Career Path of a Software Engineer at Target
Christian, a software engineer at Target, pursued a data science degree at UC Berkeley, participating in the MLT career fellowship which helped secure a front-end internship at Activision Blizzard. This experience, coupled with the fellowship's networking opportunities, led to Christian's current role at Target as a full-stack software engineer, working across "supply chain, merchandising, and marketing teams" for the past three years.
Career Exploration, Software Engineering, Internships, Career Fellowships, Entry-Level Jobs
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Christian Vasquez Leon
Software Engineer
Target
University of California, Berkeley, 2020
N/A
Mathematics, Data Science, Statistics
Apparel, Beauty, Retail & Fashion, Technology
Product / Service / Software Development and Management
Scholarship Recipient, Immigrant, First Generation College Student
Video Highlights
1. Christian pursued a data science major at UC Berkeley and participated in a career fellowship (MTS career prep program) that significantly aided his career trajectory.
2. His front-end internship at Activision Blizzard played a pivotal role in shaping his career path towards software engineering.
3. He leveraged his internship experience and networking opportunities from the fellowship to secure an entry-level software engineer position at Target, where he's worked for three years in various teams (supply chain, merchandising, and marketing).
Transcript
Could you walk me through your career path? Please start with your experience in college and any internships or jobs you had before your current role.
Starting in college, I attended the University of California, Berkeley. I graduated in 2020 with a major in data science.
I knew I wanted to go into the tech industry early on, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to do software engineering, data analysis, or data engineering. So, I took a bunch of courses during my junior year in college.
I also participated in a career fellowship called the MLT, which stands for Management Leadership for Tomorrow. This was a two-year career prep program. Thanks to that program and some side projects I was working on, I got an internship at Activision Blizzard.
It was a front-end internship, and I was incredibly fortunate to get into that team. That experience propelled the rest of my career in software engineering. I continued to apply to data analyst roles my senior year, but thanks to my internship and the career fellowship, I was able to connect with engineers at Target.
I applied and got accepted to Target's entry-level software engineer program. Since then, I've been at Target for the last three years as a full-stack software engineer, working in their various supply chain, merchandising, and marketing teams.