Switch
A new kind of design competition where students compete to get an exclusive opportunity to have recruiters pitch their companies to them.
Key Takeaways
What?
Switch is a 7-week long design competition that addresses real-world problems.
So What?
This competition will highlight your unique skills leaving recruiters wanting to meet you.
Now What?
Start building your team by exploring other UB students in Bullseye powered by Handshake.
Career Interests
FinTech
Have an interest in Finance or Technology?
FinTech Switch is a new kind of design competition focused on the financial technology industry with two opportunities to show off skills to recruiters.
Wednesday, March 31
FinTech Switch Meetup
Virtual (invite-only)
12:30 p.m. - 3 p.m.
March 8-19, 2021
Industry on the Rise
Technology has changed everything, and emerging industries like FinTech (financial technology) have skyrocketed. 🚀
Show off your skills
In this 7-week competition, you’ll work either independently or build a team to design ways to solve a challenge the FinTech industry is facing.
During the competition, show off your skills to recruiters and industry experts and unlock your spot at an exclusive meetup. Conduct research, develop ideas and refine your solutions with feedback from Switch Coaches, a group of industry experts made of employers, alumni, faculty + venture coaches from UB Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars.
Feedback Week
**Mandatory
Schedule sessions with Switch Reactors during Feedback Week, starting on February 8-12, 2021. This is your opportunity to get feedback from real experts in the FinTech industry to improve your final proposal before submitting it for the Switch Coaches and the public to vote on.
Final proposals are due by 11:59 p.m. on March 5, 2021.
VOTE FOR YOUR FAVS
From Monday, March 8 to Friday, March 19, the voting will open to Switch Coaches and the public to vote on their favorites. Yes, we said voting is opened to the public. So, tap into your connections and have everyone you know to vote for you!
Switch Meetup
Participants will get an exclusive invitation to attend the virtual FinTech Switch Meetup on March 31, 2021. There, recruiters will compete to talk to you one-on-one about your final proposal, their company and the available opportunities they might have for you!
How It Works
1. Register by January 19, 2021
Register and attend our virtual celebration kick-off meeting on January 19, 2021.
By attending the kick-off meeting, you're committing to compete in the 7-week design challenge to win a spot at our invite-only FinTech Switch recruiter meetup, where recruiters will be competing to talk to you.
You must sign in to Bullseye powered by Handshake with your UBIT name to register.
Can't make the kick-off event and still want to compete? No problem. Just let us know by January 18, 2021, and we'll work with you to give you a rundown of the competition rules and regulations.
2. Review the Challenges
In the competition, you'll focus on solving one of these challenges.
The Moving to a New Place Challenge
You just graduated from college and you’re relocating to a new city for work. You’re currently evaluating three job offers with various salary ranges in different locations – one in a big city, another located just outside the city and the other in a small rural town. How might you develop a solution that evaluates your job offers, including the cost of living?
The Cost of College Challenge
Your neighbor is a junior in high school and is in the process of exploring colleges but is concerned about college debt. She’s faced with choices like public versus private school, tuition, financial aid, transferring from her local community college to a four-year university and maintaining a job on or off campus since her Mom can’t afford to pay her tuition and living expenses. She’s told you that she has the goal of becoming debt-free by 2033 with a college degree. How might your neighbor evaluate the cost of college with the goal of becoming debt-free by 2033?
The Relationship Challenge
Many of your friends have recently announced their engagement or that they’re moving in with their partner. Many financial considerations accompany getting married or moving in with someone, such as how bills get paid, opening joint checking or savings accounts, or is your partner financially compatible with you. Each friend is weighing their options differently. What might be a solution to help your friends evaluate these considerations?
The Being My Own Boss Challenge
A UB alum you met at a How to Start a Business networking event recently told you after working in corporate investing for 15 years that he’d like to do something different with his life and career. They are interested in starting a business but are having a lot of trouble navigating resources to help get their business off the ground. You, too, have wondered what it takes to start a business. How might you develop a solution for them that allows them to easily navigate the steps of starting a business?
3. Build your Team by January 26, 2021
It’s encouraged but not required to work on an interdisciplinary team of up to four students. By doing so, you’ll gain real-world experience working on a team of people with different skillsets while practicing teamwork/collaboration, critical thinking/problem solving, oral/written communications, and, of course, digital technology. All the skills that employers truly want in a hire.
Here’s How to Build a Team
- Make your Bullseye powered by Handshake profile public to the community.
- Team up with three other students who registered for FinTech Switch too! You can use the comment section of the event to talk to other students about starting a team together.
- Or use Handshake Community to start exploring new teammates.
Register Your Team in Award Force by January 26
Once you’ve found your team, register in Award Force, no later than January 26. Only one person from each team needs to register. You can add your teammates to the Award Force registration later.
Check your inbox for the Award Force link.
4. Start Solving
After attending the Virtual Celebration Kick-off meeting on January 19, 2021, let the competition begin! Start conducting research, develop ideas and hone your solutions with feedback from Switch Coaches, a group of industry experts.
Can't make the kick-off event and still want to compete? No problem. Just let us know by January 18, 2021, and we'll work with you to give you a rundown of the competition rules and regulations.
5. Sign up for Feedback Week (February 8-12)
To help make sure you’re on the right track, book a session (using calendly) with one of our Switch Coaches during Feedback Week (February 8-12). They’re there to provide feedback, helping you improve your final entry before submitting it by the March 5 deadline.
📫 Check your inbox for the Feedback Week link.
