UpNext: Careers in Technology Breakout Sessions
2:00-2:45 pm
The Product Development Process and the Various Functional Roles Involved (Virtual – Bi Hall 220)
David Mendelson ’00 (Computer Science), Vice President Product Development, Wheel, will describe the product development process and discuss the various functional roles involved, e.g., Software Development, Data Scientist, UX/UI Research, Design and Development, Product Management).
How Data Analytics & Data Science is Used in Marketing (Hillcrest 103)
Pete McSherry ’06 (Economics), Senior Vice President, Platform Data Strategy and Solutions, Epsilon, will give an overview of the marketing analytics space and speak to how data science is used in advertising & personalization, and how different functional roles interact with data and technology to drive business outcomes. Pete will highlight some of the cutting-edge work Epsilon does in that space. Students attending will also gain a good understanding of the skill sets that help when first starting in the various analytics and consulting roles within the marketing field.
3:00-3:45 pm
Picking Trends in Tech / Deciding What to Invest in Learning (Bi Hall 220)
Dan Kelley ’99 (Political Science, German), Engineering Manager, Meta, will share his perspective that software engineering remains a less mature discipline than many other kinds of engineering and is constantly evolving. As software powers many aspects of the world, software engineering is not just evolving, it’s expanding. If you let your skills atrophy, you might find fewer job opportunities than you’d like when you go looking. But with the rate of change and finite time to learn, how do you decide which trends to jump on? Dan will provide his insights to help you consider these trade-offs.
Applying Data Analytic Methods to Natural Language Processing Capabilities (Hillcrest 103)
Chris Hench ’11 (German Literature and Economics), Senior Applied Scientist ML/NLP, Amazon Alexa, will describe his path from studying languages and literature to building state of the art NLP models in industry. He will talk about some of the advances in NLP over the years and the current state of the field, as well as what it takes to acquire the necessary skills for industry applications. His unique pathway from literature to data science reinforces the idea that data science is not only for quantitative majors.
Cloud Solutions Engineer: Software Engineering and Liberal Arts in One (Virtual – Bi Hall 219)
Leah Bracken ‘19 (Computer Science), Customer Engineer, Google, will describe the exploding market for cloud solutions, her experience working as a solutions engineer, share how a liberal arts education has prepared her to be successful in this role, and what skillsets are important for entering this technical role.
4:00-4:45 pm
Tech, Space, and Satellite Solutions Product Management is for History Majors Too (Hillcrest 103)
Meghan Weber ’07 (History), Senior Space Product Manager, Amazon Web Services, will speak to her experience working as a product manager at Amazon Web Services (spoiler: you don’t need to be an engineer to become a product manager!). She will share more about what her day to day looks like, how liberal arts prepared her to be successful in the technology field as a non-engineer, what skill sets are important for the product manager role, tips on how to get started in the field, and how to prepare for an interview.
Consulting: Building Digital Factories in the Cloud Engineering Arena (Bi Hall 220)
Elizabeth Knox ’17 (Computer Science), Digital Analyst, McKinsey, will provide a case study of the consulting work in which she is engaged as a cloud engineer. She will discuss the software engineering skills she deploys, as well as the nature of technology consulting and how best to position yourselves for these opportunities.
What Data Science Tells Us in the Wearables Market (Bi Hall 219)
John Bowllan ’19 (Math), Data Science Technical Lead, Whoop, will share his experiences working as a data scientist in a start-up tech company focused on the wearables market. His discussion will include an overview of the wearables market, the data and tools he uses in his work, the intersection of data science and software engineering, and his interactions with other functional roles.
Make sure you’ve signed up for a 1:1 Alumni Resume Review from 9:00-12:00 in Kitchel House
If you are interested in a career in technology, don’t miss this chance to get valuable feedback on your resume from Middlebury alumni currently employed in the industry. Resume reviews are private, one-on-one conversations and approximately 20 minutes in length. Sign up to meet with alumni in Handshake.