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Careers

Careers COVID-19 MBA Rady School Students

Meet National Rugby Champion and Full-Time MBA Student Teigan MacDonald

Teigan MacDonald was working on her application to the Rady School’s full-time MBA program while sitting in a hotel hallway in Fall 2018. She had traveled to Marietta, GA, to compete with her rugby club, the San Diego Surfers, in the Women’s Premier League National Championship. Teigan scored the first try of the match (like football’s touchdown) and the Surfers defeated the Glendale Merlins 34-28. That championship marked the second of three in Teigan’s rugby career, and the beginning of her new career.

Born and raised in Modesto, CA, Teigan earned a B.S. in biology and minor in economics from UC San Diego. When she began her undergraduate studies, she thought she might like to work in a bioengineering lab. “I took my first lab class and I absolutely hated it,” she says. “I hated not having windows and not being able to talk to people. It’s a very individualized experience.” Having spent most of her life playing–and thriving–in team sports, Teigan realized that the lab environment wasn’t for her.

Inspired by family members who’d studied economics, Teigan began taking coursework that blended her interests, such as economics of the environment and economics of healthcare. “I loved that you could take a class [on these subjects] and apply business concepts to them,” says Teigan. She’d found her niche. Before she graduated, Teigan’s dad, a stock broker, recommended that she take a personal finance class, one of the Rady School’s undergraduate offerings.

“I remember walking into Wells Fargo Hall and thinking, ‘Why have I not been here the whole time?’” Teigan says. “‘Whatever I need to do, I want to [study] here.” she says. “I was able to meet Joe Pecore, a great instructor. I went to his office hours and he really helped me figure out what I wanted to do and why I should go get an MBA.”

Teigan began the full-time MBA program in Fall 2019. “What I’ve enjoyed the most so far about is the holistic experience I’m getting at a graduate school,” she says. “My undergraduate experience at UC San Diego was great, but I didn’t really have career networking or resume workshops. I wasn’t really close with my classmates because I was in classes with 300 students. When I came to Rady, I thought, ‘Wow, this is more than just going to school. This is building a career.”

This summer, Teigan begins a new role in sales support at ACADIA pharmaceuticals, where she works part-time as a commercial operations analyst. She says that working closely with Rady career advisor Stephanie Sindt earlier this year helped prepare her for a new challenge. “We had internship meetups every week before COVID. It was a great way to crowdsource and work as a group and get Steaphine’s expertise. We would prepare for interviews and work on our cover letters and resumes.”

Ultimately, Teigan says that her dream job is managing sales teams for a biotech or pharmaceutical company. It’s a role that combines the competitiveness she’s fostered throughout her life in sports, the knowledge she’s gaining in her courses, and the collaboration and experience she receives among her peers.

“People forget that you try to interact with people just like you. This program encourages you to work with different people and learn how other people operate and work,” she says.

Teigan says that her favorite Rady experiences so far include her fall marketing class, the career treks organized by the Life Sciences Club to San Diego companies such as Thermo Fisher Scientific and ResMed, and conversations before and after class with her fellow students. Despite the current challenges and activities on hold–including rugby–due to the pandemic, Teigan remains optimistic about her future.

“When I land an interview or get a chance to talk to a company I’m interested in, I feel like I’ve scored a try, because it’s just one step closer to my goal.”

June 18, 2020 0 comment

Advancing Careers COVID-19 Rady School

Tips and Resources for Job Searching During the COVID-19 Pandemic

written by Rady School

As we all navigate a new reality as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, job searching can feel like particularly shaky terrain. To address concerns around the job market, FlexMBA and Alumni Career Consultant Linda Kurtz recently led virtual workshops for Rady School students. Below, we’ve compiled expertise shared by Kurtz and fellow Career Management Center staff to help provide guidance for the Rady community.

Research industries of interest and look for trends.

“I want to be transparent,” Kurtz said during the workshop. “Some companies are actively hiring and recruiting, some are putting things on pause, and some are laying people off.”

To discover which companies and industries are actively hiring, Kurtz and the Career Management Center staff shared several resources.

For one, Candor.co is compiling a live, user-generated report of hiring activity across industries. CultivatedCulture.com prepared a COVID-19 job market insights guide, which summarized Candor.co’s findings as of April 4^th:

Industries of particular interest to Rady School graduates such as consulting & services, business software and financial services are showing a lot of hiring activity.

LinkedIn has also compiled this regularly updated list of companies currently hiring to meet increased demands.

Startup San Diego, CONNECT San Diego and San Diego: Life Changing, a division of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Council, has put together this list of companies with current job openings.

