Please briefly describe your background prior to Haas
Pre-Haas I was a Marine Corps officer and technical project manager working in defense technology and aerospace. While I do not have a STEM degree I have spent the bulk of my career working with engineer teams on meeting technical requirements while managing cost/schedule. I have also spent time as a caregiver for an immediate family member.
What industries and functions did you recruit for and why?
I spent the Fall semester of my first year at Haas initially interested in outdoor retail before I realized that I was actually interested in both a role and industry that was aligned with art and technology. This stems from a lifelong interest in writing, video games, and other forms of interactive media. The video game industry and its adjacent are particularly interesting to me because there are a plethora of incredibly fascinating technologies accelerating the sophistication and quality of video games, not to mention more practical applications like Nvidia’s Omniverse.
Briefly describe how you approached recruiting. Anything worked particularly well for you?
I recruited for tech very late (Jan/Feb), so don’t do what I did and start early! Talk to people at various companies about what they do, and try to figure out their day-to-day as best you can. I initially talked to a lot of people at Adobe due to my interest in their products (Lightroom, Illustrator, Photoshop) and this led to interest in companies like Nvidia and Microsoft. Going into my second year I’m reaching out to my contacts to understand the companies’ hiring needs and timeline.
Briefly introduce your internship company and your team
Blue Origin is an aerospace company that provides launch services and develops various space technologies such as lunar landers, engines, and orbital launch vehicles. It was founded by Jeff Bezos in 2000 with the goal of increasing access to space and preserving Earth’s natural resources.
Briefly describe your summer project or job description
My main project was developing a lifetime cost model for New Glenn, a reusable launch vehicle slated to conduct its first flight by the end of this year. I worked extensively in Excel analyzing the structure of parts/components, their engineering requirements, qualification ratings, and cost data.
In my other project I used JQL to ascertain critical and remaining technical debt in my business unit.
Fun facts about the company
Blue Origin’s original office has a lifesize replica of a spaceship envisioned in Jules Verne’s novel “From the Earth to the Moon.” During the early days of Blue Origin Jeff Bezos used to have meetings in the spaceship!
Thoughts / reflections on your internship
My experience at Blue Origin underlined the importance of organizational culture and cross-functional leadership. I also realized that I love data science! I like getting data, organizing it, creating pivot tables, making charts/graphs, and being the first to discover key insights. I am thinking more seriously about pursuing a Masters in Computer Science, which combined with an MBA is incredibly powerful.
Closing thoughts or advice
Keep calm and carry on.