Actionable Advice
Erick Castaneda, MS’21, a data scientist at Sam’s Club, said that technical knowledge is vital and to expect to have it tested, not just talked about, in a job interview.
“For those of you who want to learn about business, you are still MSBA students,” he said during his talk. “You still need some advanced skill sets. It doesn’t have to be coding. If you don’t like R, you don’t like SQL, go for dashboarding, go for project management, go for product management, go for supply chain.”
He recommended the Career Management Center case interview event for polishing interviewing skills and gave advice on the mindset to take toward job-related events.
“You’re going to meet with people, you’re going to speak with them and you’re going to start understanding the language,” he said. “One very important thing is that when I went through my 30-plus interviews (he laughed), I learned a lot by talking to them.”
Varun Bhavnani ‘23, data scientist at Tricolor Holdings, reminded attendees to take advantage of the program’s opportunities, both curricular and extracurricular. He recommended technical skills, yes, but also books Ace the Data Science Interview and Practical Statistics for Data Scientists.
Bhavrani said after his talk that he wanted to help further skills with his presentation and also was out to relieve some of the pressure students may be feeling as they attempt to secure a post-graduation position.
“The courses I took had strong applicability to my career and I wanted them to understand that they can’t take them lightly,” he said. “I refer back to my class knowledge regularly in my work. But I wanted students to also understand that they can’t be experts in every program. Choose to learn what you can when it comes to programs, but realize you can gain certain understanding on the job and every company can be potentially different in what they will want you to learn to do the job.”
Manish Ramchandani, an MSBA graduate student, appreciated Bhavrani’s directness.
“He gave clear actions to take and I appreciated that he recommended resources,” Ramchandani said. “I appreciate that he got into specifics. The students need people who will tell them the real story. You come away knowing with hard work and a targeted approach, you have a great chance to succeed.”
John DeOrian, MS‘19, vice president of marketing strategy for RealPage, was there to help broaden the students’ views of the potential for the degree when it came to job offerings.
“The main thing I was hoping for is they would realize that there are other opportunities besides IT (information technology) and engineering,” he said. “A lot of students in MSBA think it’s the only path. It’s an excellent path but I want them to know the degree is a chance to pick their direction, but also see there are many directions to choose from. If they even just go on to look at non-IT, non-engineering jobs then I feel I did my job in my presentation today … Data competency is a superpower across every domain I’m aware of professionally. With this degree, they can come to someone at their company and say in their own way, ‘I see the problem, I can connect those dots and tease it and answer the question in data.’”
Victoria Puckett, BS’16, MS’18, manager, strategic business analysis, for Targetbase, said she wanted to give students a feel for visualizing the job they may end up landing.
“You may learn different types of coding and algorithms but what does the day-to-day look like?” she said. “What service are you providing the company? I wanted that to come across.”
Taking on Uncertainty
Shauna Peart-Hodge, a PMBA student, came to the event to have a better view of where taking MSBA classes would lead. DeOrian helped alleviate some of her uncertainty.
“I learned about technical programs that were considered vital by some from the symposium,” she said. “Python was mentioned but also R and (DeOrian’s presentation) really got me thinking … focusing on other areas outside of, for example, engineering, where you can use the degree was helpful. He really showed that there are other ways to use data. It just opened my eyes and I appreciated that the school made this event available. The speakers made me feel much better about what the MSBA program has to offer for a career.”
A Reunion of Knowledge
Gaurav Shekhar, assistant dean for graduate programs at the Jindal School and director of the MSBA Program, was thrilled to have so many successful graduates giving of their time.
“These people all have very different skill sets and they also are the living proof of what this degree can do,” he said, sharing that the program is the largest on-campus MSBA graduate analytics program in the world. “The kinds of successful companies they work for, the kinds of positions they have, you can see how students are excited to ask them questions during or after sessions. It’s also a terrific way to welcome our graduates back and let them see their community and get to be a part of it more. On so many levels, this was an event to be excited about.”
Raghuraman (Raghu) Shankar, an MSBA graduate student and chair of the symposium, was also enthused by the speaking lineup, since he had been hoping to book impressive graduates to participate.
“The response I’ve seen is that students are very happy to get the knowledge from people who are succeeding in positions they would love to be in some day,” he said. Shankar also said he could tell that the students were grateful to have the availability of such alumni.
Byron Simpson, MS’15, MS’16, director, strategic business analysis, at Targetbase, admitted to a second motivation for presenting, but one the MSBA community clearly wouldn’t mind.
“I love to teach but I will also admit I’m looking to recruit,” he said. “I wanted students to understand that companies can work with students. For example, if I see enough from someone in the area of thinking about data and accessing it, there is possibility even if they aren’t incredibly advanced in knowing certain programs. There are some things you can teach and some things you can’t. There are many ways to discover someone has a great mind and can help your company.”
MSBA graduate student Jhansi Somarouthu found the symposium provided greater clarity for her as she considers her career options and found it meant a great deal coming from those who walked down the same MSBA program path at the Jindal School.
“(I) want to know the best way to get into the right positions and how to grow once (I) get there,” she said. “These people who came today have been there and they were very forthcoming with their experiences. They made me feel more at ease and my strategy is now better because they showed you important steps to take.”