“Think about the functional areas that are being impacted,” said Mitchell Kam, Assistant Director of the Career Management Center. Ecommerce companies experiencing an increase in online orders are also experiencing an uptick of data. They’re likely to seek data analysts not just during the pandemic, but in the aftermath as well.

Create a job search plan.

While uncertainty can feel overwhelming, creating a plan can help you prioritize and take action. Kurtz recommended these three steps:

Write down your goals. Where would you like to be professionally in the next three to five years? What short-term adjustments might you need to make to get there?
Create a list of desired industries, roles, companies and locations. Include relevant advocates and contacts.
Continue applying to jobs and follow up on your applications.

“Even if an interview process is put on pause, the good news is that you are likely to be considered when interviewing resumes,” Kurtz said. Be “politely persistent” as you follow up, and keep in mind that everyone you are in contact with is likely experiencing their own concerns about the pandemic.

Continue to network online.

Without the opportunity to attend in-person networking events or schedule casual coffee chats, a thoughtful online networking strategy is more important than ever. You may find your inbox bombarded with Zoom happy hour invitations, connection requests, or colleagues checking-in.

Kurtz recommended prioritizing your networking efforts according to your job search plan so that you can maximize your time and make the most meaningful online connections. “Companies need the right talent to help them move their business forward,” she said. Conversations with your network can help you learn early about new opportunities, or learn about ways in which a business is shifting its priorities.

“It’s a better time than ever to be reaching out on LinkedIn,” said Graduate Career Advisor Michelle Sedgwick. “A lot of us have been through ups and downs of the economy in the past and people want to be able to provide some support.”

Now is also a good time to make sure your LinkedIn profile (and website, if applicable), are up-to-date. When requesting new LinkedIn connections, be sure to include a brief message about why you’re interested in talking to them, and what you have in common. A little customization can go a long way, and gives a personal touch to electronic communication.

Upskill (in a way that makes sense for your goals).

Many online learning sites are currently offering free or discounted courses. Research which programs can get you closer to the goals you outlined in your job search plan. Students can arrange a meeting with Rady Career Management Center advisors to personalize their plan. Online learnings options to consider include:

Take care of yourself.

It’s absolutely normal to feel overwhelmed by this pandemic. As you continue your job search, remember to look out for your health, too. UC San Diego has compiled a list of resources for coping with coronavirus stress that includes tips for preserving your mental, physical and emotional health. Your well-being comes first!

April 16, 2020 0 comment

Careers MPAc Rady School

Accounting Professionals Share Their Best Career Advice for Students

written by Rady School

Career fairs can be nerve-wracking affairs. We all want to make a great first impression on potential employers. So, how do we do that? We asked several accounting professionals attending a recent Meet the Firms — an accounting career fair hosted by the Rady School to introduce undergraduate accounting minors and MPAc students to dozens of employers — to share their best pieces of advice for students.

What employers want to see at a career fair:

“Someone that we can get along with in the workplace and that would have a professional demeanor when we place them in front of clients.” – Natalie Allen, UC San Diego alum and audit associate at KPMG

“Come out, be your true self. Definitely be prepared. Have some questions prepared for us to give feedback so we can get a dialogue. But then also ask us about who we are.” – Nick Winicki, UC San Diego alum and senior audit associate at Deloitte

“Communication skills. Definitely. We always say that you can always teach someone something, but it’s hard to teach soft skills to students.” -Rey Bada, staff accountant at Weworski & Associates

Next steps after a career fair:

“I think the students should think about what they’re most interested in and what they’re looking for in a career. If they’re in accounting, think about whether you’re interested in tax or audit so you can find the right path for you.” – Megan Chatman, tax manager at Gatto, Pope & Walwick, LLP

“Make sure you get business cards and then follow up with them afterwards. So every follow-up email I sent, I tried to include something we talked about so they’d remember me.” – Nick Winicki

Best advice for a job interview:

“Just be yourself, be punctual. Do some research about the firm and come up with really good questions to ask the interviewer and just try to make an impact.” – Michelle Koh, tax content analyst at Intuit

“It’s fine to be nervous. It’s fine. It happens to everyone. But the opportunities are out there and you have to be a go-getter. Go for that.” – Jose Palacios, UC San Diego alum and commercial credit underwriter at California Bank and Trust

“Be yourself. I think we all have a tendency to get nervous during a job interview but do what you can to keep your nerves calm and just really be who you are.” – Megan Chatman

“If you don’t know kind of the ins and outs of the bank and have really looked into why you’re excited to work here, it’s hard for us to see you in those positions.” – Nicole Wells, campus recruiter at California Bank & Trust

How to advance in your career:

“Participate some way in the community, whether it’s through volunteering time in the nonprofit, or being able to have a little bit of background of what it is to be in the workforce and become a little bit more knowledgeable.” – Cynthia Solomon, UC San Diego alum and relationship banker at California Bank & Trust

February 11, 2020 0 comment

Advancing Careers MSBA Rady School

Five Questions to Ask Yourself If You’re Pursuing a Career in Data

written by Rady School

Updated 3/26/20: This post has been edited to reflect that the FlexWeekend MSBA program runs on Saturdays.

