Ellie and Carl are walking along all the National Waymarked Trails of Ireland. There are 42 trails, with a combined distance of around 4,000km.The idea for this project was born while they were living in a tent in France a few years ago. The idea grew after they walked 1,100km through France and Spain along the Camino Del Norte - when they realised…

Paul Franklin has struggled through life with spinal problems ever since he was young. Recently he endured extensive spinal surgery. However, Paul will not let this hold him back from doing what he loves, cycling the world. Here Paul tells us about overcoming huge challenges in his life including the loss of two of his triplets, two broken marriage…

Four years ago, Gerard Prendergast (37) from Ballymun couldn’t swim. Last year he took on one of the world’s toughest endurance challenges – Deca UK. The event sees a small group of competitors attempt to complete 10 Ironman races in 10 days. Put mildly, it sounds brutal. But not so for Gerard who not only excelled in the event, topping the podium.…

Dave has a habit of doing things differently.As a record-breaking adventurer he is best known for Expedition1000, an ongoing mission to take on twenty-five different non-motorised journeys, each over 1000 miles in distance. He's completed fourteen, so far.In 2012 he founded SayYesMore, a life-fulfilling movement that helps nudge people towards find…

Joe Barr is the current Ultra Marathon Cycling Association (UMCA) World Champion in the 500–mile overall championship. He is the first Irish endurance cyclist to bring home a World Championship. It’s also the first time in Joe’s 45+ year multi-discipline cycling career that Joe has broken through to this level and all at the age of 58.And he shows …

In 2017, Mark Beaumont cycled around the world in just 78 days. Prior to that he broke the record for cycling Cairo to Cape Town and cycled the Americas. He also rowed further north than anybody has ever been before. Here Mark shares his incredible story from life as a young boy on a farm in the Scottish Highlands to becoming one of the world's mos…

Jason Black is just back from climbing the world's toughest mountain, K2. Bullied as a teenager, Jason also lost his mum aged 17. It was a very tough time in his life, but sport was his saviour. Since then, he has completed some of the world's toughest endurance challenges. But nothing quite compares to conquering K2. Here he shares his unbelievabl…

Extreme endurance adventurer Sean Conway is the first and only man in history to cycle, swim and run the length of Britain. He completed the record-breaking feat in 2015 when he ran from John O’Groats to Land’s End in just 44 days, having previously cycled and swum the route.His most recent achievement was the world record for cycling unsupported a…

Former professional rugby player, Damien Browne, talks about the hardship and isolation over the course of the nine weeks he spent at sea as he became one of the few to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean.The journey saw the Irishman travel more than 4,000km without a support vessel and involved several complications, including capsizing twice in on…

At just 25 years old, Shane Finn has already run 12 marathons in 12 days and over the summer he doubled that to 24 marathons in 24 days. He has now totalled 47 marathons in his lifetime, three full Ironman races (soon to be four as he’s set to take on IM Lake Placid in America this summer) and so far has raised an incredible €190,000 for Spina Bifi…

Andrew Cotton surfs the biggest waves in the world. Waves that are sometimes the height of two to three storey houses. Last year he had what is deemed to be one of the worst wipeouts throughout the history of the sport. The video of the incident went viral overnight. We chat to Andrew about how he began surfing these mammoth waves and the rocky roa…

Stephen Redmond became the first person to swim the 7 Oceans which is deemed the ocean equivalent to the 7 Summits. Redmond was faced with severe sea sickness, vertigo, box jellyfish and sharks as he swam his way into the record books. He swam the English Channel between England and France in August 2009, followed by the North Channel between Scotl…

Nikki Bradley was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer (Ewing’s Sarcoma) at the age of 16. She received the news that she would remain on crutches permanently and, in the future, may face full right leg amputation. Since then, she has undertaken several incredible challenges to both raise awareness for the rare disease and highlight the import…

Moire O'Sullivan is one of Ireland's top mountain runners and adventure racers. She also happens to be a mum. Describing herself as not maternal at all, she took pregnancy and motherhood head on as she juggled her racing career with kids. Training right up until her due date and back on the bike just two weeks after giving birth, she tells us how s…

Eoin Keith is one of the Europe's top ultra runners. He holds numerous records and has won races like The Spine and the Northern Traverse. With a background in Pitch and Putt, Eoin only took up running at age 30. This year he took on the world's toughest endurance race, The Barkely Marathons. Here he tells us about his incredible journey, his train…