Panthers in the Valley - 2018 Cohort: Last Week Tonight
Little did I know about the ride that was planned for us. High with excitement and with an open mind craving for knowledge, we started from ATL on last Sunday morning.
Day 0 - Sunday, Oct 14
Conversations with Jason Aldrich
He was quick to joke about us being stuck next to him. He then unraveled things that would make us wiser,
- Communicate the value proposition to the business - This seems 101 but I've overlooked this in many of my business presentations. Since, I was from the Master's program for Analytics, this made even more sense as in future, I would one of those persons who would break down the insights that unravel from the data that I analyze.
- Sell what they would gain - As a business, it's important to make money. At times, it's daunting to justify the costs resulting in the client turning away your business. In those times, it's more important to proportionate the value that you would offer and start small. Hey, starting small is better than no business.
It's SF!
Sharry Conroy was waiting for us. After our customary photo shoots, we started for San Josè.
Being from east coast, we all wanted to check out In-N-Out for their animal style fries & burgers. Content with the local food, we quickly followed that up with our first session, which happened to be a group dinner (Food again? Bring it On!) with our chosen Alumni - Marion Smith & Patrick Beatty.
Conversations with Marion Smith
He is full of energy with which he has driven most of his previous ventures into sky! We were curious on how he achieved it. Some of his pearls of wisdom were to quantify the organization which he would join mainly with just 3 questions.
- Why this Company? - This would help you to understand the actual vision of the company. Granted, asking the "Vision of the Company" would give you the same response. You would think so, but seems most likely not.
- What hurdles do you see in doubling the revenues? - This will help you to understand what you would need to focus on as an executive officer of the company. In addition, this would also bring out the true understanding of the current executive officers.
- Why the product? What's the value-proposition? - How quintessential is your product is adding value to your customer. Can your customer live without it? How do you grow him with it?
These questions though simple are thought-provoking. A simple filter like this would go a long way.
Conversations with Patrick Beatty
Ah! He was on the other side of the table. I wish I could steal the time tuner from Harry Potter's Miss. Granger and would participate in both side of the table.
Nevertheless, our peers shared their notes. :P
When we are in an interview, we typically think that it's them who interview us. That's right but more importantly, you are going to decide if you are going to choose their company as well. So, isn't it their interview as well? Think on!
We all in our past, maybe in our present too, would see that our organization as a whole needs something. Instead of just complaining about it, Give constructive feedback to your peers, enabling them to bridge the gap. The benefit is two-fold. You fix the problem. Duh! Wait. More importantly, you enabled your peer to fix it, starting a whole new comfort zone for both of you.
Day 1 - Monday, Oct 15
We gained some sleep and probably most of us were awake before the alarm because we were from East-Coast!
Microsoft
They were pretty honest about their interview process and pointed out what helps and what doesn't. A strict one-page resume unless you have a ton of experience or a Doctorate student.
Maintaining a digital profile is equally important like a resume these days. No funky profile picture. Just a casual one. List down, in detail about your experiences, skillsets. Recommendations on LinkedIn help. Taking part in your college clubs and improving yourself with hackathons are something recruiters look for in general.
BlueShield of California
They are not-for-profit but they are aggressive in competing with other health insurance firms. They have adopted tech to assist them in staying top of their competition.
AirBnB
They have one of the coolest working spaces. Every meeting space is themed! Oh yes, they have an interior design team in-house.
Great perks! Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner on all weekdays except Friday so you would get home early.
They are rapidly growing and still are flexible if you would want to move across teams. All their employees have the freedom to work from any place in their office, I believe, for we saw them in every nook and corner.
Day 2 - Tuesday, Oct 16
Today it was Apple, Facebook & Tesla. Ah, Alphabetical Order!
Apple
We had a conversation with Megan Bowman who is the Director of Human Resources, Hardware Engineering. We spoke about the culture of Apple and on how they focus on getting things perfect before their release. She told us that Apple would enable their engineers with the equipment they need so that they can do the required research and get things in the way they are supposed to.
They have a huge office, multi-cuisine foods, bike et al. We got to learn what their recruitment process looks like.
They look for a robust summary which encapsulates you. Again, a simple profile picture on your LinkedIn. You have a few seconds to entice them with your profile - skillsets listed neatly with your accomplishments.
Tell what you want to do, what you did and how you did. Taking part in your college clubs and contributing helps.
Tesla
We got to see their almost fully automated factory. Right from sheet metal presses to popping your batteries in, it was the funky robots doing most of the work!
They have Model S, X in a single line and Model 3 on a special one. They are churning out cars, making our environment more cleaner & quieter.
Day 3 - Wednesday, Oct 17
BlackRock
As an Investment Management company, they are well aware of all the assets that they manage. They have analyst everywhere, in every team, they are omnipresent.
They manage assets which are bigger than many economies and their Aladdin manages assets which are more than the economy of US.
Niantic Labs
They have The Coolest Front Office. It's themed like history.
You see the blue "Police Box". That's how they disparate into their office everyday.
Everyone was so helpful and made it a day for us. We discussed all the topics right from gaming (duh! They are a gaming company) to data science. Unlike, other companies, they brought a lot of people from their floor with varying domain expertise.
We all have some of our best conversations. They enabled nerd-talks!
Handshake
They enable the student to find their right jobs. They wanted to provide us better opportunities, they identified what we were looking for in an employer, which ranged from culture to various development opportunities et al.
It's time to get home
Our Cohort was a mixed bag of undergrads, grads & doctorate. Some younger, some elder but all wiser. Had a lot of fun, wanted to be 17 again to start my undergrad all over again.
What sleep we gained, we lost it back. We took the red-eye flight back home but Hey, we learnt a lot!
Originally published on LinkedIn on October 21, 2018