Projects, Competitions, and Skill-Building

Hackathons, Competitions, and Design Challenges

Competitions and challenges are a great way to gain experience solving a problem with a team. You'll further develop competencies, further explore your interests, and complete a tangible deliverable you can talk about in future interviews.

Check out some of the competitions at Auburn or explore other opportunities sponsored by companies, communities, or professional and student organizations.

• AuburnHacks
• Major League Hackathons
• Auburn Tiger Cage Competition
• Robotics competitions
• Student organization and professional association competitions such as ASCE, Formula SAE, Design Build Fly, Grand Challenges
• Company competitions and hackathons - searchable on the Handshake events calendar and company websites

Projects

Employers love to see course projects and independent projects on your resume. It helps to demonstrate your self-initiative, work ethic, and how you choose to spend your time.

Consider continuing a project you started in the classroom or the lab, independently or with a group. Gather a team and start a new project you are motivated by.

Make sure to sse the spaces, tools, and resources available to you on campus!

• Auburn Libraries Innovation and Research Commons
• Auburn Engineering Design and Innovation Center

Skill-Building

You can supplement your experiences and add to your resume by upskilling. Teach yourself new skills or further solidify knowledge through online and on-demand learning platforms, many of which compile courses that result in a digital badge or certification allowing you to add them to your resume and digital profiles such as Handshake and LinkedIn.

When you review job or internship postings you are curious about, take note of qualification requirements. Take initiative to develop skills that will help you prepare for a work experience! Many learning platforms offer free courses while others are fee-based.

• LinkedIn Learning | If you work for the university as a student employee, you have free access to LinkedIn Learning, an online training resource. You can learn about topics in business, design, IT, data, operations and project management, marketing, and much more. You can also stack courses and complete LinkedIn badges and certificates that appear on your LinkedIn profile.
  How to access: Create and login to your LinkedIn account. Click the image at the top right and login using your AU credentials.
• Coursera
• EdX
• Udemy
• SkillShare
• Hack the Box