Tag Archive | WiC

Fast Enterprises

Apr2

About Fast Enterprises

GenTax product
Combination of consulting and tech essentially
be open to relocation every 2-5 years
some international options

Career Tips

Start early
- budget your time
- broaden your search
  - every company out there probably needs people in software
  - don’t only look at software specific companies
  - be adaptable
- browse the career fair guide to see what companies you would like to take to
  - there is usually a career fair guide
  - research beforehand to decide where you want to go and map it out
- probably don’t want to go to every single booth if they don’t have what they are looking for
- start to think as a professional, update your voicemail, social media, etc
  - don’t post something you wouldn’t want your grandma to see
  - be professional in your emails
    - use complete sentences
    - correct capitalization
- even as a freshman it is good to go to the career fair and make connections even if you don’t have a resume yet
- keep track of the companies you talk to and positions apply to
  - could use an excel document or a notebook
  - print out the job description of what you apply for
Networking
- utilize all opportunities
  - don’t be afraid to talk to people
- friends, relatives, neighbors
  - don’t just ask for a job
  - show interest in the company: I’m really interested in what you do, it would be great if you would tell me more about it!
- broadcast yourself
  - connect on LinkedIn too
- even if you aren’t sure that you will want a position, it’s good for practice
- getting started is the hardest part
Research
- watch for areas in high demand
- utilize company websites
  - find out as much info as you can before meeting with them
  - make sure the company is also a good fit for you
  - look at reviews too – glassdoor
- search all medias
  - facebook, instagram, twitter
Be proactive
- contact employers
  - fine line with this
  - don’t overwhelm them
- check back
  - good to reconnect if see new things with the company
  - explain that still interested
    - don’t do this TOO often though
  - explain what have been working on recently
  - be respectful of these employees time
    - never burn bridges
- continue to build your network
Different companies will have different opinions, so take everything with a grain of salt
- Sample outline
  - contact information
    - be sure it is up to date and you can be reached
  - objective statement
    - only use if have a reason for it
    - not just I’m a senior looking for a full-time software development position
- Education
  - Where you go
  - When you graduate
  - Major/Minor
  - Include GPA if over 3.0
- Work Experience
  - it’s okay if it doesn’t relate specifically to the job
  - handling customers, working in a team, can help
- Accomplishments/skills
  - want to know the tech skills that you have
  - okay to include even if a beginner
    - show proficiency
- Optional Topics if have extra space
  - honors/publications
  - hobbies/interests
  - professional memberships
  - extracurricular activities
- Tailor the resume to the job you want
  - headings, titles, etc.
  - organize specifically for the employer
- Make it stand out
  - re-arrange sections to accentuate your skills
  - eye catching at first glance
  - not too much going on though
- Sell yourself
  - quantify your accomplishments
  - sell the benefits of your skills
- Analyze the job descriptions
  - identify key words
  - identify and solve the employer’s needs
- Prioritize Content
  - Organize statements by importance
  - utilize lists and be brief, but accurate
- Create an Image
  - your resume directly reflects you
  - don’t be afraid to personalize
    - read your audience though
- Don’t need to put relevant courses on resume
  - could include a special team project though
- Don’t need to include the References available upon request
- Probably should list tangible related skills
  - not necessarily list flexible, prompt, etc
- Resume should be one page – with a new hire
Cover letters
- sort of company by company
- maybe use to get them to read your resume essentially
- definitely is not a negative thing
- don’t make it too wordy
- don’t just repeat everything from resume, should add to the resume in some way
Career Fair Day
- Dress
  - one chance to make a first impression
- dress for the job you want
- Approaching the booth
  - hand shake
  - confidence
    - eye contact
  - have an introduction
    - have an elevator pitch
- Leaving the booth
  - ask for contact information
  - keep yourself organized
    - write a note maybe as you walk away so you remember
  - know next steps
    - ask what the next thing to do to apply is
Interview
- Plan Ahead
  - research the company
  - have your facts ready
  - arrive early and look your best
- Be positive
  - project energy and enthusiasm
  - utilize eye contact
  - be sincere and truthful
- Adapt
  - be sensitive to the style of the interviewer
  - relate to the interviewer and the company
    - people like to talk about themselves, maybe ask some questions if you find something in common
  - integrate answers that pertain to the company
    - be able to tell them what you know about the company
    - what sort of other research have you done on the company – want you to be serious about the company
- Ask Questions
  - show interest in the company
  - use these to focus your responses
  - make sure the company is right for you
Post Interview
- Gather information
  - inquire about the timeline
  - collect contact info
  - always know the next steps before leaving
- Send a thank you
  - a quick letter or email
  - show professionalism
  - another way to stand out
    - shows you prioritize
    - extra interest
Start their search in September if graduating in May
Look in the summer if graduating in December
FAST has about a 4-6 week turnaround