For the fourth year in a row, the job search website Glassdoor reported that Data Scientist is the best job in America. “This is due to the high demand, high salary, and high job satisfaction,” Glassdoor Chief Economist Dr. Andrew Chamberlain told CNBC. Several other data-driven roles also made the list: including data engineer at #8 and data analyst at #31.

There’s no denying that data is very much en vogue.

“All organizations are collecting more and more data. It’s never going to be less,” says Vincent Nijs, Associate Professor of Marketing and co-director of the Rady School of Management’s Master of Science in Business Analytics program. “In this competitive environment, what skill set do you bring?”

According to a 2017 report by IBM, 39% of data scientists and advanced analyst positions require a master’s or PhD. “I think of business analytics as data science specifically for business,” says Nijs. “Our curriculum is built on business problems that companies face in practice, those that companies are willing to pay people to help solve them.” And pay they do.

“Continually learning and adding new knowledge in the field of data science and analytics is a great long-term personal development strategy that pays,” says Forbes writer Louis Columbus. Indeed, that Glassdoor report shows the median base salary for a data analyst at $60,000, but a data scientist can expect to see closer to $110,000*.

“One piece of advice I always offer to students on the job market is to try and start at the highest level possible,” says Raymond Petit, Executive Director of the Rady School’s MSBA program. He has strong evidence to support that advice. “Among graduates who report, 100 hundred percent of our MSBA students are placed in jobs after graduation,” many of them in data scientist roles.

“These companies see how our graduates our fulfilling their needs and doing a great job at it,” says Terrence August, Associate Professor of Innovation, Technology and Operations, and co-director of the MSBA program.

The Rady School of Management is currently accepting applications for its full-time, 11-month Master of Science in Business Analytics degree program and its FlexWeekend MSBA program. The 17-month FlexWeekend MSBA program will cover the same curriculum as the full-time program, with classes offered on alternating Saturdays. This new program will be the first of its kind in California, making it possible for professionals to continue working full-time while they pursue their MSBA degree.

If you’re deciding whether or not to pursue your Master of Science of Business Analytics, here are a few questions to consider:

1. Do you want to earn a higher salary?

*See above.

2. Do you want to be able to communicate data more effectively?

“When we developed the curriculum for the MSBA programs, we talked to a number of different large corporations in the area,” says Nijs. “We asked them what they’d be looking for from our graduates. They talked about a lot of things like looking at data, being able to analyze the data, but also very importantly—being able to communicate the insights from that data back to decision makers.”

This is a skill set that Rady MSBA graduate Josh Bhatnagar says he uses every day as a Data Analyst at Mazda North American Operations. In addition to supporting the company’s quantitative needs such as data accessibility, modeling and structuring, communication is critical to his job function. “I maintain ongoing dialogue with domain owners and IT to prioritize organizational data requirements, design strategic data solutions and implement those solutions,” he says. “Without my time at Rady, I would not have had the foundation necessary to be successful in my current role.”

3. Do you want more confidence in your technical skills?

Rady MSBA graduate Swagata Chakraborty was working as an analyst in Citibank’s Global Decision Management team when she found herself contemplating how to move forward in her career. “I felt that people who already had a specialization relevant to their role were somewhat more confident and had more clarity about their role.” After graduating, Chakraborty secured a Data Scientist position with Walmart Labs. “Concepts like the statistical significance of the data, sampling methods for training and test data, working with unstructured data, training machine-learning models and confidence interval analysis are some of the topics which I learned through my coursework at Rady and apply on a daily basis [at work].”

4. Do you want the opportunity to expand your network?

Whether you pursue your MSBA in the full-time or in the FlexWeekend program, the Rady Capstone Project provides the opportunity to solve real business problems faced by real companies such as HP, Petco, Target, and Thermo Fisher. Students work in teams of three-four for ten weeks, ultimately to present their findings to the company. “It’s an experience that very much feels like working for a company as opposed to just a school project,” says August. And better yet, the capstone can become the stepping stone to your next career move.

