Announcements
Interview Prep Debrief + Chill Q&A with Meta Engineers
March 16, 2022 at 11:32 PM
Thanks so much to all that came to our interview prep event with Meta! I hope you all found it helpful and insightful. A couple of things:
- Princeton’s Meta recruiter has offered to share her emails with Princeton students. Reach out to ptonacm@princeton.edu if you’d like to contact her. If you do, please keep general email courtesy in mind.
- For those who couldn’t attend, we were able to take some notes of what was said. They can be accessed here. Unfortunately, they refused to record the event or share their slides.
- As a follow-up, we’ll be having a chill Q&A session with some Meta Engineers on 3/23! Come with any questions about the recruiting process, what it’s like to work at Meta, which offices are the best, the food at the Meta cafeteria, etc. Anything is fair game! RSVP HERE Note: Even if you can’t make it, you can submit questions via the RSVP form, and we’ll try to ask them and write any answers down.
Have a great rest of your week, and don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions!
Interview Prep and Advising with Meta!
March 10, 2022 at 1:32 PM
Still looking to sharpen your interviewing skills? Want to get the insider scoop on Big Tech hiring, or what life is like at Meta? Or maybe you just like free boba? If any of the above applies to you, then you should
Join us for a virtual interview prep/advising session with Meta engineer Blake Dixon! RSVP here
When: March 16, 2022, at 5:00 PM EDT
Where: Virtual at this link (bit.ly/acm_meta_316)
Engineer Blake Dixon will be going over a couple of practice technical problems, explain how to approach behavioral interviews, and give some general advice about how to maximize your chances of scoring a job with Meta. Blake will also stick around for a little bit if you have any questions. RSVP soon — the first 20 people to RSVP will also get boba from Kung Fu Tea after the event!
Hope to see you there!
ACM Officer Elections for the 2022-2023 Year
March 9, 2022 at 2:28 PM
ACM officers have the unique opportunity to influence, lead and represent Princeton University’s computer science club — so if you enjoyed events that we held in the past two semesters or are eager to implement your own ideas to better the COS community, you should consider joining the board the next year!
Here is the form to declare your candidacy. The deadline to fill it out is 4/4/2022, and elections will be held on 4/7/2022 in person.
Candidate Eligibility. With the exception of the graduate liaison (who must be a grad student) and the competitions chair (who can be a grad or an undergrad), all candidates must be undergraduates graduating in 2023 or later. You also must have attended at least two ACM events or have spent more than 5 hours at one ACM event within the past two semesters: COSCON, ICPC, Code@Nights, Socials, and Mock Interviews all count!
Voting Eligibility. You can vote if you’ve attended at least one ACM event in the past two semesters.
Open Positions and Responsibilities.
Chair (President). Head of the club, responsible for organizing meetings/events, and charting the course for ACM. In the past, the chair has also taken a very active role in organizing COSCON, though they may choose to bring on another team to help out. Also partially responsible for developing a financial plan for the coming year.
Vice-Chair (Vice President). Aids the chair in distributing/completing tasks and in logistical-related work.
Secretary-Treasurer. Manage the budget and oversee fundraising. This is a very important position!
Competitions Chair. Run ICPC (both the competition itself and practices for it) and help organize COSCON.
Careers Chair. Manage relationships with outside companies, and work with the Workshops Chair to organize Code@Nights that further members’ career prospects.
Workshops Chair. Coordinate workshops for Code@Nights and other events. We’d love to engage more with the academia side of computer science this coming year!
Tech Chair. Maintain the website and aid in sending out publicity.
Graduate Liaison. A new position that we’re including so we can better connect with our Graduate community!
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to show up in person to the elections if I’m running? Yes. Exceptions will only be made in extraordinary extenuating circumstances.
Do I have to show up in person to the elections if I’m just voting? Again, yes. Exceptions will be made more generously, though: email ptonacm@princeton.edu if this applies to you.
How are winners decided? If there are only two candidates for a position, the candidate receiving a majority of the votes wins. Otherwise, there will be a primary election: if a candidate receives a majority of the votes, they win; otherwise, the top two primary finishers will be sent to a runoff.
Do I have to give a speech to run? Not required, but you’re more than welcome to! We highly recommend that you submit a candidate statement (50-300 words) on the application though.
What is ACM’s financial situation like? Very good. There are plenty of funds to support whatever ideas you may have. (Of course, this doesn’t mean that the next board won’t have to fundraise.) You can contact Nalin (nranjan@) if you want to know more for some reason.