Club Business Meeting

Mar26

Good news:

For our budget we found out that our allocation of funds by SGA to attend Grace Hopper is not zero like it was last year, and they are allowing us to apply for contingency funds (can cover up to 75% of costs). To do this we must show how GHC will help us academically, which should not be too tricky! Remember that you must at least apply for the scholarship (Due April 15th) if you would like to receive any funds from the club.

Upcoming Event Notes:

Volunteer for DigSouth!
Fast Enterprise is coming next week and will be raffling off a speaker and there will be pizza!
April 20th @ 6:00 pm we will be doing Women’s Self Defense so be on the look out for more information.
Fill out a survey for end of the year social!
Go to ACM to get Fast Enterprises to look at your resume!

Ideas to Fundraise:

Another panini sale
Midnight bake sale
Raffle
Bake sale at the Citadel
Percent nights

Next year:

Sponsorship requests from companies for next year (letters should be sent out this year)
Krista from Dynepic will be coming next year!
Cistern Yard movie night
- Her
- Imitation Game
Bowling Night
Sky Zone
Charleston Rush
Frankie’s Fun Park
Coastal Climbing

Elections:

Bios are due online by April 3rd
We will use a Google form for elections on April 9th
- Those who are running will be explaining why they are a good candidate for the position at our meeting on April 9th

STEAM Night at Joseph R. Pye Elementary

Mar25

We attended the Joseph R. Pye Elementary STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) night on March 24th and had a great time interacting with the kids there! Our table had information for parents to find out more about our club and the Wonderworks robots, Dash and Dot. The kids had a lot of fun learning some of the basics about how to use the robots and we showed them how to use the three apps that are used to control the robots. Lily and I were both surprised and overjoyed to find out that many of the students had already done some of the code.org activities with Scratch. They loved seeing a similar user interface in the coding app for the robots. It was amazing to see the joy on their faces as they used the apps to make the robots move around and make noises. I think some of the parents will definitely think about purchasing these robots for their kids as they asked us for more information about them! There were lots of familiar tech companies that also had tables at this event such as Dynepic, Boeing, and The Iron Yard.

JTE Marketing

Mar13

John Tripolsky, CEO:

They will be looking for interns for the summertime
- for market research
all in one shop for marketing essentially
- websites, apps, social media, branding etc.
- digital and traditional marketing
- one of the ways they have grown really fast

looking outside of Charleston
- office in Detroit, San diego, and Raleigh
- some co-op space
- charleston based company, but also go outside
work well on a timeline
everyone is very different at the company
projects and steps
- different departments, but there is overlap
- copyright teams, website teams, social media teams
- implementation is crucial to prevent failure
- 4 people in Charleston, 22 people overall in the company, and probably 40 with contractors
New office on broad street
- before people worked virtually
Starting a company
- will fail multiple times before find something that works
Resume/Job application advice:
- Should understand how the company you work for is structured, will make you much more valuable
- what makes you different than other people (especially on resumes), get specific
- think about what you can do that will get you the job
- stick to one page if possible
- got one resume that was just a blank piece of paper and said call me for more information, sort of funny
- may be interesting to create a website with a specific page for interests, experience, maybe a 30 sec video & include the URL in your resume
- don’t use a QR code
- should check your cover letter, look at it in outlook, gmail, on your phone etc. to be sure the font doesn’t change too much
- they are not necessarily looking for smart people, but creative people
- teach yourself something
- meeting and networking is the most key for them
  - never really ask for a job – get to know them
  - ask them what they are doing and be interested in it, lets them get to know you, you are selling yourself essentially
Staying in Charleston
- people want to live here, but can be tricky to find a job, especially in marketing
- get ideas/influence from other cities as well
  - can lead to you having a different outlook
Business Improvements
- Started having a sales team this year
- Definitely looking to grow in the future, pretty comfortable size right now
- company grows itself, want to keep the creativity up
- have to be fluid, changing based on location and ideas, not a static way to do things
Training?
- inDesign or adobe and what not should really know beforehand
- 95% of tech work (websites, social, etc)
- Think about the content of a job, in terms of whatever you are building, delivering it is what makes it worth it
- website understanding
- web apps and mobile apps
Good mobile apps now cost $100,000-200,000

