Photos from the Ball are now available! Take a look at cssbham.com/ball/photos
Events
Welcome to CSS! We do a lot of events throughout the year, both for CS students and the wider university as well. This page details some of the stuff that we do and what you can expect at them.
For all our upcoming and recent events, see our calendar!
Summer BBQ
At the end of each year after exams we have our annual BBQ which is a nice way to come together for one last time as a CS community before summer.
Its a nice relaxed event where we encourage everybody to bring their own food / booze, and we also run a charity raffle to give away some of the random stuff we’ve acquired throughout the years!
birmingHack
birmingHack is our annual hackathon we run in the second semester where teams have 24 hours to create something cool, interesting and fun and win prizes!
There is also other challenges going on throughtout the event such as cup stackng, a chess tournament, movie watchalong and more.
Christmas Meal
At the end of the first semester we have our Christmas Meal which is usually the last event we run before the winter break and is a nice way to have a final get together before Christmas.
It usually takes place in a local pub with orders taken beforehand, and food delivered to the table while you relax and chat with friends.
CSS BALL
Finally… our grandest event of them all, the CSS Ball!
This is our biggest event and it’s an oppourtunity to come together to celebrate the year. Many societies hold one for their members and we’re no different.
You can expect a three-course meal, a bar, a dance floor, and some fantastic vibes. Plus, thanks to extra funding from the School, we can keep prices low so everybody can get involved.
Dress to impress for an unforgettable night!
Missing Semester
We’ve teamed up with AFNOM to host weekly sessions to teach you all the things university doesn’t, which you’ll need as a computer scientist.
We cover topics ranging from the basics of using your shell, to advanced git and containers and virtualisation.
You can find course materials at https://missingsemester.afnom.net.
Regular Socials
We host regular socials, usually in the evening, for people to chill out and get to know each other.
We usually have a mix of pub nights, visits to NQ64 (an arcade bar), film nights, bar crawls, karaoke, and more!
We also have a Minecraft server, which we also occasionally run events on.
Board Games Night & LAN Parties
At least once a term we run a Board Games Night and/or a LAN Party in the School of Computer Science! We always have drinks and pizza, with the School providing alcoholic drinks, and usually take up the Atrium and the Sloman Lounge.
While we have our own board games and some consoles, we encourage everybody to bring their own as well!
These events are drop-in and you’re free to arrive and leave at any time, though you’ll probably want to be around for pizza!
Trips to Bletchley Park and the National Museum of Computing
We run a trip to either Bletchley Park, or the National Museum of Computing, alternating every year.
This trip is usually on a weekend and lasts the whole day, with coach transport from campus.
We also heavily subsidise the trip using a combination of society funds and grants from the School of Computer Science and the Guild, so it’s always worth coming along!
Halloween Quiz
The Halloween Quiz is our big yearly quiz where we encourage everyone to dress up in fancy dress and compete to win fun prizes.
Pizza and alcohol is provided to help participants do as well as they can to win, with there also being a prize for the best dressed person on the day as well as the winners of the quiz.
Workshops
We run regular programming workshops for people to learn a new language or framework, and we also encourage and help members with running their own workshops!
Most of our workshops are aimed at all skill levels, though some may require some pre-requisite knowledge. However, they’re open to everybody, even if you’re not a computer scientist!
TeX Talks
TeX Talks are a series of lightning talks on a variety of topics related to computer science!
In the past we’ve had talks on hacking your printer, breaking popular anti-cheat systems, various cloud technologies, applied robotics, and more.
If you’re curious, you can check out the schedule for previous editions.
We also run many other events, such as: bouldering, competitions, mixers, and various collabs with other societies to name a few. Plus, we're always trying out new events and working on suggestions, so please see our calendar for the latest from CSS!