“Companies are setting up this capstone-internship-job pipeline with us so that they can start to build their analytics teams in a very safe, smart way and make sure they’re getting the right talent for what they need,” says Petit. That’s exactly what happened for Rady MSBA graduate Radha Srinivasan, who worked on a capstone project for Thermo Fisher, was offered a data scientist job upon graduation, and is now their Senior Data Scientist (one year after graduating).

5. Do you want to drive up value in an organization?

“It’s great if you’re able to program something interesting in Python that solves a problem, but if nobody wants to use it, we’re not creating any value for anybody,” says Nijs.

Let’s look at that another way. According to a 2013 McKinsey report, “By 2020, the wider adoption of big-data analytics could increase annual GDP in retailing and manufacturing by up to $325 billion and save as much as $285 billion in the cost of health care and government services … Big data promises big things—but only if organizations have the right people in place who know what to do with it.”

Hmm. Sounds like a job for a Rady MSBA graduate.

Learn more about the Rady School of Management’s MSBA program here.

December 17, 2019 0 comment

Alumni Careers MBA MFin

Your Invitation to LinkedIn’s 17th Floor Terrace Awaits

written by Rady School

At 3 p.m. on Fridays, employees at LinkedIn’s San Francisco headquarters step away from their keyboards and gather on the 17^th floor terrace to enjoy each other’s company. They mingle with colleagues in different departments. They savor a drink or some snacks. And they soak up the glimmer and bustle of the SoMa neighborhood below. Doesn’t sound too bad, eh?

In late October, Rady School students had the opportunity to immerse themselves in LinkedIn’s culture (and others) during the Bay Area Trek organized by Rady’s Career Management Center. Over the course of two days, Rady students (primarily MBA students, but also those in other master’s programs) visited LinkedIn, Facebook, KLA, Komodo Health, Salesforce, AirBNB, Flex and Intel, touring the state-of-the-art office spaces, asking questions of the working professionals—many of whom are UC San Diego or Rady alum—and getting a clearer picture of where their degree from Rady School of Management can take them.

We caught up with two students who attended—Ping Gu and Sitong Liu (MFin ’20) to ask them about their most memorable moments and why they encourage more Rady students to make the trip.

Which companies did you visit and why did you select them?

Gu: I visited Facebook and LinkedIn. I saw the big names and I didn’t think too much! I knew I wanted to go visit these companies.

Liu: I went to LinkedIn, Komodo and KLA. I was exciting to learn about them all. They offered a broad range of experiences. I was curious to know what kind of career advice they would give us.

What left the biggest impression on you from these visits?

Gu: At LinkedIn, all three speakers were UC San Diego alum. They were so supportive of us and said they see Rady growing very fast. Eric Darwin (Head of Corporate Development) shared his story of transitioning from investment banking to working at Salesforce and now doing mergers and acquisitions at LinkedIn. It painted a picture for us of how we can navigate our own careers. After the session, we got a tour of the building. Because it was Friday, we also got to join in on their regular happy hour on the 17^th floor. That was so cool! People from every floor of the building came up to join.

Rady students enjoy the views at LinkedIn’s San Francisco headquarters

Liu: I did not know what to expect from Komodo, because they are a small firm, but they ended up being my favorite part of the trip! They have about 200 employees. There were three presenters—two were remote who are based in New York. They shared what it was like to move from a big company to a startup, and then grow in the new role from startup to small company. The employees were all very open. We had a short tour of their office and got to spend most of the time asking questions, even common interview questions, such as how to respond to “Tell me about yourself,” or what kind of opportunities I could be looking for based on my interests. One of their presenters, Brice, who is Head of Engineering, is also involved with recruiting, so he had a lot of great insight to share. I asked the question, “What can I do if I don’t like coding but I do like analytical work?” Brice followed up after the visit with a thoughtful email response to that question and it has really helped me in my career planning.

What interactions did you have with Rady alum during the Trek?

Gu: On Thursday night, there was an alumni mixer at Atwater Tavern in San Francisco. Dean Ordóñez was there too! I got to meet a lot of Rady alum working in the Bay Area. Some alum even drove from San Jose—almost two hours with traffic—just to come to the event. I talked to Jessica from KLA about Rady life and how much she loved it. I also met Jessica’s classmate Chiara (18). She’s doing consulting for the nonprofit sector and she told me about some really exciting job opportunities. In that moment I realized how networking can work for everyone. She said they needed someone with an accounting background. I studied finance and accounting as an undergraduate. Sometimes you don’t expect too much from just talking, but that is the magic of networking!

