Student Spotlight: Joyce He

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Topics of Interest: Texas CSB, Software Engineering, Product Management, Microsoft

Originally from Plano, TX, Joyce He is a student in the CSB program. Joyce was able to utilize Texas CSB as a way to study business and technology simultaneously efficiently. Career-wise, Joyce has served as a Software Engineer Intern and, most recently, as a Product Management Intern with Microsoft. You can find Joyce hiking, running, and spending time in the pottery studio in her free time.

What did your recruiting process look like at Microsoft?

My recruiting process for software engineering was pretty standard for the industry. For preparation, I practiced a lot of coding problems on platforms like LeetCode, Binary Search, and Hacker Rank. I also did mock interviews and informal practice sessions with my peers. The Facebook Above and Beyond Computer Science programs were also beneficial in preparing me for technical interviews. The process included phone screens that had both behavioral and technical questions. The way I transitioned into product management was internally through the established discipline change process.

What was the biggest takeaway from your internship?

My biggest takeaway is to always advocate for myself. While you have advisors, peers, and faculty to support you in school, you are more on your own when working. If I was unhappy with my projects or felt like I wanted to challenge myself to grow in other areas as a PM, I had to voice my thoughts to my manager actively. While my manager was my greatest advocate, she could only advocate for me if she knew what I wanted. Knowing what you need or want and asking for it is essential! Even if I didn’t know what I wanted opportunity-wise, I would ask my manager if there were areas I was lacking, and she would point out areas where I could grow. Part of self-advocacy is also humbling yourself to ask where you can improve.

Is there anything you might have done differently?

I would have failed sooner. A huge part of product management is writing product spec documents to communicate goals, timelines, and product ideas to engineers, UI/UX designers, and upper management. I was tasked with writing a couple of specs this summer for my projects, and one of my biggest regrets was not roughly writing a couple sooner to get feedback. I felt pressured to edit my drafts until they felt presentable or perfect before sharing them with my coworkers for feedback, but I would have learned how to write better specs a lot faster if I had put my ideas on paper and shipped them out.

What advice can you share for students interested in pursuing a career in product management?

Build things! Product managers are essentially entrepreneurs within larger companies (some call them intrapreneurs). The way to gauge whether you like it and create experience on your resume is to get your hands dirty. If you have ideas for products, try building them on your own. It doesn’t take much these days to make a website, app, prototype, etc. Taking an idea from conception to creation gives you substance to talk about in interviews and builds product sense/intuition.

How has Canfield BHP prepared you for your role?

Canfield BHP classes were pretty critical to helping me stand out in my role. While most product managers at tech companies come in with strong technical backgrounds, few have the business acumen crucial to driving relevant decisions. Courses such as MKT 337H taught by Professor Gabbi, ACC 312H taught by Professor Eric Chan, and MIS 301H taught by Professor Anand, helped me make thoughtful decisions that helped me stand out throughout my internship. I was also used to being thrown into more open-ended projects because of the way CBHP curriculum is structured.

Can you share some of your plans for next summer?

I’m graduating in December, so next summer, I’ll be working full-time in Seattle as a Product Manager at Microsoft! I’m super excited to go back and join the Azure Storage team. Plus, the Pacific Northwest has some of the hiking scenes in the US, so hopefully, I’ll be out on some trails next summer too.

Student Spotlight: Hugo Sandoval

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Hugo Sandoval

Topics of Interest: APC Collective, Support Latino Business, Business & Politics, Tech, RISE,

Hugo Sandoval is a junior in the Canfield Business Honors Program. This past summer, he spent his time working with APC Collective, a communications agency that helps clients increase their reach, relationships, and positive impact: “I’ve been interested in politics and tech for most of my life, and my love for business grew in college.” Hugo is also involved with RISE, a mentorship organization that teaches underserved high school students skills in financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and college.

Read on to learn more about Hugo’s internship experiences and some of his advice for students interested in pursuing a career in politics and business!

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Alumni Spotlight: Andrea Ocanas

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Interests: MPA, Accounting, Graduate School, Diversity

Originally from El Paso, TX, Andrea Ocanas came to UT, following in her parents’ footsteps. Her mom was born and raised in El Paso, and her dad grew up in Edinburg in the Rio Grande Valley area. Growing up on the border and having parents who were raised in a similar environment gave her a unique perspective on community, education, culture, and relationships. Though she recognized she was technically part of a minority group, being Hispanic made her part of the majority in her hometown. It wasn’t until she came to UT that she experienced much broader diversity.

Her time in the Canfield Business Honors Program defined her college experience. She made her best friends in the program. She was able to push herself out of her comfort zone many times, whether through studying abroad in Argentina, backpacking on the NOLS expedition, or co-chairing Leadership Kickoff to welcome in the next class of CBHP.