ICPC Practice Materials
February 25th, 2022 at 8:28 PM
Thanks to all that came for today’s ICPC practice! The materials that we went over, including code solutions to every problem we did, can be found here.
Remember that the last day to register is February 28th. You’ll have to fill out this form and also create an account on icpc.global for each participating teammate. (We have a couple of teams that might need an extra teammate…)
Reach out with any questions, and good luck with midterms! You got this!
Announcement on Correlation One’s Spring Competitions!
February 21st, 2022 at 5:30 PM
This spring, we’re inviting you to compete in the East Coast Terminal and the East Coast Regional Datathon. This is a great learning opportunity for those who are interested in coding/data science and want to showcase their skills in a team-based setting.
Apply NOW to either of these competitions or both and win a chance at $15k & recruiting opportunities at Citadel!
Find more event details below, and feel free to email yusra@correlationone.com if you have any questions. We look forward to reviewing your application! Deadline: February 24th at 5PM EST
East Coast Terminal (coding focused)
When: February 28th - March 7th (flexible structure)
Where: Virtual
Prizes: $15,000 + Exclusive recruiting opportunities with Citadel LLC and Citadel Securities
Who: Undergraduates, graduates, Ph.D., and post-doc researchers
Terminal is a one of a kind games-based AI challenge, where players code strategies to automate gameplay, battling team vs team for prize money and job opportunities. For more information, check out this brief clip to see Terminal in action!
East Coast Regional Datathon (data science focused)
When: March 21st to 28th (flexible structure)
Where: Virtual
Prizes: $15,000 + Exclusive recruiting opportunities with Citadel LLC and Citadel Securities
Who: Undergraduates, graduates, Ph.D., and post-doc researchers
Datathons are world premier data science competitions, bringing students to work on challenging problems with real-world data in a team-based setting.
Come learn C++ with Old Mission Capital!
November 14th, 2021 at 8:21 PM
Are you interested in picking up a language that is used by over 6 million developers and is deployed ubiquitously in computer systems, high-frequency trading, game development, IoT devices, and more? Or have you ever wondered if COS 217, or systems programming in general, could be interesting? Then you should
Join us THIS FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19 at 8:00 PM in Lewis Library 138 for a Systems Intro to C++ with Andrew Wonnacott ‘19! RSVP HERE
Food from Local Greek and Old Mission Capital swag will be provided!
Former Princeton ACM Vice President Andrew Wonnacott (currently at Old Mission Capital, ex-Hudson River Trading/DE Shaw) will introduce systems programming with C++. Andrew will demonstrate how C++ allows software engineers to build large-scale systems without the mental overhead of C-style memory management or the performance overhead of Java garbage collection. Andrew will assume familiarity with Java, but C experience is strictly not required! Afterward, we’ll have time to socialize, eat, talk about COSCON, and more, like any Code@Night!
Read more about Old Mission Capital here. Hope to see you there!
See what it’s like in the tech startup world with Alinea!
November 8th, 2021 at 4:21 PM
Maybe you’re tired of big tech and want to know what it’s like in the startup world. Or maybe you want to found your own startup. Or maybe you just like donuts and the warm fuzzy feeling of sipping hot chocolate while it’s sub-freezing outside. If any of these applies to you, then you should
Join us THIS FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12 from 5:00-5:30 PM in Lewis Library 120 for a talk with the co-CEOs of Alinea! RSVP HERE
Anam and Eve (the co-CEOs) will be talking about what it was like to go from an idea to a minimum viable product (MVP), their experience with Y-Combinator, what software development in the startup world is like, and more! They’re also here to answer any of the questions you may have!
What’s Alinea? Alinea is a recently founded Fintech looking to capture the wave of Gen-Z investors who are looking to invest in things that matter to them (aka not oil companies). By offering stacks, bundles of stocks based on a theme or strategy — think playlists for investing — users can invest in causes and ideas that are personal to them. Learn more about their founders below:
Previously, Eve Halimi was working in Strategy at Contentsquare, a growth stage data analytics startup, and held multiple positions in banks and hedge funds. She graduated from Barnard College, Columbia University with a Bachelors in Economics.
Prior to Alinea, Anam Lakhani worked at Citigroup as an investment banker in Equity Capital Markets. Anam received her bachelor’s degree from Barnard College of Columbia University in May of 2019, and graduated cum laude with a major in Economics.
