‘StuGig’ connects students with work opportunities
StuGig is new a web-based platform connecting students to short-term technology “gigs” with small- and medium-sized businesses, Dal-led student startups, and other local post-secondary student ventures.
It was the brainchild of Ben Bright, who is heading into his fourth year in Business Management with a major in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Dal. He knows first-hand how tough it is for aspiring student entrepreneurs to connect with developers after he had to shelve his own ideas for a smartphone app after months of networking. On StuGig, “a place for qualified digital talent,” people can post projects, and students can post their own profiles to streamline those connections.
By highlighting the talent at Dal and around province, and enabling those individuals to gain some job experience here, Bright says there’s a greater likelihood they’ll stay.
“People come to develop their skills, but they don’t stay to use their skills,” he says of Nova Scotia’s outmigration of skilled workers. “We want to find that right medium to help facilitate a solution to that problem.”
StuGig is an option exclusively for students without a lot of real-world experience. Vijay Kumar (MEng’16) is StuGig’s chief technology officer and began building out the platform. Originally from India, Kumar arrived in Nova Scotia eager to work but found it tough at first to find gigs. He took on an instructor role in the Department of Engineering Mathematics and Internetworking after graduation, and helped launch StuGig to assist others like himself find career opportunities.
“There’s been a major uptick in the number of student-led startups at Dal over the past few years thanks to a variety of new initiatives, and StuGig stands to play a valuable supportive role on some of those ventures and others in the community at large,” says Stephen Hartlen (BComm’87), Dal’s assistant vice-president of industry relations and executive director of the university’s Industry Liaison and Innovation office.
Read more in “Startup connects students with work opportunities” on dal.ca.