Industry Expert Interview

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    In Weeks 4 and 5 of CST 300 Major ProSeminar, students were tasked with identifying and interviewing an industry expert or executive in technology or computer science. This blog post serves as my report of the interview that I conducted. If you are interested in seeing my Week 5 blog, click here.

• Introduction
• The expert I chose to interview happens to be very close to me, as he is my father. His name is Marty, who has vital roles in two departments under an international company headquartered in Shanghai, China. In particular, he is the Director of Product Development and Information Technology. Both of these roles requires extensive technical know-how, therefore making him a great candidate for this interview.
• Interview Summary 
• During the interview I conducted with Marty, I asked five questions and he was able to deliver a quite a lot of useful information.
• Can you describe your career path and how you reached your current position?
• He replied that he had an atypical career path, starting out by building and repairing personal computers, and landed his first official contract supporting a medical transcription firm. His work at this first company was to find a solution for remote workers to upload their work instead of taking physical media to the office at the end of each day. To solve this, he created a server that allowed remote transcriptionists to dial in and upload their notes. 
• The next chapter of his career began with a back injury that resulted in him with engineering and computer aided design (CAD) training. From there, he was hired into an engineering department for a retail store display manufacturer that he worked at for more than 25 years. During his time there, he was asked to administer all the company's CAD/CAM software. Eventually, that role progressed into providing local support for the office's network. That company was acquired in 2013, and he moved to another organization when this took place.
• After the acquisition, he moved to another company that does a similar line of work to the previous one. This company is headquartered in Shanghai, China, with satellite offices worldwide. He was hired as Director of Product Development, managing the company's largest client. However, this new company also realized his strengths in the information technology sector, so he would be also titled Information Technology Director for this company. He has been with this company for the past twelve years.
• What are the most significant challenges in your role?
• The biggest challenge he cited was resources. Specifically, finding qualified people who are dedicated with strong work ethics.
• Secondly, he mentioned the organization and management of global teams, which is a major responsibility of a department director, let alone two departments.
• Finally, he also mentioned that dealing with China's international information technology regulations is quite challenging. Since the company is based in Shanghai, China, this means the company needs to comply with all of China's rules and regulations on technology.
• What emerging trends or technologies are shaping the industry?
• Here, Marty cited artificial intelligence (AI) as currently being the most prominent and influential trend by far. He goes on to say that "only time will tell what the real usefulness will be."
• What skills or attributes do you believe are the most valuable for success in your field? Marty mentioned the following skills as being the most valuable:
• Strong communication
• Troubleshooting skills
• Detail-oriented thinking
• Strong dedication
• What advice would you give to students aspiring to enter this industry?
• Firstly, Marty suggested to gather as much real-world experience as early as possible, as nothing compares to hands-on experience. Secondly, he recommended to stay on top of all emerging technologies, mentioning "with things like AI entering the market, you must find a way to differentiate your skills from others and give yourself a competitive edge." Finally, he suggests to network with people that are in the sector you are interested in entering.
• Reflection
• How did this experience influence your understanding of career options and the industry?
• As Marty and I have spoken about his line of work in the past, not much changed. However, this discussion confirmed the prominence of AI in the information technology sector, a field that is closely related to the ones I am interested in someday entering. 
• Future Steps
• Given Marty's emphasis on the importance of real-world experience, it has further cemented my reasoning for seriously considering internships as a way to get my foot in the door of the technology space. In addition, he also makes it clear that I need to become a strong communicator, troubleshoot well, have a detail-oriented thinking style, and be strongly dedicated to the work I aspire to do. Combined, all of these attributes would most certainly help stand out amongst the others working around you who lack one or more of these regards.

That is all for this week, see you in my Week 6 post!