uWaterloo Alumni Tech Panel

On Tuesday evening, we opened up our office to uWaterloo co-op students and alumni working in the NYC area. Students gathered in the Yext headquarters to learn more about what it's like to live and work in the New York tech scene, including jobs, housing, and social life.

Our panelists for the evening included (from left to right):

• Shinji Kim, Product Manager at YieldMo
• Matthew Eggertson, R&D Architect at AppNexus
• Sean MacIsaac, CTO at Yext
• Rakesh Malhotra, VP of Products at Apprenda
• Jeromy Carriere, Engineering Director at Google
• Michael Kane, VP of Product at Betterment

Sean acted as our panel moderator and covered a range of topics throughout the evening. He kicked off the event with a discussion about the differences between working in Canada versus the United States, and then progressed to a comparison of work environments on the East and West coasts. The panelists then transitioned into a conversation about choosing career paths in technology and finished the discussion with advice on how to develop yourself professionally.

Some of the tips that resonated with the audience were:

• "Try as many things as you can… let it {your passion} find you" -Rakesh M.
• "Engineering is not going away, it is only going to accelerate" – Sean M.
• Always find mentors who can help guide you – unanimous