Join us in T1 during the O-week stall to play games, win prizes, and take a gift hamper for your membership
About the Deakin Software Engineering Club
Deakin's home for students who want to build real software, not just pass assignments.
The Deakin Software Engineering Club (DSEC) is an academic and professional student club based at the Melbourne Burwood campus. We bring together software engineering, computer science, IT, and design students who want to learn modern development, work in real project teams, and connect with industry while they study.
DSEC is affiliated with the Deakin University Student Association (DUSA) and operates as the official software engineering club at Burwood. Our events and projects are run by students, for students, with support from Deakin and DUSA.
If you care about building things, learning from peers, and getting closer to tech careers, this is your club.
Our journey so far
DSEC has been part of Deakin's tech community for years. The logo has changed a little, the exec teams have changed a lot, but the core idea has stayed the same: help Deakin students learn, build, and find their people through software engineering.
From game jams to our first hackathon
DSEC started in the late 2010s with game jams, hackathons, and casual dev nights. Events like LeadHack set the tone — a place where it's okay to try, fail, and learn in public.
Workshops, industry panels, and a bigger community
We expanded beyond hackathons into industry sessions with Amazon and Macquarie, datathons, and skills workshops. Collaborations with DUCA, DDSC, and other clubs brought diverse students together.
Losing momentum and rebuilding trust
2025 was tough — messy transitions, lost knowledge, and declining trust. A new exec team stepped in mid-trimester and rebuilt from basics: honest communication, smaller events, and clearer roles.
DSEC today — build real projects together
Today we help students ship portfolio-ready software in a real team environment. We run workshops, coding nights, speaker events, and an active Discord community.
The club is still evolving, but the goal is simple: if you stay engaged with DSEC through your degree, you should graduate with a real project portfolio, industry connections, and friends who were there for every late-night debugging session.
Our vision for DSEC at Deakin
Our vision is for every Deakin student who is serious about software engineering to have a clear path from first-year curiosity to job-ready confidence, supported by a club that feels like a real dev team and a real community.
Core objectives for members
- Help students ship at least one hackathon-level project before graduation
- Teach modern software practices — Git, agile, reviews, collaboration — alongside technical skills
- Make it easier to meet peers, mentors, and industry contacts at Deakin
- Support students from all backgrounds to feel welcome in tech and stay in the pipeline
Core objectives for partners
- Offer a simple way for companies and staff to meet motivated student developers
- Co-create events that are genuinely useful for both student learning and recruitment
- Showcase student projects and success stories to highlight Deakin's software talent
We want DSEC to be known as the place where Deakin students actually build things, not just talk about them.
Meet the DSEC executive team
DSEC is led by a volunteer executive committee of Deakin students who handle everything from event planning and sponsorship to Discord moderation and code review nights. Executives are elected at our Annual General Meeting each year, following DUSA club rules and requirements.
Below you'll find our executive roles. The exact people change every year, but the responsibilities stay consistent so the club can grow sustainably.
Tarun Rutvik Gandeti
Vice-President
Executes internal operations, coordinates committee heads, and keeps projects on track
Aarav Verma
Brand Executive
Builds visual identity, creates marketing assets, and manages social media presence
Reza Bilal
Head of Marketing
Plans content strategy, manages outreach campaigns, and grows club visibility
Shalok Sharma
Head of Development
Oversees all technical teams, sets project standards, and coordinates cross-team initiatives
Ryan Lee
Web Development Lead
Leads web projects, runs workshops on React/Next.js, and reviews frontend code
Yordan Simeonov
App Development Lead
Leads mobile and desktop app development projects and workshops
Samarpan Gupta Kanu
AI Lead
Builds automation tools, Discord bots, and runs scripting workshops for workflow optimization
Nikhil Gupta
Robotics Lead
Runs hardware projects, embedded systems workshops, and robotics showcases
If you are a Deakin student who cares about building communities, this is one of the best ways to grow your leadership and project skills while you study.
See open volunteer rolesSafe, inclusive, and DUSA-affiliated
DSEC is a DUSA-affiliated club. That means we follow Deakin and DUSA guidelines for student conduct, incident management, and safe events on campus and online. We are committed to keeping our Discord, events, and projects welcoming for students of all backgrounds, identities, and experience levels.
We expect members to
Treat others with respect, both online and in person
Give constructive feedback on code and ideas, never personal attacks
Help create spaces where women, non-binary students, international students, and other under-represented groups in tech can participate fully
Follow DUSA and Deakin policies on harassment, discrimination, alcohol, and safety at events
If something doesn't feel right at a DSEC event or in our online spaces, talk to an exec or contact DUSA directly. We take concerns seriously and will act in line with DUSA's incident management processes.
Read our conduct summaryWant to be part of the next chapter?
If you're a Deakin student who wants to build real projects, meet other developers, and feel more confident about internships and grad roles, we'd love to see you at a DSEC event this trimester.
Join the club via DUSAIf you're an industry partner, recruiter, or staff member who wants to work with motivated Deakin students, reach out. We can help with guest talks, workshops, hackathons, and project collaborations.
Talk to us about partnerships