Come learn about the database industry with Yugabyte!
October 22, 2021 at 4:53 PM
Do you find yourself interested in algorithmic challenges, systems, machine learning, and/or cloud computing? Do you want to learn about what it’s like to work in the hip, new companies of the database industry (#OverthrowOracle)? Are you looking for an internship or job? Or do you just like boba? If any of the above apply, then you should
Join us next Friday (October 29th) at 4:00 PM for a talk on the cool work YugabyteDB does! RSVP HERE
The talk will be virtual (Zoom details will be updated on this post later), with breakout rooms after the talk if you want to chat with engineers or recruiters (hint: this might help your application prospects!). Afterward, we’ll be handing out BOBA in-person for the first thirty people who signed up and attended the talk. What are you waiting for? Here’s the raw RSVP link: https://forms.gle/DC6veaccRC15LZfZA. Hope to see you there!
Tell me more about Yugabyte! Yugabyte is a company on a mission to build the default database for cloud-native applications in a multi-cloud world. They’re well underway on this journey with YugabyteDB, the open-source, high-performance, distributed SQL database that runs on any cloud and enables developers to get instantly productive using well-known APIs! They’re also looking for talented and driven people to join them on their ambitious mission and help them build a lasting and impactful company.
COSCON is back — stake your claim in a prize stash worth over $15K!
October 18, 2021 at 12:30 PM
What is COSCON?
COSCON is Princeton University's Computer Science Contest! It is designed to get Princeton students of all walks excited and thinking about a variety of topics that arise in computer science.
Unlike hackathons or your run-of-the-mill programming competitions, our contest won’t solely focus on the “coding” aspect of computer science: some of our problems will require the creative insight of a theoretician, while others may require the guile of a seasoned systems specialist. All you need to be able to do is think! You don't need to be a computer science major to participate or do well.
When/where is it?
It's going to be held on November 6th, 2021 from 12:30 PM to 7:30 PM ET. We'll host an intro session at 11:30 AM the day of in McDonnell A02 and the surrounding Brush Gallery, but during the competition, you can work anywhere as the problems will be accessible online!
Why should I participate?
Cool challenges. Problems are from many active areas in computer science: data structures and algorithms, machine learning, systems, crypto, complexity theory — you name it, we got it!
Very exciting prizes. We're giving away over $10,000 to top teams. First place undergrad team gets $3000 to spend, no questions asked! First place grad team gets $1500 to spend!
You could attract your future employer. Our contributors (Facebook, IMC Trading, Susquehanna International Group, Bloomberg, and more) want to hire you and will be paying particular attention to the winners of this year's competition! They're always looking to hire smart people...
A plethora of miscellaneous prizes. Over $1500 worth of special prizes that you can win even if you don't win a placement prize!
Free food, boba, and swag. You get free boba if you REGISTER QUICKLY, and free pizza will be provided for the entire duration of the competition to keep you going! SIG swag will be provided for ALL PARTICIPANTS. Everyone also gets a free COSCON tumbler and sticker!*
Get some exposure to what's going on in CS. COSCON is an excellent introduction to computer science as a field if you're unsure of it as a major (P.S. we also have a best freshman/sophomore team award).
I'm in — what should I do?
Find two teammates (it's also OK if you don't have two) and register right now so you get that free boba (first 25 teams). Also check out our website for more information!
I did COSCON last year and it was too hard :(
This was almost a universal sentiment. That's why we're allowing teams of size three and giving you a total of seven hours to do the competition. We've also cut back on problems that would've benefitted from knowing niche, field-specific knowledge. We'll also be hosting office hours the entire duration of the competition (12:30 PM-7:30 PM) to give you hints if you get stuck!
How can I learn more?
Visit our website and email us if you have any questions!
*as long as supplies last
Let ACM help you with your tech interview prep!
October 5, 2021 at 12:30 PM
Currently recruiting for tech positions? Are you looking for in-person practice for technical interviews or just some advice on the recruiting process? Sign up for ACM’s mock interviews!
We will be matching those who sign up with mentors to do personalized mock interviews. We’ll do our best to make the experience (difficulty, range of topics, interview format) as best for you as possible. This is your chance to practice your problem solving and communication skills in a setting closely mirroring that of a real interview!
