Engineering students lead peers to career opportunities

Google Developer Student Club hosts Building Your Technical Career event

On a chilly fall night, in a large room in Wilson Hall, with boxes of piping-hot pizza and brightly colored Google swag bags stacked tall on tables lining the walls, nearly 100 future engineers and budding computer scientists gathered for the Building Your Technical Career event.

The evening capped a two-day offering from the Google Developer Student Club, or GDSC, which also included a competitive 300-person hackathon, designed to connect students in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University, with helpful networking opportunities and professional advice. At the Building Your Technical Career event, Google experts presented students with education strategies, timelines for internships and career tips.

The students had questions.

What types of projects impress employers? What kind of information is important to put on a resume? When is the best time to apply for jobs and internships?

But above all: How can a student stand out in a competitive job market?

Karim Fatehi, an engineering manager for Google who led the presentation, stood at the front of the room and thought for a second.

“Showcase your passion,” he told the students. “Clubs, hackathons and personal projects make a big difference in a world where everyone has completed the required courses.”

Students at the GDSC Building Your Technical Career raise their hands to ask the experts questions. Attendees were given the opportunity to hear from industry experts and discuss concerns about their future careers. Photographer: Kelly deVos/ASU

Student leaders serving the software developer community

Pavel Ryabov has taken Fatehi’s message to heart.

The junior pursuing a degree in computer science balances his studies with his role as the GDSC ASU Lead. During the Building Your Technical Career event, he bustled around, making sure attendees found seats and got enough to eat and drink. He hopes that the event was not only informative but gave his fellow students a sense of community.

“In these uneasy times for the tech job market, with layoffs and concerns about artificial intelligence replacing traditional computer science roles, I think it’s important to keep spirits high,” Pavel says. “For this event, we wanted to create an open dialogue between students and established industry members, providing an updated view on the job market.”

A GDSC is a Google-assisted organization that helps students create a developer community on their campus. Students can use products from many companies but do receive invaluable mentorship and support from Google. The club offers events, hackathons, workshops and more. There are currently more than 2,100 chapters in 100 countries.

Google expert Fatehi walked students through a sample plan. He advised them to spend their first year in the Fulton Schools focused on strengthening their coding skills. He suggested they join student organizations and apply for internships.

According to Fatehi, sophomores should take important classes in data structures and algorithms, attend a professional conference and do mock technical interviews. Juniors should continue to build proficiencies in programming languages and software design.

Finally, seniors were encouraged to make sure their resumes were polished, apply for higher level internships or full-time roles, and seek leadership opportunities.

Abhirup Vijay Gunakar is one such senior. The computer science student serves as senior vice president of the GDSC, working with Pavel on ways to best support the ASU developer community.

“Our club operates much like a modern tech company at the college level, where students come together to create cutting-edge projects and support each other’s growth,” Abhirup says. “This collaborative environment is built on ensuring students have the resources to succeed, making it an ideal ground for cultivating effective leadership.”

The officers of the ASU GDSC pose with Google team members. From left to right: Treasurer Harish Chaurasia, Google Software Engineer Pardeep Singh, ASU Student Lead Pavel Ryabov, Officer Amelia Green, Fatehi, Google Supply Chain Program Manager Fatima Aguero Ruiz, Vice President of Engineering Zeel Shah and Senior Vice President Abhirup Vijay Gunakar. Photo courtesy of Abhirup Vijay Gunakar

“How many people have their resumes ready?”

After graduation in May, Abhirup plans to enter the software industry with an emphasis on systems engineering. Thanks to the event, he’ll be ready.

In addition to Fatehi, ASU alumna Fatima Aguero Ruiz also presented at the event. The graduate of the W.P. Carey School of Business is a supply chain program manager at Google who walked students through the best ways to showcase their skills.

“Your resume is your opportunity to tell your story,” Ruiz said.

She stressed the need for students to keep their resumes current, explaining that many tech companies hire on a rolling basis, filling positions as they find qualified candidates. Job seekers who apply early in the process have an advantage.

Ruiz also said, if time permits, students should consider community service projects and list them on their resume because such efforts can impress employers.

For his part, Pavel is currently interning at a startup that uses artificial intelligence to break down language barriers. He hopes to continue that type of work after graduation.

He says he believes his efforts in the GDSC will benefit both his own career and those of fellow students.

“As an engineer, I feel a responsibility to not only develop innovative products and technologies, but also to support the next generation of developers as they navigate the challenges of the tech industry,” Pavel says. “I believe that ideas are one the most valuable resources we have as humans. I see making it easier for people to bring their ideas to life as a crucial goal in modern tech.”

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Fatima Aguero Ruiz’s computer science resume recommendations

At the Building Your Technical Skills event, the W.P. Carey School of Business alumna gave attendees the benefit of her master’s in business administration, providing a slate of tips and tricks to help students get their resumes in top shape. Her advice for computer science students includes:

• Focus on your impact. Include work experience using bullet points and clear, concise language.
• Use Laszlo Bock’s formula for stating experience. Sometimes called the X-Y-Z formula, Bock advises using, “Accomplished [X] as measured by [Y], by doing [Z].” For instance, “Improved server query response time by 15% by writing API logic.”
• If you don’t have work experience, discuss memberships in student organizations, research projects and programming competitions or hackathons.
• Showcase both coursework and personal projects.
• List programming languages you are proficient in. Ideally, this would include Java, C, C++, Python, JavaScript and Go.
• Consider posting and linking to work on GitHub.