6. Add your final touches and submit your final entry by March 5
Okay, let's recap what you've done so far.
✔️ You picked a challenge to solve.
✔️ You've reviewed all the amazing resources that will help you brainstorm and prototype your solutions.
✔️ You got great feedback from our Switch Coaches during Feedback Week.
✔️ You looked at the things to consider in the Switch submission guidelines to ensure your solution answers those questions.
Next Steps
Put the finishing touches on your entries by:
- Use the feedback you got from the Switch Coaches to improve your solutions.
- Reviewing the submission guidelines to make sure you've met all the requirements.
- Uploading your attachments (under the "attachments" tab) in Award Force to show the judges what your solution is. Don't be afraid to show your work! See what file types are accepted.
- Previewing your entry in Award Force before you submit.
- If everything looks okay to you, click submit entry.
- DONE! Now, wait for the voting to open.
Switch Guidelines and Resources
Switch Submission Guidelines
1. In order to enter, each UB participant must be a full-time, part-time matriculating undergraduate or graduate student or UB alumni one-year out. Students must be enrolled in a degree program and registered at the University at Buffalo or exactly one year out from graduation upon the launch of the competition on Tuesday, January 19, 2021.
2. Students may participate on their own or on a team of no more than four members. Students may be a member of only one team.
3. Only one entry per individual/team is permitted.
4. Individuals/teams can only address one challenge from the category list presented.
5. Any videos included as part of an entry must include proper closed captions. All attachments must include descriptor text in the file description field underneath the attachment. For example, a photo of a smartphone app interface might read “Photo of Money Management App’s launch screen displayed on iPhone.” Any entries that do not satisfy these requirements will be denied.
6. Entries must represent the original work of the individual/team.
7. All deadlines and guidelines for entry must be adhered to. Entry materials must be submitted to Award Force no later than Friday, March 5, 2021, at 11:59 p.m. No late entries will be accepted, and any entries greater than the upload file size limit will not be considered.
8. Entries will not be treated as confidential as voting will take place on a public platform. No special provisions will be made to protect intellectual property.
9. The University at Buffalo reserves the right to disqualify, in its sole and absolute discretion, any individual/team from the competition at any time (before or after judging occurs) for any reason. Reasons for disqualification may include but are not limited to:
- Plagiarism and any other form of academic dishonesty
- Misappropriation or infringement of the intellectual property of others
- Any failure to comply with the guidelines outlined above
10. Mandatory - Schedule sessions with Switch Coaches during Feedback Week, starting on February 8-12, 2021. This is your opportunity to get feedback from real experts in the FinTech industry to improve your final proposal before submitting for the Switch Coaches and the public to vote on.
Final proposals are due by 11:59 p.m. on March 5, 2021.
Attachment Requirements
The Switch Judges will want to know how you conducted research, generated ideas, and ultimately why you chose the idea you're proposing, so don't be afraid to show your work! A few things to keep in mind:
- Accepted file types include csv, doc, docx, jpeg, jpg, pdf, png, ppt, pptx, xls, xlsx and most audio and video file types.
- The maximum file size is 5MB per piece. A maximum of five pieces can be uploaded with your entry.
- Video attachments may be hosted on YouTube or Vimeo and must include accurate closed captioning.
- All attachments must include a file description to satisfy ADA screen reader compliance.
Things to Consider
While it’s ultimately up to you to decide what form your final submission takes, we’d like you to think critically about your solutions. We encourage you to use different types of media such as video, audio and creative presentation formats to show off your solutions and skills. Before entering, consider the following:
- Have you explored the full context around your challenge?
- Who is your audience? What other characteristics define their lives?
- How have you leveraged insights from your audience to generate ideas?
- Have you gathered enough feedback to improve upon your solution?
- Why has your solution risen to the top over others?
- Does your solution improve upon something that already exists, or does it have potential to be disruptive?
- What questions still need to be answered in order to push your solution forward?
- Have you introduced your team to the audience? Be sure to include concise biographies, accomplishments and Bullseye powered by Handshake profile links.
Resources
To kickstart your creativity, make sure to check out this excellent collection of resources curated by UB Libraries specifically for FinTech Switch!
Attend the exclusive Meetup on March 31
📬 Check your inbox for your exclusive invitation.
Note: Invitations will be sent out the week of March 22.
Your Switch Meetup Checklist
Before the meetup, here's your checklist to get ready to show off your best self.
- Recharge ⚡ your resume 24/7 with an instant review from VMock.
- Upload a resume to your Bullseye powered by Handshake profile, if you haven't already!
- Get your LinkedIn profile reviewed so you can add it to your Remo profile.
- Practice what you'll say 💬 to employers, like a brief summary of your design solution, using Big Interview in your super professional clothes.
- See how Remo works. 👇
Become a virtual event master using Remo
Here's a step-by-step video tutorial on using Remo to join the FinTech Switch Meetup event and setting up your profile on March 31.
Helpful Tips:
Use your profile as an opportunity to show employers who you are.
- Headline - Write the challenge you solved.
- Company Name - Add your team name.
- Job Title - Explain your role in solving the challenge.
- Profile Photo - Upload a professional looking photo of yourself.
- LinkedIn Profile URL (Optional) - Get your profile reviewed.
Video Length: 4:32 minutes
Contact Us
UB Career Design Center is committed to providing access for all people. If you have accessibility concerns, please contact us at least two-weeks prior to the event to arrange reasonable accommodations.