An increasing number of UCLA Anderson students are pursuing careers in tech after business school, so it's not surprising that the High Tech Business Association (HTBA) is one of the most popular professional clubs on campus. The HTBA hosts numerous networking and professional development activities for members, one of which is highlighted below by 1st year student Leslie Kwoh. Read on to learn more!
As we learned during orientation, technology is an increasingly popular career path among UCLA Anderson students, with one-quarter of last year's class entering the field upon graduating.
The trend appears to be continuing this year; nearly 120 students, including myself, attended the High Tech Business Association's Fall Career Night in November. Representatives from 11 tech firms, including Amazon, Microsoft, LinkedIn, LiveNation and AT&T, joined us for the networking event.
Career Night was so popular this year that HTBA said it had to draw up wait lists for both students and companies alike. "Companies were knocking down HTBA's doors to meet Anderson's best and brightest tech talent," said Ashley Mallinson, president of the club.
The event follows a roundtable rotation format, and each of us were assigned to three company tables for the evening (I sat with Amazon, LiveNation and LinkedIn). Over the course of three hours, my classmates and I gained a better understanding of each company's mission, culture, workflow and strategic direction.
One of my favorite parts of the evening was a keynote speech by Symantec senior product manager Rafael Alvarez, who gave a humorous but candid glimpse into the life of a tech employee. The job isn't always easy, he said. Ideas sometimes don't move as quickly as one would like, and the process can be bogged down by the need to get buy-in from many different divisions. A simple task like redesigning a webpage, for example, can require many iterations -- so knowing how to build consensus across functions is extremely valuable.
But the final product, he assured us, is almost always worth it.
Learn more about the HTBA on their website.
