Insight into Companies/Operations

Computer science skills are essential in today’s tech-driven world. One person with a background in computer science is Kathleen Beveridge. She was born in Vietnam and came to the United States in 1979. She studied finance in Spain and then moved to San Diego in 2004. She later earned a finance degree from the Bay Area and worked as an investment banker at Wells Fargo before joining Qualcomm. She has since switched to the biotech industry and has worked at three companies, all with mission statements involving using technology for the good of people. Another person with a background in computer science is Kris Porter. He studied electrical engineering at UCLA and received a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Cal State. He has worked at various companies, including NBC Universal, Qualcomm, and Twitter, where he worked on the timeline API and streaming media infrastructure for the 2022 Olympics. Both Beveridge and Porter have emphasized the importance of continuous learning in the tech industry.

  • Products and services in the tech industry can be life-changing.
  • Qualcomm chips are in 99% of phones, which shows the impact the company has on the market.
  • Beveridge is the director of marketing and commercial sales at Qualcomm and works with R&D people.
  • She is the voice of sales and customers and ensures that the company’s products make sense for the market.
  • Kris Porter studied electrical engineering at UCLA and received a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Cal State.
  • He has worked at various companies, including NBC Universal, Qualcomm, and Twitter.
  • At Twitter, he worked on the timeline API and streaming media infrastructure for the 2022 Olympics.
  • Porter is an SRE (Site Reliability Engineer) and is responsible for making sure the company’s software is deployed in a secure environment with no risk of hacking.
  • He also has experience with DevOps, Linux operating systems, and research in embedded networks.
  • Porter’s work at Twitter involved adding data centers and transitioning from test APIs to the company’s proprietary graph UL.

Agile Methodology

  • Agile methodology is a popular project management approach in the tech industry.
  • Different companies have their own variations of agile methodology.
  • At Qualcomm, 150 engineers interact and plan work for the quarter in big 2-3 day meetings.
  • Roadmaps for projects are based on project size and are created in these meetings.
  • Agile projects are typically not completed in 6-12 months, but rather in shorter sprints lasting 1-3 months.
  • Coordination with others is key in agile methodology.
  • Agile methodology allows for more flexibility and adaptability in project management.
  • It is widely used in the tech industry to manage complex projects.

Dynamics in Tech Companies

  • Machine learning is widely used at Qualcomm, with the company utilizing Python libraries and Intenser Flow.
  • Experiments are run to test and improve machine learning models.
  • Qualcomm hosts a large number of repositories on GitLab and GitHub, with over 100,000 repositories in use.
  • There are concerns about downloads and access to these repositories.
  • Qualcomm uses analytics infrastructure to predict when repositories should be archived.
  • Data scientists at Qualcomm use machine learning to predict things like weather and crop yields.
  • Machine learning is a valuable tool in the tech industry, allowing companies to analyze large amounts of data and make predictions.
  • Qualcomm’s use of machine learning shows the importance of this technology in the industry.
  • The company’s analytics infrastructure helps ensure that its machine learning models are effective and efficient.

Advice & Main Takeaways

Connections

  • Use resume for internships
  • Ask local/smaller company for highschool interns
  • Focus on continuous learning and developing the ability to learn new things.
  • Don't be overly concerned about things you read in the news – focus on your own learning and development.
    • The more your life depends on others and the news, the more restricted you may feel. Important to identify your uniqueness.
  • Embrace adaptability and be willing to learn new things in order to stay ahead in the tech industry.
  • Listen carefully to the requirements of a project and adjust your approach accordingly.
    • Be able to take the fall. Especially considering competition in colleges and highschool itself, it is imperative that you are able to change and adapt when necessary.
  • Overcome challenges by using critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
  • Be prepared for interviews, where you may be tested on your ability to write code that compiles and runs without errors.
    • Be prepared and able to converse with others properly – make sure you’re headstrong for the things that may be thrown at you. These can include firings, setbacks, etc.
  • Negotiate with your employer to find a work-life balance that works for you.
    • When coding in class, be resourceful. Ask questions.
  • Walk through your thought process and explain why you reached a particular conclusion.
    • Debug both in code but also in the decisions you make daily. It can be especially useful in order to find errors in the way you execute things in general.