Verizon

Feb19

Kawohi

Been with Verizon for 10 years
Currently a consultant aka a recruiter, her permanent position is a tech supporter
A lot about career development and community
Looking for people who want to stay for the long run

Heather

Been with the company for 3 years
Started off in customer service moved to tech support and now help people with transitioning between the two
Verizon is more than just cell phones, they have a lot of other technologies like light bulbs, nest thermostats, and the GizmoPal
They’re location is the hub for accessibility

About Verizon

Verizon builds relationships with customers and want to make their lives easier, better, and more manageable
Integrated messages between phones and tablets
Sell wireless cameras for homes which are super awesome
Internet of Things
- Gear watches
- Smart bands
- Thermostats
- Lightbulbs
- etc.

Resume Tips

Looking for some who really stands out
Clean consistent format
Be creative
Bullet points not paragraphs
Put your professional blog on resume, if there is one
Put your volunteer work!
Objective: cater object to specific company because it helps you stand out

Fundraiser and Robots

Feb12

Today we had a very successful fundraiser and had about $100 in profit! We sold adult grilled cheese sandwiches (cheddar, gouda, prosciutto, and apples) for $5 with the prosciutto and $4 without. We also had brownies for sale, baked by our treasurer, Katie Vaughan, and they were delicious! The event was a hit among both students and faculty so we are hoping to do something similar soon.

We also played with the Wonderworks robots a bit, which was definitely entertaining for our club members! In the future we plan to explore the API and apps further so that we can bring them into local schools and teach kids some coding skills!

Tomorrow we will be picking up our new banner, which we are excited to see and use at events. We will also be helping out with the Lady Cougars STEM Day in the arena at the College of Charleston tomorrow.

SCANA

Feb5

Announcements:
-Check out the new WiC website
-Alumni Symposium is on the 17th, register for that.
-If you want to go to Grace Hopper, work on a poster that you can submit that will increase your chances to receive scholarship http://gracehopper.org/call-for-participation/
-If you are interested in running for officer next year, contact Sarah.

SCANA Corporation
– Ginny Nardozzi
– Been in business since 160 years
– Most IT jobs are in Cayce, SC
– Mission: to provide energy-related products
– Have a solar strategy
– Building new nuclear deployment that will be online by 2020
– Have great benefits
– Ginny works in Information Service & Technology
– IT department has about 400 people
– Go to www.scana.com to look for jobs/internships
– Internships: from May to August, schedule is very flexible
– Co-op: want you to work a full day
– Email Ginny for any questions: gnardozzi@scana.com

PokitDok

Jan29

Announcements:

– go check out the new website!

Denise Gosnell

-Got undergrad in math then a Masters in mathematics, got a PhD in computer science in Tennessee

-Worked with Sheryl Sandberg and helped write second book

-Ted Tanner told her she was going to be a data scientist, even though she was looking to be a software engineer

About the company

– Two offices: business is in the Valley and engineering here in Charleston.

– Ted Tanner is the CTO – has worked on many startups and with Apple and Microsoft

– PokitDok is a platform for the business of health and health insurance

– They have 6 data scientist, which is a lot compared to People Matter who only has one data scientist

– They’re a Python house

Data Science in Industry

– A combination of math and science, hacking skills, and subject expertise

– 80% is getting data, cleansing data, and organizing data, 20% is analysis and taking action

– Tools used for cleaning: Python, Pandas data frames, GraphLabs

– Tools used for analysis: GraphLab, Spark

– Tools used for visualization: Scikit-learn, SciPy, Gephi

– Data scientist hold data and think of ways to distribute back to the public in a way so that it makes sense

– “You’re not coding hard enough if you aren’t breaking anything”

– Open source code on GitHub

– Ted believes in quality over quantity

Dynepic

Jan22

Announcements:

February 10th, Ron will be giving a talk on how to use GitHub. Go to chscodecamp.com to sign up, there are seven spots left. Bring your own laptop.
Everyone should join the Computer Science Facebook group, and also the Women in Computing Facebook!
We just got a new sponsorship from Blackbaud, they are providing $500, so that’s great!
We need to volunteer more! Sign up to volunteer to earn hours and money for WiC! Contact Sarah if you’re interested. mackeysm@g.cofc.edu
Friday there is a seminar on Computer Graphics at 3:30 pm at Harbor Walk West in the auditorium.
We will be getting a banner soon, hopefully!

