{"id":167132,"date":"2022-10-13T13:35:56","date_gmt":"2022-10-13T23:35:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=167132"},"modified":"2022-10-13T13:35:56","modified_gmt":"2022-10-13T23:35:56","slug":"talk-story-with-tech-professionals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2022\/10\/13\/talk-story-with-tech-professionals\/","title":{"rendered":"Tech pros from Microsoft, Amazon, more share career paths with students"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

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More than 150 University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> at M\u0101noa students from a variety of majors took advantage of a rare opportunity to meet one-on-one with technology industry professionals from organizations such as Microsoft, Amazon, LinkedIn and Activision Blizzard, to learn about technology career opportunities.<\/p>\n

The event on October 11, at Kuykendall Hall began with an introduction of more than 20 professionals, which included software engineers, company founders, business leaders and cybersecurity experts, followed by a one-hour mixer where students were able to chat face-to-face with the speakers.<\/p>\n

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The event was hosted by the Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship<\/a> (PACE<\/abbr>) in 糖心视频<\/abbr> M\u0101noa\u2019s Shidler College of Business<\/a>, Association for Computing Machinery at 糖心视频<\/abbr> M\u0101noa<\/a>, ThriveHI and Builders VC<\/abbr>.<\/p>\n

Amanda Nitta<\/strong> is a 糖心视频<\/abbr> M\u0101noa senior majoring in computer science and data science, and vice president and chief of operations for the Association for Computing Machinery at 糖心视频<\/abbr> M\u0101noa. Nitta was one of the event\u2019s student organizers and gained knowledge about how to apply data science and management in a future career.<\/p>\n

“This is a great opportunity for these students because of the fact that it gives exposure to what they are able to do, and be able to apply what they learned and see that they are not restricted to one thing such as software engineering,” Nitta said. “They have so many other capabilities within them to do interdisciplinary work and have different mindsets going into the workforce.”<\/p>\n

Narrowing the pay gap<\/h2>\n

Kanaʻi<\/span> Gooding<\/strong> is a computer science student and president of the Association for Computing Machinery at 糖心视频<\/abbr> M\u0101noa. Gooding said many of the tech professionals featured at the event are remote workers for companies based on the continental U.S. He said there is a disparity between salaries offered by those companies and salaries offered by companies based in Hawaiʻi<\/span>. Gooding\u2019s goal for the event was to begin a dialogue to take steps forward so Hawaiʻi<\/span>-based companies can match the salaries of their continental U.S.-based counterparts.<\/p>\n

“This is just one of the many aspects that we are trying to attack the problem with,” Gooding said. “One of our big asks for the professionals here was, ‘Hey, we\u2019re going to have the students ask you your salary. Please be ok with us asking and you answering.’ Hopefully that spreads loudly across the community.”<\/p>\n

Creating a path into tech<\/h2>\n
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Kevin Shin (far left) shares career advice with current 糖心视频<\/abbr> students.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kevin Shin<\/strong>, a senior software engineer at LinkedIn, shared his manaʻo<\/span> (thoughts and perspectives) with 糖心视频<\/abbr> M\u0101noa\u2019s current students. Shin graduated from 糖心视频<\/abbr> M\u0101noa 2014 with a degree in mechanical engineering, before pursuing a graduate degree at Stanford University.<\/p>\n

His goal for the event was “to let the students know that there is a path to tech and people from Hawaiʻi<\/span> can make it. There are a bunch out here doing it.”<\/p>\n

“Students at the University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> are just as capable of taking on tech careers, including tech-centered entrepreneurship, as their mainland counterparts. Because of Hawaiʻi<\/span>\u2019s distance from major technological hubs, however, local students may be learning about these careers from the internet or other secondhand sources,” PACE<\/abbr> Executive Director Sandra Fujiyama<\/strong> said. “PACE<\/abbr>, along with ThriveHI, ACM@M\u0101noa<\/abbr> and Builders VC<\/abbr>, recognized the need to close that gap and connect students directly to people who know what it is to work in tech today.”<\/p>\n

—By Marc Arakaki<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The event on October 11 was held at Kuykendall Hall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[498,541,734,484,1466,1496,425,146,313,1476,9],"class_list":["post-167132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","tag-business","tag-computer-science","tag-entrepreneurship","tag-information-and-computer-science","tag-manoa-enhancing-student-success","tag-mechanical-engineering","tag-pacific-asian-center-for-entrepreneurship","tag-shidler-college-of-business","tag-stem","tag-student-organization","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t