All of the alum shared an appreciation for Rady. They love Rady. They love San Diego. And they know what to expect from Rady graduates. They all showed a willingness to help one another.

Rady students join alum Jessica Bonilla in KLA’s cleanroom.

Liu: At KLA, three employees—two who are Rady alum—made themselves available for a Q&A session. They offered us great advice about how to negotiate with a supplier. During their presentation, they showed us this video, The Monkey Business Illusion, to demonstrate that if you focus too much on one thing during negotiations, you end up ignoring some really important aspects of the transaction.

What did you gain from going on the Bay Area Trek?

Gu: The company visits allow you to not only learn what these employers do, but then you get to explore what you want to do and what direction you want to go after graduation. At LinkedIn, for example, each speaker had a different route getting to where they are today. Nobody had a typical path. Hearing about their processes and how they made it work opened my mind to what kind of career path I can pursue in the future. If you don’t go on a trip like this, you’ll never get to hear those stories. And if you weren’t attracted by the big company names alone, it’s also a great opportunity to meet Rady alumni and students from other departments.

Liu: Don’t underestimate what you can get out of visiting a small company, or a startup! [On the Trek], you really get to know the companies on a deep level. You can build personal connections with some of the presenters. This is a rare opportunity to take these tours. When you read online about what companies are like or what the culture is, the answer comes for a PR department, or maybe someone outside of the people who are doing the actual work that interests you. On the Bay Area Trek, you get to meet them. You get an authentic answer.

December 10, 2019 0 comment

Alumni Careers MBA

How a Rady MBA Helped Sarah Feldman Land Roles at Tesla, Lyft and More

written by Rady School

Sarah Feldman (MBA ’15) has led technical analytics programs at several pre- and post-IPO companies including Tesla, Lyft, and venture capital firm Institutional Venture Partners. While at Rady, Feldman founded the RadyX Technology Conference, landed a summer internship developing VR technology at Sony Playstation, and says she gained the leadership and finance skills necessary to advance beyond her B.S. in Computer Science to managing multi-billion-dollar analytics programs upon earning her MBA. Here, Feldman shares how the Rady School coursework, alumni network and staff propelled her success.

How did you land your MBA internship at Sony PlayStation?

I utilized Rady’s career services to the fullest. I signed up for all Rady interview practice sessions while in school. In the Career Connections office, there were shelves of interview preparation literature such as “Cracking the PM Interview,” which I made sure to read. … I made a list of companies and types of roles where I would add the most value as an MBA intern. I narrowed down the list by attending the Rady Executive Speaker Series, San Diego Tech Meetup groups, and discussions with the brutally honest FT2015 and FT2014 cohorts. After further researching companies by reading articles on Wall Street Journal, Yahoo Finance, and TechCrunch, I would email Rady alumni with well-thought-out questions about culture fit and their company’s products.

During the Bay Area Trek, I was able to meet with Rady alumni at Tesla, Cisco, and Google, and attend company presentations. I asked pertinent gaming industry questions at the Sony PlayStation presentation, which caught the attention of the Sony internship recruiter, who asked me to interview for three different internships where she thought I would be a good fit.

Sarah visits Google during the Bay Area Trek.

Sarah with Rady FT2015 and FW2014 students at Tesla in Palo Alto.

During the interview process, I utilized my knowledge of Computer Science courses on Matlab, OpenGL, Computer Vision, and video game creation to address the technical interview questions. With the new lessons from Rady’s leadership and finance courses, I was able to demonstrate financial knowledge of discounted cash flow statements, leadership best practices, and product management.

I landed competing internship offers at Cisco and PlayStation. I could add the most value assessing and planning product launches for the gaming industry, so I accepted the PlayStation offer.

I led development for PlayStation VR (a then-secret and stealth project to launch Virtual Reality products). I was fortunate to work cross-functionally at Sony and present to the CEO at the end of the summer.

Sarah tries a light-based VR game at the Silicon Valley Virtual Reality Meetup.

How did you land your first tech role after receiving your Rady MBA?

During my first Rady Bay Area Trek, I met an alumnus who was working at Tesla Motors. We were both passionate about innovation in tech and we stayed in touch after my MBA internship at Sony PlayStation. When the Rady alumnus decided to change roles at Tesla, he offered to help me take over his original responsibilities. He connected with the Tesla hiring manager about the quality of Rady MBAs. After a few rounds of interviews, I was offered the role.

Elon Musk and the “ICBM Map” that Sarah managed.

