It was wonderful to have dinner with Tasnuva Tabassum! She is an alumni of Cornell and is working in Silicon Valley. She described Silicon Valley in a way I had never thought of before – like a college campus. As she described, there are so many young people who move out to Silicon Valley for their first job, much like the way students move away to college. As a result, the atmosphere is fun and vibrant, and everyone is looking to meet someone new.

The valley, known for its technology, has the perfect way to handle this atmosphere – an app! Apps advertise networking events so people can get to know each other and make connections. They list the time and place of different events and encourage people to come. Apps also help people meet up in more one-on-one scenarios and match people with similar interests. This is a perfect solution, since the average time in a job is not that long – everyone is looking to keep their network up-to-date in case they want to switch companies.

This showcases another aspect of Silicon Valley – everything is right there! There are so many tech companies in one area that it makes it really easy to move between jobs and companies. This is just like a college campus, with so many ideas, departments, and schools all in one spot. Close proximity encourages the sharing of ideas, and the pursit of learning. It was so great to learn from Tasnuva and hear her relate her new “campus” to students at Cornell!

Perhaps the best learning is ‘on-the-job’ training where novice can try their hand at production right out of the gate and determine what the job expectations are like.  However, to do so requires the coursework and experience to find a job placement.  Tas Tabassum gave us a first-hand look of two industries in Silicon Valley, the first in the mature manufacturing sector where change was more incremental and the faster start-up culture of she began her work at after graduating with a Master’s in engineering from Cornell.

Her experience in that fast paced ‘just in time’ order fulfillment meant the constant stress culture, meant a high-demand high achievement emphasis which could only be thought of to our Rose Scholar minds sitting around the table as a perpetual preliminary exam schedule.  However, we were impressed by hearing about this environment, where companies converged for those above reasons.  The Valley we were told was a beehive of startup companies on their way to maturation who were able to recruit folks wanting to be on the cutting-edge of their industry.  It was fascinating to think of all these companies, so competitive with each yet cordial and close, at least in proximity.  Tas described the culture as cordial when the question came up, how do folks get along with others from competitor companies.  We all were somewhat impressed that many who work in the Silicon Valley companies know many of the others who work in Silicon Valley.  The combination, of creative energy and similar industries brings people together who would ordinarily become fast friends anywhere in the world.

I realized that the proximity of industries allowed folks to jump ship from one company and join another, where a year’s worth of employment may not be frowned upon if the job felt dull or stagnant.  Having the freedom to find those industries where the point was to have passion for the work seemed like the ideal for many of the Organizational Behavior lectures I’ve had stating that workers are drawn towards doing their best work in an environment that is stimulating and novel.  Tas did point out that not all of the industries are as fast-paced or demanding as the start-up culture.  She now works in a mature industry assembling solar panel coatings.  Here, there is marginal growth rather than rapid innovation and here a typical workday is 9am until 5pm and while there is a high cost of living, home for her was fifteen minutes away and job stability and satisfaction was present.  Even how she ended up in the position she’s at now was through mentor’s advice based on her fit.  Rather than continued research in the Master’s area, she found more growth managing a team and that continually seeking those sorts of opportunities for lateral growth came about in Silicon Valley.

Speaking with Tasnuva (or Tas) was a real pleasure and I believe I was able to get a lot of insight on future career paths and a better grasp on the tools I will need for my career further down the road. We talked a lot about Tasnuva’s experiences going through college, her prior career, where she wants her career to proceed, and the values upon which she built her career. We discussed what working in start-ups is like and what to expect from certain companies. I learned that being in the same job for too long could end up boring and it is healthy to have people in and outside the company to help guide your career path. It was interesting to see how her experience and career lined up with what I imagined working in these sectors was like.

As a Communication major, I found this event incredibly interesting. As a technical program manager, she said that her most valuable skill was her ability to communicate with clients. She was interested in learning about my experiences as a communication major in CALS and how a person can learn to better communicate. I also was very interested in learning about what wisdom she could impart about what it is like working within marketing.

On Thursday night, we have the opportunity to chat with Tasnuva over dinner. She is the technical project manager in Alta Devices. She was brought up in Bangladesh, finished her high school in Bangladesh. Then, she moved to the UK for her college. She received her Master’s degree in Material Science from Cornell University. The biggest take-away for me is that communication is essential in our career life. She shared with us her story about how her job involves continuously talking to people. Although she is an introvert, she developed excellent communication skills over time. She also told us that it is okay to change job if we find ourself not learning anything new. She currently works as a startup in California, focusing on renewable energy. She used to be in a small company, and then she switched into a bigger company. Since she is working with international corporations, it is unlikely that she would have a 9 am to 5 pm schedule. Instead, her work hours are from 9 am -9 pm because 5 pm-9 pm is the most active time for Asian countries. She has to be call-in for a meeting to know what is going on. We talked about how the employee does not expect to be paid overtime because they are willing to do the work.

Overall, I am glad that I have learned a lot from her journey. She gave us a lot of advice regarding academic and career. The dinner is an excellent networking opportunity, and I look forward to joining another one.

During yesterday’s dinner with Tasnuva, we discussed her current job and some of her career interests. It was quite helpful to listen to her talk about the decisions she made about her education and career, and she had some good advice for us as undergrads. One of our fellow Rose Scholars was a communications major, and she noted how important it is to be a great communicator not only in academia but also in industry. She told us that being likable as an important factor in the hiring process, and that that presenting ourselves as a likable person (even if it differs from how we usually act) is important during the hiring process. Although this advice seems a bit obvious, I think that we often overlook this when searching for internships. We tend to focus on perfecting our resume and having many technical skills and noteworthy experiences, so much so that we often forget that we should also present ourselves as friendly human-beings. I totally agree with her sentiment because recruiters and interviewers are not only looking for an outstanding students but also people that will be able to get along with co-workers and be a team-player. 

We also talked about her education, career, and life in Silicon Valley, which was interesting. She told us about how her schooling in the UK was quite rigid, and there wasn’t much room to take extra classes, which reminded me that I should not only take my required major courses but also fun classes that can teach me some useful skills. Tasnuva also mentioned how she took a year off between undergrad and grad school and took up a job in a bank, which is totally unrelated to her major and career interests (she majored in materials science and engineering). However, she made this decision so she could save up money for grad school, and also mentioned how she learned a lot about managing personal finances. I thought this was a really well-planned decision. This showed that finding a job opportunity in a field unrelated to person’s major is fine because it can still be a learning experience. In addition, we also asked Tasnuva about her life in Silicon Valley, and it was really interesting to hear how the company culture can differ drastically. The working pace of a company can be determined by the age of their technology, and by their customer demographic. Some companies are more customer oriented. Because of the time zone difference of  international customers, the employees often had to work odd and long hours, from 12-16 hours a day. Other companies who work in older industries and place importance on 9-5 culture will prioritize working normal hours over accommodating their customer’s time zone. This really shows that choosing a workplace that suits your life and your priorities is quite important, especially in Silicon Valley. 

By the end of the dinner, I felt that I had gathered a lot of information about making academic and career decisions from Tasnuva. She gave us some very useful advice and overall I think I learned quite a bit from this talk.