Here’s the sign up link again: https://bit.ly/3meySx
You after your mock interview:
Robust Intelligence @ Princeton 10/7-10/8
September 30, 2021 at 3:30 PM
Passing this message on for Jerry Liu ‘17:
Hi everyone! My name is Jerry Liu (class of 2017) and I’m currently a ML lead at Robust Intelligence. Robust Intelligence is a Sequoia-backed, Series A startup working on the cutting edge of advancing AI robustness, security, and monitoring. Our CEO is Yaron Singer, a Harvard professor in adversarial machine learning, and our team is composed of rockstars from Google, Kensho, Uber, Princeton, Harvard, and more! We’re hiring for many different roles:
- Software Engineers
- Machine Learning Engineers
- Sales Development Representatives
- Front-end Engineers
…and more! We have a bunch of Princeton alums that will be on campus 10/7 - 10/8 for coffee chats and a Friday Happy Hour! We have limited spots so if you’re interested make sure to RSVP here.
Announcing ACM’s First Code@Night Chill of the Year!
September 25, 2021 at 11:56 AM
TL;DR: Join us in the Butler iSpace at 9:30 PM Eastern on Thursday, September 30 to work on projects, socialize, play games, get advice, and/or do competitive programming practice. FREE PIZZA PROVIDED, RSVP HERE
We’ll be hosting a chill event where you can bring a project, meet the board, ask questions, socialize with others, hate on COS 217 together, play some games, and eat FREE PIZZA all night! We will also have some practice competitive programming problems for those interested, as well as office hours from our awesome career mentors! (You won’t have to hear Nalin ramble about Python, and hopefully the food will be on time this time around…) We want this to be a space where you can both be productive and blow off steam, and hopefully make some new friends :) Come one, come all — sign up here! Also thanks to the Alcohol Initiative for sponsoring food!
Where’s the Butler iSpace?? It’s right under the Butler side of the WuCox dining hall. Enter Wu Hall as if going to the Butler dining hall, take a left, and go down the stairs.
Materials from the Python Workshop Posted
September 25, 2021 at 11:56 AM
Thanks to all that came! We hope you were able to take something away from it, and reach out if you have questions. For those who want to review the materials, you can find them here (slides), here (Jupyter notebook with exercises), and here (Jupyter notebook with solutions to exercises).
If you weren’t able to make it, you should still be able to do the exercises in the Jupyter notebook if you follow the slides. And again, please reach out either to Nalin personally at nranjan@princeton.edu or to ACM at ptonacm@princeton.edu. We promise we will respond!
Ice cream social with ACM and PWiCS!
September 18, 2021 at 2:00 PM
Come and hang out with members of ACM and PWICS (Princeton Women in Computer Science) on Sunday, September 19 in the Friend Atrium at 3:00 PM Eastern! This is the perfect chance to get to know the upperclassmen and the officers from both orgs! Make sure to bring your laptop if you would like officers to look at your resume and offer tips. Thanks also to Projects Board for sponsoring the ice cream!
Fill out this form if you are interested.
ACM is holding beginning-of-the-year coffee chats!
September 12, 2021 at 4:00 PM
This year we are reintroducing the ACM Coffee Chat as a new way to meet fellow members. They will take place between September 8th and 15th. In the medieval times (i.e. the past few years), they were known to be virtual and had ~no~ actual coffee, but this year we’re changing that… because we are looking to match people with similar interests in ACM for a chat over free coffee/boba! (No, this isn’t a dating service.) Thanks to USG Projects Board for sponsoring the drinks!
Update (September 3, 11:50 PM): Our slots for free drinks filled up, but you can still be matched to meet another ACM member!
Update (September 9, 4:48 PM): Coffee Chat assignments and free drink info should be out — let us know if you signed up but didn’t get an email.
Citadel Fall 2021 Events Announcement
September 9, 2021 at 10:45 AM
This fall, Correlation One and Citadel are partnering to bring you the biggest coding competitions of the school year.
This season is a little different others — because our coding/ data science competitions are for the first time open for freshmen and sophomore year students! This is a great learning opportunity for those who have just started to get into coding/data science and also for those who are willing to showcase their skills in a team based setting.
Apply to both or either of the events now to meet like minded individuals, be considered for jobs/ internships with Citadel/ Citadel Securities, and for a chance to win $15k in cash prizes!
September 20-27: East Coast Regional Terminal (coding focused)
Terminal Live is an online game where software engineers and computer scientists (or anyone else interested in coding!) build an algorithm to play a tower defense game in a team-based setting.
This competition is suitable for both beginner level and more advanced coders as we provide starter algorithms for those who need a little more support!
