What the Future Holds in Store

I graduate in less than a month! Because of the current economy and resulting job market, many of my friends don't know what they are doing after college. Fortunately for us I was able to secure a job after I graduate. A few months ago I wrote this post while in Chicago for a job interview. X also wrote this post about my week of interviews. Here is a breakdown of where I was and what I was doing:

Thursday, November 5, 2009

GE Energy - Minden (Reno), NV

GE Energy is associated with all sorts of green energy projects, ranging from wind-, water-, and solar-powered energy, to the Smart Grid projects across the country. The GE Energy division I interviewed with deals with condition monitoring of instrumentation and services, to ensure that all of the turbines are working correctly and smoothly. I would be programming the software for the monitoring equipment, and other projects they are working on.

My interview with GE Energy was about 5 hours long. My favorite part was after the interview I was able to drive out to Lake Tahoe (about 25 minutes away) before my flight. The view was breathtaking, even in November!

Friday, November 6, 2009

Goldman Sachs - SLC, UT

This was my final (of 3) interviews with Goldman Sachs. All of Goldman Sachs' trading software is developed in-house, so I would be creating the software to allow people to trade their assets in the stock market, specifically with Private Wealth Management. Besides corrupt management and high bonuses, other things I would have to look forward to are work hours starting at 7am (to work the same hours as New York), and a free BlackBerry phone. Yipee!

My interview with Goldman Sachs was about 3 hours long. My favorite part was when this Chinese interviewee told one of the interviewers that he was surprised that she could do the job when she was a woman. I don't think he got offered a job...

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

GE Healthcare - Barrington (Chicago), IL

GE Healthcare has a range of products and services that include medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, drug discovery, and biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies. The GE Healthcare division I interviewed with deals with the software for all of the above projects. For example, when you used to get X-Rays the doctor would print out the X-Ray onto film and look at it under a light. The new software and technologies that GE Healthcare is creating allows doctors to receive and manage the X-Ray images directly on their computer.

My interview with GE Healthcare was about 3 hours long, however I was doing stuff with the other 25 interviewees all day and the previous evening. My favorite part was the "Dinner & Cocktails" that we had the night before where everyone got slammed except for me.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Clearwater Analytics - Boise, ID

Clearwater Analytics focuses on investment strategy and reporting. It allows a company to get an immediate snapshot of their financial reports & portfolios to let them know if they have any risks or transparencies.

My interview with Clearwater Analytics was about 3 hours long. This was probably my most difficult interview, mostly because everyone was really arrogant. Every time I came up with a right answer they would say something like "That's really good! But that's not how I would've done it..." My favorite part was when I left to go home.

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All I can say is that was definitely a tiring week! All the interviews kind of get mixed up together, but I can honestly say like I felt like I did a pretty good job in all of them. I ended up getting offers from every company except the one in Boise! (so no real biggie, right?) But now you are probably wondering which job did I pick? Drum-roll please?
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This is where we are headed at the end of May!

I took the job at GE Energy as a Software Test Engineer. I officially start the end of May, but we'll be in Salt Lake from May 7th - 14th to say goodbye to everyone before we head out to Nevada (about 8 hours away from Salt Lake). If you want to see us before we leave you should call or text us so we can do something.