Dynepic by Zenko

A small, woman-owned company that makes connected children’s toys.
Been around for about two years now.
Won many awards for innovative toys.
Quirky- is a talking toy. Using your cellphone, you can send a text that goes back to the company where they do some stuff and eventually your toy talks.
The toys can detect sensibilities, can detect what other toys are near them, and uses software to even make appropriate sounds for a particular action.
YouTube video: DynePods Protect your Candy. An advertisement for DynePods and Halloween.
DynePods are used to make toys come to life, for instance, Lego helicopters.
Make Lab Charleston groups: classes on coding. There’s also an electronics team, so if you’re into that.

Google

Jan15

Quick introductions of both board and members in WiC!

JamieSue from Google:

-From Manning, SC

-Mom was first person in family to go to college

-Didn’t get a degree in Computer Science, first computer experience in 4th grade.

-High school newspaper got a computer and Jamie was the only one who really knew how to work a computer.

-Went to college at USC, got a degree in English

-Worked as a graphic designer

-Last semester of senior year took her first computer science class and loved it!

-Started writing documentation for CSS in Colorado

-Went to NY and worked for a consulting company

-Worked for a company called Zygat and wrote code for about a year.

-Became Co-Director of technology for about 10 years

-Worked in Argentina and other places for awhile.

-Worked with maps in Google for about a year and a half

-Now works with Google education

JamieSue comment on WiC:

Suggests we read the book Unlocking the Clubhouse. It talks a lot about guys getting into computer science very young because when computers came out it was marketed towards boys. While women don’t focus on computers until college and how we feel put down being compared to guys who have been computing since age 10. It’s okay if you don’t identify with some specific tool or language, in some ways it’s more beneficial. The book made her feel like she belonged to the computing world better after reading.

Group questions:

Q: What has been your best experience in your many jobs?

A: Coding when it was not as big of a deal

Q: Something about the importance of different degrees vs real life.

A: It depends a lot on the company. Having a degree, it’s you passed the application and to the interview. Some places are different, having a portfolio can also be very important. Open source projects can help make you stand out, it helps show your passions.

Q: Do you know anyone who went directly into project management?

A: Yes I know a few people, there are ways to go directly there. However, having some coding experience doesn’t hurt to have. I do feel like having some background in the coding world is huge, because when someone says that a project involving coding will take two days, I know that that is not true.

Q: What else do you do in addition to your project manager position?

A: I work closely with the engineers and make suggestions on projects. It’s really up to the person to define the roles.

Q: Can you describe a day-to-day / what you are doing tomorrow at work?

A: I do a lot of people management, I manage about 15 people. My day consist of a lot of people coming and asking how to do something.

Q: How was working for a consulting firm?

A: The difficult thing about working for a consulting firm is that you are always trying to prove yourself when you start on something new.

Q: Any tips for traveling with work?

A: Work on your people skills, make someone trust you and that’s a good way to be sent places.

Q: Helping with soft skills?

A: Crucial conversations book and finding common ground.

Q: What are some yays and nays for interviewees?

A: (Rob) Do say “yeah that’s the end to my knowledge in that area” if you don’t know about the topic. Be truthful and honest. I am a big fan of open-ended questions. i.e “Tell me about your network experience.” and a lot of hypothetical questions to see your thought process.

(JamieSue) I look for the word “we”. We did this or we worked on this. It shows that your a team player. I love to hear your thought process, don’t sit in silence thinking about hypothetical questions.

Q: Can you talk a little more about CS First?

A: Our website is cs-first.com. We created a curriculum through videos. We use a tool called Scratch. Our concept was reaching out to minorities and girls. We are trying to get a diverse group interested in the computer industry. To volunteer, go to the website and sign up. A single theme is 8 session, twice a week for four weeks or once a week for eight weeks, about a total 10 hour commitment.