Please briefly describe your background prior to Haas
I was born and raised in Taiwan, where I studied Physics for my undergrad before moving on to earn a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering. I’ve worked in early-stage startups, growth-stage companies, and big tech—always in tech. My career has revolved around data, whether as an algorithm engineer or a data analyst.
I began my career as a software engineer at a startup in Taiwan. However, I soon realized that I was more passionate about the business aspects than software development. This led me to transition into a role as a Data Analyst at a growing social media company in China. To gain a more comprehensive understanding of business operations, I joined Alibaba, where I expanded my focus from data analysis to include strategic planning.
What industries and functions did you recruit for and why?
I pursued an MBA for two main reasons: to shift my market focus from China to the U.S., and to transition my career from Data Analyst to Product Manager. In line with my pre-MBA experience, I have a strong affinity for working in the tech industry because it is data-driven, fast-paced, and offers the opportunity to make a significant impact. My motivation to become a Product Manager stems from my enjoyment of the challenging process that takes an idea from inception to implementation. In my previous role, my responsibilities were more limited, and I now seek to broaden my scope and take on more challenges.
Briefly describe how you approached recruiting. Anything worked particularly well for you?
I started with parallel recruiting, targeting both tech PM roles and consulting. The timeline for big tech tends to be earlier, so I completed my tech resume first and then focused on preparing for consulting interviews, including casing. I found that practicing case interviews also helped me in tech interviews by teaching me how to be more structured in my responses.
For the tech resume and interview process, my advice is to focus only on relevant experience. For example, if you're applying for a PM role but haven’t been a PM before, make sure your resume highlights only the experience that’s relevant to the role. Companies aren’t interested in everything you’ve done—they only care if you have the skills and qualifications needed to be a successful PM on their team.
Briefly introduce your internship company and your team
I’m interning as a Technical Product Manager at Amazon's Santa Barbara office—yes, I was surprised to learn they have an office there too! My team is part of the Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) organization, focusing on improving answer quality for Alexa using Large Language Models (LLMs).
Briefly describe your summer project or job description
My project involves taking a new feature from concept to implementation, building it from the ground up. Since the product I’m working on is a confidential project, I’m not able to share much.
Fun facts about the company
I have two fun facts to share. First, our office has an entire refrigerator stocked with local craft beer and wine, which is quite different from the typical Amazon office. And of course, we also have the signature free bananas and coffee.
Second, Amazon has a unique meeting culture, particularly with document review meetings. I've hosted seven of these meetings so far. If it's a 30-minute meeting, I send out the document in Chime (Amazon's version of Zoom) at the start, and everyone remains silent for the first 15 minutes while they review and comment on the document. After that, the discussion begins, starting with high-level comments about the entire document, then moving on to more detailed, section-by-section feedback. This type of meeting can be challenging for the host, as it requires a significant amount of time to prepare the document, but it allows the participants to provide more in-depth comments.
Thoughts / reflections on your internship
My main hypothesis for this internship was to test whether I really wanted to become a Product Manager. My conclusion is a resounding yes—I enjoy the ambiguity, the chaos, and the sense of ownership that comes with this role. I've never felt this level of self-motivation before. In my previous job as a Data Analyst, I was primarily supporting others and helping management make decisions. But as a PM, I’m the one making decisions, and that has been incredibly exciting for me.
Closing thoughts or advice
Don’t treat recruiting as a long and repetitive process. Instead, take some time to reflect on your past experiences and think about how you can improve. Even now, I still learn from my previous work. Dive deeper into your experiences—you’ll find it rewarding.