28th August: McKesson Recruitment and Networking Event
I, with a few friends, attended half of the morning class and then left during the mid-break as we had to travel to Phoenix for the McKesson event, which was at 2:00 PM. We took Lyft cab to the destination, Galvanize building in Phoenix. We got ourselves registered there and met a few employees from McKesson. They were ASU undergraduate students doing a part-time internship in McKesson in their cybersecurity division. They then got us introduced to the guy who was involved in the Analytics Division. We had a short conversation with the Sr. Director of Analytics Division at McKesson. We asked him about the job prospects in McKesson and what skills should we build the most, for which he mentioned to look at Machine Learning Engineer as an exciting opportunity. Then, it was almost time for the event to start, and we had to leave him there as he had to prepare for his presentation session later that day.
We attended his session, where his team was also there. They described the unusual challenges that they are solving in the healthcare and pharma supply chain domain. The Q&A session was very interactive, as there were many professionals from the analytics background.
My interview was scheduled for 6:30 PM, but then I requested them to reschedule it at an earlier time, so they made some arrangements, and my review started at around 4:30 PM. The interview was just a screening interview where they just took the resume and got to know more about me. The interview went well, and she just noted down that I am available after May 2018 only. There were complimentary food and drinks available here; you were required to present a valid age ID for the drinks. We then also met VP of ERP services at McKesson, who gave us some insights into the job opportunities at McKesson. She explained as to why they value critical thinking skills as one of the distinguishing factors when recruiting. Also, she mentioned focusing on soft skills as well.
The Light Rail station near the event location was very close, about 15 minutes walk from there, so we decided to travel back via Light Rail. One guy in the Light Rail asked us if we were from W.P.Carey school by looking at our W.P.Carey branded bags. He was a W.P.Carey alumnus and had past work experience at Google. That time I realized the importance of the W.P.Carey branded school bag for networking.
29th August: SoDA kick start event
SoDA [Software Development Association] had organized the Kickstart event where they got representatives from Amazon, State Farm, American Express, along with a few more local companies for an information session. Most of the booths we visited, informed us that they are not sponsoring a work VISA currently. This information session was mostly for the Computer Engineering branches, so we didn’t get much information about Data Science opening in their organizations. They provided a Subway sandwich and some cookies for the event. SoDA always has food at all their events.
1st September: The long weekend story
Homeworks to be completed over the weekend and also study for the upcoming quiz. Also, it was a long weekend as Friday we don’t have any classes, and Monday was Labour Day holiday. Homeworks are essential here, as there are marks that are counted towards your grade. The deadlines for the homework and assignments are strict, so it’s important to prioritize tasks to complete everything on time.