At Tesla, I created global supply chain analytics platforms and data. I utilized the R and statistics skills I learned through Professor On Amir and Vincent Nijs’ classes to build global analytics models. I leveraged similar linear regression principles when creating supply chain analytics in my role at Tesla. These were later featured in Elon’s Model 3 launch event, which was pretty cool to discover in a few online articles. During his presentation, Musk coined the dashboard an “ICBM Map.”

I enjoyed my time working at Tesla, but realized I needed to have better work life balance for my life goals. Having a personal life was key for me. This led me to start a charity organization focused on athletics in my free time, and eventually leave Tesla for a different industry altogether.

How did you transition from Tesla to venture capital firm Institutional Venture Partners?

During my finance classes at Rady, I enjoyed the precision of creating financial statements, algorithms, and elaborate excel macro sheets with the purposes of evaluating the financial health of companies. Naturally, I featured this certification on my LinkedIn (as Rady Career Connections recommended for a career change). After I spent some time job hunting, an executive recruiter reached out to me on LinkedIn, inquiring about a role in an established venture capital firm. The firm had investments in Uber, Twitter, Dropbox, and Snapchat. They later offered me the role of Senior Manager of Analytics. I was in awe, as venture capital was a seemingly impossible industry to enter.

At IVP, I worked closely on analytics and excel valuation tools, weighing-in on pitch meetings for autonomous vehicles, and attending executive VC events with the likes of Huffington Post founder Ariana Huffington and NBA player Kevin Durant. I even worked with the financials of the corporate board of directors’ books. It was everything I had imagined and more. I was able to leverage my VC Finance Class, DCF Certification, and startup valuation knowledge from the MBA program.

Why did you leave venture capital to work on autonomous vehicles?

I felt [something missing] in my daily work without the hands-on aspect of creating, strategizing, launching, and scaling tech products. Helping to advise on funding was fascinating, but I realized I enjoyed being part of a team that is ‘making a product’ more than anything.

I had a few experiences working and advising in the self-driving car sector while at Tesla and IVP, and I co-founded the Self-Driving Car sector of Women Who Code. At Tesla, I worked on ad-hoc behavior analytics reports for the Autopilot team in addition to supply chain analytics. During my time at Tesla, I also purchased a Model S with Autopilot.

The ease and pleasant nature of driving in Autopilot, a Level 2 autonomous vehicle, convinced me that this is the future of transportation. While Tesla is leading the consumer market for Level 2 autonomous vehicles, they are not alone in the quest to create an autonomous future. A colleague of mine from Tesla, and now Lyft, recommended Lyft’s Level 5 division. I saw a great fit for my skill set and made the jump to join the future of autonomous transportation.

What work did you do at Lyft?

I led data infrastructure, simulation software, and testing hardware in the loop, V&V and strategy for Lyft’s autonomous vehicle. An incredible aspect of autonomous vehicles is how many different technologies are combined to create self-driving vehicles. At a high level, a car must know where it is in the world in relation to everything else, and plan what it will do next. The underlying technology, including machine learning algorithms, compute, and simulation software, has been fascinating to work on and build. In many cases, the well-organized quantitative analysis course at Rady helped me understand some of the underlying computer vision and machine learning involved in creating a self-driving car.

How did your Rady MBA prepare you for Lyft’s IPO, and what was the day of the IPO like?

The MBA program prepared me not just to understand Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) to build and read balance sheets and cash flow statements, but also to understand the landscape of the financial markets. Until recently, the IPO landscape was desolate, as a result of the 2007/2008 market collapse and the following financial levers and regulation.

In an advanced behavioral finance course at Rady, my team worked with stock market data to predict market performance for a given month. This was an extension of the common statement, which we proved accurate, that “Monday’s market will predict the market performance for the rest of the week”. Despite these stellar lessons in financial market behavior, I did not expect to be part of a company listing itself on the market in an IPO. However, my lessons at Rady prepared me well for this experience.

Sarah at an event for San Francisco’s The Commonwealth Club to discuss IPOs.

On the day of the Lyft IPO, as a Program Manager in Lyft’s Level 5 Autonomous Vehicle Division, I awoke at 4 a.m. When I drove to the office at 5 a.m., the freeways were ghostly empty. I arrived at the Palo Alto office early for the 6 a.m. NASDAQ bell tolling for Lyft’s televised IPO. The room was filled with my enthusiastic coworkers, celebrating the ringing of the bell. For those who followed the series of large tech unicorn IPO’s, the rest is history.

How do you suggest others learn more about autonomous vehicles, since many companies are in stealth mode?

Take strides to learn about open source libraries for machine learning like TensorFlow. Look into Udacity’s Degree in Self Driving Cars. And of course, stay up to date on regulation.

