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Zach
Zach

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Career Services

Today we had a meeting led by a member of the Career Services team. She also happens to be my CSM (CS Manager). It was my first time hearing from her, and now I'm pumped to be working with her.

Aside from presenting as articulate and thoughtful - HR keeps a high standard in these regards so nothing completely special here - there was a moment where I felt like 'yeah, this person... I can vibe with this person'.

Here's what happened.

At some point during our CS presentation, an HR grad (and current job seeker) was asked to speak. She expressed, during an otherwise fine delivery, a sentiment that she was lacking somehow in comparison to Computer Science degree-holders, or other job-seekers. Internally, instinctively, I reacted immediately. It took some strong restraint (not even discretion, but restraint) to not interrupt this meeting, however briefly, to squelch that notion and stand up for the work were all doing.

That feeling of disquietude stuck with me for a few minutes as our guest speaker wrapped up and our presenter moved forward with her agenda.

But then a really awesome moment came when she broke from the agenda and addressed the feeling that I had.

No - we're not Computer Science grads. We're something else.

We are building skills that are in demand. We're learning how to operate as professional engineers. We're building code that our teammates depend on, and to an industry standard that gives us the right to join and belong to any engineering team out there.

So I didn't want to hear for one second that I was anything less than anyone else who's applying to the jobs I'll be applying to. Because I'm not. And I think the differences are in my favor.

And I'm gratified that my CSM feels that way too and will have my back.

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