Oct 25-Nov 1: East Coast Regional Datathon (data science focused)
Datathons are world’s #1 virtual data science competitions. This is a great opportunity for students to work on challenging problems while engaging with real-world data in a competitive, team-based setting. We provide a problem statement and students have a week to work on their analysis reports in a team of 4 people.
➡ Easy application! Submit a resume + take a quick skills assessment test (waived if you’ve competed with us before). Applications are reviewed on a first-come-first-serve basis– so apply now and get an early invite.
For questions, please contact roysi@correlation-one.com.
Our Gear Request Form is now Live!
September 1, 2021 at 10:45 PM
Congrats to the Alison Lee ‘24 and Liam Esparraguera ‘24 for submitting the winning t-shirt and hoodie designs, respectively! Check them out below:
If it isn’t clear, the back of the hoodie design is a code for an “orange-black tree,” which is a play on the Red-Black Search Tree, which was invented by Leonidas Guibas and Princeton’s own Bob Sedgewick.
The gear request form is now live. T-shirts are $6 with a subsidy and $12 without; hoodies are $15 with a subsidy and $25 without. We can only subsidize a limited amount, so order ASAP to maximize your chance at claiming subsidized gear! More info and rules about who gets priority for a subsidy are in the Google Form.
Update (September 7, 12:00 PM): The gear order period has ended. We might have extras left over though, so let us know if you’re still interested!
Mental Health Project Looking for NLP Interns!
August 27, 2021 at 12:01 PM
Through its media and technology products, Impact Media 360 powers social impact by driving awareness, attitude change and action. Motivated by success of The Real Deal reality TV series, the company is expanding into mental health tech.
The product being built is a platform that enables an individual to crowd source a positive sense of self for themselves or a loved one. With suicide, depression and anxiety on the rise, this product aims to socialize the well-being industry and disrupt digital models of self validation or self-esteem.
The leadership of Impact Media 360 are looking to work with students interested in social impact, who have proficiency in NLP and are willing to complete the development of a working demonstration or prototype of the product.
The project may relate to course work or be integral to junior papers or senior theses. The leadership will work closely with the students to ensure the prototype is built according to the vision and completed within a four month time frame. Opportunities to join the organization in a full time or part time capacity are available.
For more information, contact Shikha Uberoi Bajpai ‘13 founder and president of Impact Media 360 at shikha@shikhauberoi.com.
IMC Trading is hiring!
August 26, 2021 at 5:56 PM
IMC is an ambitious company with a mission to be one of the leading trading firms globally. Specialized in algorithmic trading and advanced technology, we set the pace for the evolution of market making. Our innovative, open environment is one of collaboration where anyone can challenge the status quo and make an impact.
We’re currently looking to fill many positions and we have many events planned in the coming few weeks so you can learn more about what we do! See below:
Submit your resume for a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card!
August 1, 2021 at 11:23 AM
Let ACM help you find jobs! Submit your resume here before August 15 to be entered in a $50 Amazon gift card raffle. Your resume will be included in ACM’s resume book, which is then sold to organizations interested in your talents.
Join the COSCON Problem Writing Team!
July 31, 2021 at 2:19 PM
That’s right, COSCON is making a bigger and badder comeback later this fall, with more prizes, more opportunities to meet new people, and yes, more food. But we need your help! Judging from the feedback we received last year, some of the problems were too difficult and a little inaccessible, so we are opening up problem writing this year to anyone with an idea! If you’re interested, please fill out this form. Filling out the form doesn’t oblige you to write a problem, so fill it out even if you’re slightly interested!
Last year’s problems can be found here. The best problems will 1) have some technical COS aspect, 2) be reasonable for a competition that lasts no more than 8 hours, and 3) have a compelling motivation. We encourage anyone interested to give problem writing a shot, even if you don’t have a concrete idea. We’re here to help if you need – if you want a partner to brainstorm/discuss your ideas with, feel free to reach out to Nalin (nranjan@).
Let your creative juices flow! Problems do not have to be Leetcode/competitive programming style questions (or even involve coding at all). In fact, the more unique and interdisciplinary, the better! And since one of our goals for COSCON this year is to make the problems more accessible, don’t feel obligated to think of hard problems.
If you fill out the form above, we’ll be in touch to talk about your ideas. We’re excited to see what you come up with!
Welcome from your new ACM board!
July 1, 2021 at 10:42 AM
We’re so excited to meet you! Please contact us here to share any ideas you may have.