Leadership and Vision
Remember, SoSE is pronounced "saucy", which is fun. :-)
Summers are largely wasted in the U.S. academic system, and many college students spend summer months working in jobs far removed from their concentration of study. It's our belief that a student should work in their field of study. Further, we believe extraordinary students should be paid for this work.
The SoSE model seeks the best and brightest software student prospects, particularly those in their first and second years. Ultimately, we hope to offer undergraduate certificates for this intense summer program: examplary, select students will be paid; ordinary students will be required to pay for the same certification.
It's All About the Student
There's an old saying that an undergraduate degree shows a prospective employer that a person is trainable. Further, most employers plan to invest varying degrees of additional training resources in their new employees who come to them straight out of college.
The SoSE experience trains future software developers how to use a number of best practice tools. It also exposes students to structured project management techniques and stresses the development of many "soft" skills: virtual teaming, interpersonal communications, and situational leadership, to name a few.
We're confident -- and we now have some living proof! -- that our SoSE participants adapt quickly to professional team environments. They quickly become productive members of a development team, and dare we say, even raise awareness to tools and methods which may be lacking in their new environments. ;-)