What’s next for you?

I recently left Lyft’s self-driving division, and have just accepted a new role at a search company. The charity organization that I founded (Silicon Valley Ice Skating Association) will be hosting its first Tech and Ice crossover event on January 11^th, 2020, “Robots on Ice.”

In the meantime, if you have any questions about Rady, please be sure to reach out to the wonderful Rady admissions team! I feel very lucky to have chosen such a great school to attend for business school, and keep in touch with classmates. The alumni network, Rady Career Connections, fellow students, and professors have been a delight to work with and guide me throughout my career.

Volunteer work brings Sarah to Washington D.C.

October 4, 2019 0 comment

Alumni Careers StartR Startup Startups Students

Rady’s First Ever StartUp Career Day

written by Rady School

Career Fair Day – A day full of new opportunities, insightful conversations, and potential job offers on the horizon. Here at the Rady School of Management, there have been dozens of doors open for students at career fairs; from internships, to long-term jobs for the graduate students who have participated in Rady’s career fairs.

Each career fair typically consists of employers from corporate companies that have 250 employees or more. This one, however, consisted of not only large corporate companies but also smaller startups. This was an exciting, unique event for Rady because it is the first career day to ever have startups verses only corporations.

The Rady School of Management not only champions, but raises up entrepreneurs, so having startups present was an encouraging factor for the students who attended the career fair. Some of the startups that came to the career fair included founders from Rady School of Management such as LabFellows.

Some of the startup companies who attended were:

Leadcrunch – B2B Sales and Marketing
Sendlane – An intelligence-driven email automation service
LabFellows – An integrated lab management platform
Offer1
GoSite – A web platform for businesses
Launch Factory – A creative co working space

The list of new companies who attended were:

Booz Allen Hamilton – Strategy, technology, and engineering
AT&T – Communications, media, entertainment, and technology
Tealium — A universal data hub

Some of the other companies that were present included, Trust&will, Artevist and Prudential.

Here at Rady, we are happy to host career fairs and have found them to be very successful for students looking for job leads and internships.

April 12, 2019 0 comment

Alumni Careers MBA Startups

Expert Mentors Guide Rady Students to Entrepreneurial Success

written by Rady School

The adage “Rome wasn’t built in a day” rings true in the startup ecosystem. Ask any entrepreneur about their journey from idea to flourishing company, and they’re sure to offer up a list of individuals who helped them along the way.

The Rady School of Management startup community has been developing a network of successful entrepreneurs for more than 15 years, launching more than 180 student and alumni-led companies in its short lifespan. Although the network has always been happy to help those looking to get their companies up and running, the School recently created a new mentorship program designed to connect budding entrepreneurs with seasoned industry experts to foster creativity and provide the students with a strong support system throughout the early stages of their startups.

Developing Rady Innovators and Entrepreneurs (DRIvE) is a donor driven initiative born out of a gift from UC San Diego alumnus Mark Waxman (B.A. Economics ’70). The program began last year by collecting a community of both Rady and out-of-network professionals looking to share their skills and knowledge of various industries. Then, students participating in the StartR Rady accelerator were hand selected to join the mentorship program. Once the student participants and mentors were chosen, pairs were formed based on mutual interests and needs identified by the students.

“The mentors were extremely involved from the very beginning – they wanted to get as much information they could about the students and their companies to see how they could help,” said Karen Jensen, Entrepreneur Advocate at the Rady School. “Their investment in our students has been crucial to the continued development of several startups launched here at Rady.”

Once the matches are made, mentors and mentees stay in touch by connecting in person or on the phone to stay involved with the entrepreneurs throughout their journey. The DRIvE program also hosts quarterly Monday morning events that facilitate in-person interactions between mentors and mentees through workshops, pitch presentations and networking.

“We start by working with students to identify their needs and interests, then we match them with mentors who have experience in those fields,” Jensen said. “Each student can have up to three mentors with expertise in fields, such as finance, marketing and product development so the students have a strong network.”

The benefits of mentorship

The expectation for the program is for mentors to stay engaged for at least six months, but several mentor/mentee pairs have continued to stay involved after the official program is complete.

Mridu Sinha, co-founder of MelioLabs, participated in the initial cohort of the DRIvE program to take her microbial identification startup to the next level. MelioLabs created a microbial identification system that screens for newborns at risk for infection, making it easier to identify newborns who are at risk of sepsis – a condition that can be fatal for infants.

Sinha connected with June Chocheles, President of the Chocheles Consulting Group and Athena Foundation Board Member, who helped her learn the ropes of fundraising, marketing, branding and business scaling.

