jeromejose/2024-phase-2

2024 MSA-Phase 2

Welcome to Phase 2 of the 2024 MSA programme! This year, Phase 2 is designed to comprehensively assess your technical skills through two main components:

1. Azure SQL module

   • Start learning and understanding Azure SQL to gain essential database management skills. Complete the provided modules to enhance your data handling capabilities in cloud environments.

2. Individual project

   • This repository represents the entire technical component of Phase 2, which will assess your technical skills
   • Complete this component individually using Phase 1 knowledge + the resources that the MSA team has provided in the folder for each stream

The expected workload for Phase 2 of each stream is 3-4 hours per week and builds upon the knowledge from Phase 1 of each stream. Furthermore, placements will be either in Software Development or Data Science, not both. As such, we recommend that you follow one stream of the individual project only in order to manage your time effectively and build your knowledge and skills within one stream as much as you can in order to stand out to employers.

Contents:

• Azure SQL module
• Project Getting Started
• Submission
• Support
• Microsoft Azure Sign-Up Instructions

Azure SQL module

Azure SQL is highly beneficial for both Data Science and Software Development streams due to its advanced database management capabilities, scalability, and performance enhancements.

• For data scientists, Azure SQL provides a robust platform for the storage, querying, and analysis of large datasets, which is indispensable for developing precise and efficient models. It facilitates seamless data manipulation and retrieval, thereby supporting advanced analytics and machine learning workflows.
• For software developers, Azure SQL ensures dependable data storage, retrieval, and management, which is critical for constructing scalable and responsive applications. Its integration with other Azure services and tools enhances development efficiency and enables the creation of sophisticated, data-driven applications.

To begin unlocking the powerful capabilities of Azure SQL, please complete the following two modules. This will set you on the path to mastering essential database management skills (these two modules are required to be completed by students in both streams).

• Introduction to Azure SQL
• Deploy and configure servers, instances, and databases for Azure SQL

To sign up for an Azure for Students subscription, you can use the Microsoft Azure Sign-Up Instructions below.

Project Getting Started

1. Ensure that you:

• Have completed all the Microsoft Learn modules as listed in the Schedule from Phase 1 for your chosen stream
• Have downloaded all the key tools from Phase 1 for your chosen stream
• Can access the Microsoft Learn modules from Phase 1 to refer to as you complete Phase 2

2. Create a repository inside your personal GitHub account to store all your work and clone that repository into your IDE (ignore any and all other branches, everything you need is in the main branch)

   • In your repository, we recommend that you create a folder for each part of your chosen stream to store your work for each part separately
   • Alternatively, feel free to clone this repository and then delete the folder for the stream you are not doing

3. Refer to the folder for each stream to get started:

   • Data Science
   • Software Development

Submission

To complete the technical component of Phase 2 and submit evidence of your completion:

1. Ensure that you have:

• Completed the two Azure SQL modules and log in to your Microsoft account and take a full-page screenshot of these two modules (Similar to phase1)

• Completed all parts of your chosen stream/s by checking that you have included all items in your repository, as stated in the folder for your chosen stream

  • Software Development
    • The submission details are in the SoftwareAssessment.pdf file Software Development
  • Data Science
    • Analysis and Preprocessing Submission Details
    • Training and Evaluation Submission Details
    • Deep learning Submission Details

• Made your repository/ies and any other links you want to submit public so that they can be accessed by the MSA team for marking

  • You can check that all your links are publicly accessible by opening them in the Incognito/Private mode of your browser
  • If you wish to keep your repository/ies private but still provide access to the MSA team for marking, please follow these instructions to add the MSA team (username: msaccelerate) as a collaborator to your repository and add the repository link/s into the submission form, or upload your code as a .zip file to a cloud storage service and share a link to that in the submission form.

• Included all files needed to run your code inside your repository so that it's easy for the MSA team to mark your submission

2. Submit this form by 11:59pm, Sunday 4 August: MSA 2024 Phase 2 Submission

The MSA programme strictly enforces academic integrity and students that do not submit their own work will first be notified with our concerns, and if your work is determined to be copied from someone/somewhere else and/or insufficiently different from others if you have collaborated or troubleshooted with other parties (including MSA team members and the content created by them in this repository), you may not be invited to any events and activities as part of the non-technical component of Phase 2.

Support

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please contact the MSA team via our:

• Discord office hours
  • The MSA team are available in the voice channels on the days and times specified in the link above for students to ask questions directly to the MSA team members that created this year's technical content.
• Support section from Phase 1

We recommend that you refer to Frequently asked questions and answers about the programme before asking a question that may have already been answered in the document above.

Microsoft Azure Sign-Up Instructions

Before starting Phase 2, you will need to sign up for an Azure for Students subscription using your institution email using one of the methods described below. Azure for Students will give you $100 credit and free services to use within 12 months of signing up. After you use your credit, wait until the 12 months are over and sign up again if you’re still a student. You'll get $100 credit and free services just like before.

1. If you do not have an Azure account using your institution email:

   • Go to Azure for Students and click Start for free
   • Sign in using your institution email
     • If you are based at the University of Auckland, your university email is already associated with a Microsoft account so do not create a new account using your university email, simply sign in.
     • If you are based at a different institution, check whether your institution has already provided you with a Microsoft account by trying to sign in first (if that doesn't work, create a new account using your institution email)
   • Follow the prompts to verify your academic status

2. If you already have an Azure account using your institution email:

   • Sign in to Azure for Students
   • You will most likely be shown how much credit you have remaining and when your Azure for Students subscription expires if it has not expired yet, or prompted to renew if it has expired.

3. If you have graduated and your institution no longer allows you to access your institution email or you are facing issues using your institution email:

   • Please use a personal email that you can regularly access to sign up for an Azure free account. Note that signing up this way means you will not be signing up for an Azure for Students subcription. To avoid incurring costs, we recommend that you only use and create services from the Free service page in the Azure portal.

After you have completed the steps above, you should be directed to the Education page of the Azure portal - this is where you can see how much credit you have remaining, how many days until your Azure for Students subscription expires, and other helpful resources.

Please see the FAQs regarding eligibility requirements and more useful information about Azure for Students.

Note:

• Keep an eye on your Azure spending! If you use Azure for Students, you will not be charged anything or any charges you do incur will come from your $100 credit because we have designed this part to only use services available within Azure for Students (which are either always free or cost some amount to use that will be taken from your credit).

• If you only use the services within Azure for Students, it will be extremely difficult for you to use up the entire $100 credit, but if your usage results in your credit being depleted to $0, you won't be able to get more credit until your Azure for Students subscription expires, and you'll have to move to pay as you go.

• MSA is not responsible for and will not refund or cancel any costs you personally incur due to services that you use. You may also refer to Azure Sponsorships website to keep track of your Azure for Students subscription usage.

• To delete any resources, please follow the steps listed in this section of the Azure resources documentation