GitHub Education and Jobscan give UWT students free tools for learning and job hunting

As autumn quarter ends, UWT students can use free GitHub Education tools to build real-world work in their own major and use Jobscan’s UW powered access to match those skills to actual job and internship postings.

By Syed Huzaifa Bin Afzal

As autumn quarter winds down, UW Tacoma students are juggling finals, group projects and the question of what comes next; whether that means winter internships, research opportunities or a first full-time job search. 

Two tools’ students already have access to through UW student status can help with both learning and career preparation are GitHub Education’s Student Developer Pack and Jobscan. 

GitHub Education is GitHub’s program for students and educators. Once someone is verified as a student, it unlocks the GitHub Student Developer Pack, which bundles access to more than 100 developer tools including private repositories, cloud credits, learning platforms and for many students, the biggest perk right now, GitHub Copilot Pro. 

Copilot works like an AI pair programmer. It sits inside code editors such as VS Code and suggests code in real time as the user types. For UWT students in computing, cybersecurity, business analytics, information technology or any major that involves coding, this can be a way to explore beyond class assignments. Students can experiment with side projects, learn new languages, refactor old code and build a real portfolio of work to link on resumes or LinkedIn. 

Students don’t have to be a computer science major to benefit. Students in engineering, science and even business courses can use GitHub to store lab code, data analysis scripts or automation tools. 

Over winter break, students could use the Student Developer Pack to follow online tutorials, recreate class projects at their own pace, or start something new that shows future employers what can be done outside the classroom. 

On the career side, UW also provides access to Jobscan, a resume and cover letter optimization tool. Jobscan compares a resume to a specific job description and gives a match rate, showing which skills, keywords and qualifications are getting a hit and where they may be falling short. 

This matters because many employers use applicant tracking systems (ATS) to sort through hundreds of applications. If a resume doesn’t reflect the language in the posting even if someone is qualified, it might not reach a human reviewer. Jobscan helps tailor a resume for each position by highlighting which phrases to add, which sections to strengthen and how to adjust formatting, so it is more ATS-friendly. 

For UWT students starting to apply for internships or jobs this winter, Jobscan can be a bridge between the general resume they bring to a career fair and the targeted resume submitted online. 

It can be used to revise materials for roles in tech, healthcare, public service, business or any field where the posting lists specific skills or software tools. It also offers help for cover letters and LinkedIn profiles, so the whole application package can stay consistent. 

Getting access to these resources mostly comes down to using UW credentials. 

For GitHub Education, students first need a GitHub account. Students can sign up at GitHub using their UW email address then visit the GitHub Education page and apply as a student. 

Students will be asked to verify enrollment either through UW email or by uploading proof such as a Husky Card, an enrollment letter or a screenshot of a current class schedule. Once GitHub approves the application, students will see the Student Developer Pack in their account and can turn on offers like GitHub Copilot Pro and other learning tools. 

For Jobscan, students don’t have to create a separate paid account. Instead, they can go through the UW Tacoma Jobscan link provided by Career Development & Education Center. That link will route users to a login page where they will sign in with their UW NetID. After that, students can upload their resume, paste in a job description and start running scans right away. 

As autumn quarter ends, setting aside even a small amount of time to activate these tools can pay off over winter break. GitHub Education can help students build real projects and skills, and Jobscan can help students translate those skills into stronger applications. Both are already covered by status as a UW Tacoma student, it just has to be turned on.