Ocanas graduated with her MPA in May this year and started a position with PwC this month. She accepted her full-time role after doing an internship with the firm in the Spring of 2021. Ocanas will be working as part of the Private Company Services tax team. Her primary responsibilities will include tax compliance and preparation for clients and tax research. Since she will serve private clients, many of these clients will likely be smaller corporations or partnerships. Based on her internship experience, Ocanas said the accounting program at UT did a great job of exposing her to different business structures and teaching her how those structures result in various tax consequences.

 

What did you study while at UT?

Alongside my CBHP degree, I pursued the iMPA program at UT. After taking the introductory accounting classes sophomore year, I knew that accounting was a subject I could excel in. I had great professors who made those classes enjoyable for me. I decided to apply to the iMPA program to pursue a subject that interested me and to take advantage of the great program and department that UT offers. Through the program, I had access to top professors, endless career management resources, and an incredible group of peers.

 

What impactful moments in your career do you think led you to this role?

I was fortunate to study abroad during the summer after my freshman year and try out three different internships during my remaining four years at UT. These experiences taught me a few key lessons about what I wanted my early career to look like and allowed me to identify some of my non-negotiables. My study abroad experiences taught me that I wanted to work for a company that allowed me to do an international rotation. Culture was such an important part of my upbringing, and going to college allowed me to meet people from different backgrounds and learn more about their cultures. I see a lot of value in having a professional opportunity to learn from other cultures and expand my professional knowledge on a global scale.

Through my internships, I was able to discover the sides of accounting that I liked and disliked and was able to explore more nontraditional business opportunities. My government affairs internship with Dell allowed me to see how government and business intersect daily. This relationship fascinated me, and it was no surprise that one of my favorite classes later in college was Business Law. My interest in this intersection led me to choose the tax side of accounting, which relies heavily on a baseline understanding of the law.

 

Do you have any advice for current CBHP students?

Being a part of the CBHP community was the most rewarding part of my college experience. I encourage all current students to take an active role in this community and to use the opportunities it can provide to expand their horizons. While career exploration is something you will hear about constantly as a business student, college is also an excellent time for personal exploration and growth.

During my fifth year at UT, I was a TA for BA 101H. This role was a very rewarding experience, and I was grateful to have had a chance to meet the freshman class at the time. In my TA position, I heard from many students about the pressure they felt they were facing to figure out their entire career path by the end of their first semester. My advice for students, especially in their first few years at UT, is to take things one step at a time. While your first semester is a wealth of information that is hard to sort through, know that you don’t have to have it all figured out. Talk to upperclassmen and recent alumni who have been in your shoes in the past few years. They can tell you about their experiences and help you figure out what you might be interested in and how to move forward.

Student Spotlight: Jose Herreria

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Jose Herreria

Topics of Interest: Management Consulting, PwC, Bain & Company, Mentorship, Internships

Jose Herreria recently spent his summer in Chicago with PwC as a Start Strategy Consulting Intern. “I learned how important it is to set up coffee chats with everyone you meet,” said Herreria when asked about his biggest takeaways in his consulting internship. Herreria also participated in Bain & Company’s BEL Program and will continue as an Associate Consultant Intern at their Dallas office this summer.

Read on to learn more about Jose’s internship experiences and some of his advice for students interested in management consulting!

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Alumni Spotlight: Omar Olivarez

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Interests: Graduate School, Technology and Operations Management, Harvard Business School, Analytics

Omar Olivarez, originally from a rural town in the Rio Grande Valley, graduated from The University of Texas in 2018 with a degree in Management Information Systems and a certificate in Computer Science. Omar decided to be a Longhorn because of the prestigious honors program within McCombs. Omar always had plans to have a career in business, and after learning more about Canfield Business Honors, he felt it was the right fit.

Now in the second year of his Ph.D. program, Omar studies within the department of Technology and Operations Management at Harvard Business School. He aims to create research that informs and transforms how people can work alongside advanced technologies.

Omar reminisces about his upperclassman years at UT, where he conducted social psychology research. This experience in his undergraduate years sparked his interest in pursuing a Ph.D. He recalls explicitly that his Management Information Systems class, Big Data and Analytics, was an impetus for his current research and interest in the field.

Omar has some words of wisdom for current Canfield Business Honors Program students, “Sometimes, we have a goal, reach for it, and fall short. In many cases, nothing is stopping us from reaching for those goals again. For example, if you have a company you’d like to intern at but don’t make the intern class, you could apply there again for their full-time positions. And if you don’t make it into their full-time positions upon graduating, you could try applying again after some industry experience. A personal anecdote: after working in technology for a few years, a Google recruiter invited me to interview with them out of the blue. I got the job and had fun working there before my Ph.D. I wouldn’t have imagined that an opportunity that would shake things up and give me a new direction would appear out of thin air. We get many opportunities to take on fun careers throughout our lives”.

In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, the Canfield Business Honors Program will be showcasing some of our Hispanic/Latinx students and alumni from September 15th through October 15.