Due to the value of the program, she remains in contact with her mentor to this day. She credits the rapid success of her company to her mentor who has continued to support her throughout the development of her company.

“June has a lot of experience starting and running companies, so it has been a wonderful experience working with her,” she said. “

While the StartR Inclusion accelerator – formerly known as mystartupXX –helped initially launch MelioLabs, the DRIvE mentorship program has helped sustain and grow the startup.

“If you’re looking to take your company to the next level, the DRIvE program is a great way to help,” she said. “The mentors are extremely helpful and supportive and have the tools and experience you may not have yet. The strong Rady network connects you to a number of professionals who are willing and excited to help you.”

The next generation of innovators

The success of DRIvE has created a vast network of interested mentors eager to share their knowledge and skills with budding Rady entrepreneurs. The mentor network continues to grow to include more Rady alumni who know the potential Rady startup leaders have to offer.

“Entrepreneurship and innovation are essential aspects of the Rady School experience, and we’re doing whatever we can to expose our students to as many opportunities as possible,” Jensen said. “We’re so thrilled that students and mentors have been so actively engaged in the first DRIvE cohort, so we’re excited to continue to grow the program.”

February 27, 2019 0 comment

Careers Faculty Startup

Finding Careers for Intrapreneurs

written by Rady School

At the Rady School of Management, students, faculty and alumni are both innovators and entrepreneurs. Lessons are structured around educating students with the skills to excel in both while operating within the organizational environment. An entrepreneur is someone who innovates by starting his or her own company, whereas an intrapreneur is an employee of an organization whose job is to innovate and create change within the corporation. Thus, intrapreneurs are inside entrepreneurs who follow the goal of the organization.

Are you an Intraprenuer? Intrapreneurs often remain hidden and unrecognized, because they often display behavior contrary to what is considered as “corporate”. They are self-motivated leaders with the courage and flexibility to think outside of the box. According to The League of Intraprenuers, it isn’t a job title, it is a way of working and being:

Silo Busters: Collaborating across traditional company boundaries.
Opportunity Spotters: Finding innovation potential where others typically see risk or challenge.
Systems Thinkers: Seeing the interconnections between business value and societal pressures.
Storytellers: Bringing others on board with their vision for “shared value”.
Dreamers: Believing that business can be a force for good.
Doers: With a track record of getting stuff done.

Most large companies are focused on innovation and have dedicated innovation functions and teams to support the innovation agenda. Well known examples of companies who encourage and support projects internally include: Accenture, Coca-Cola, 3M, Xerox, Virgin, Siemens, Intel and Google.

The Rady Career Connections team members help students to target employers where they can align their values, interests, and talents in innovation. In order to land jobs with target employers like the ones noted above, students need to demonstrate past successes and quantify the results of their accomplishments through their resumes and LinkedIn profiles; matching the language of the industry, brand and culture.

Through workshops and 1:1 advising appointments, students are provided an individualized experience to build their professional presentation to achieve their career goals in innovation both inside and outside of organizations.

May 24, 2018 0 comment

Careers Rady School Staff

Expand Your Network, Secure Your Dream Job

written by Rady School

Networking – It is a soft skill we all need, but for many, we are not comfortable using. For some, networking just feels awkward – while for others – it can feel pointless. When you are a graduate student and trying to break into a particular career field, networking can seem like a daunting challenge. However, even if you feel some apprehension towards it, networking is a valuable skill that can be vital toward a successful job search.

According to PayScale.com, somewhere between 70 to 85 percent of jobs are found through networking and approximately 80 percent of jobs are never publicly listed, but instead filled through networking and referrals. This is known as the “Hidden Job Market” and is definitely a faster route to landing a job rather than only sending out standard applications through company websites.

At the UC San Diego Rady School of Management, we understand how valuable networking can be for students and alumni, and provide multiple avenues to practice and effectively utilize this skill. For students, we offer opportunities to learn and connect with employers and alumni through, Employer Insights Panels, Information Sessions, Company Tours, and financial stipends to attend national conferences. For students AND alumni, we provide opportunities to network through career fairs, The Rady Network, Company Treks, and the CareersRady online platform.

Still unsure where to begin? If you are a current Rady student, you can try reading Jaymin Patel’s The MBA Guide to Networking like a Rockstar, which is available for checkout at the Career Connections front desk. I also recommend reading Learn to Love Networking from Harvard Business Review. It breaks networking down into four easy strategies that you can use the next time you want to reach out someone new.

April 20, 2018 0 comment

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