Navigating the Industry: Acing the Career Fair ðŸ§
Most universities have career fairs which are great opportunities for internships and full-time positions. But what are some ways to maximize the upside?
- Just like exams, do your homework!
In the midst of all the chaos, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Researching the companies ahead of time and finding a map of the booths is a great way to be intentional about your actions.
While researching, focus on the scope of their work, open roles and locations, the qualifications they’re looking for, and questions you have. This will help in deciding what to say to recruiters as well.
- Polish your resume
First impressions are vital and non-verbal behavior play a significant role. If your resume needs some tidying up, now will be a good time to do that as well. Try using the previously mentioned research to create bullets that highlight relevant experience and quantifiable impacts.
- Make your approach
With the game plan set, it’s time to make your approach. If you’re feeling nervous -remember that at the end of the day, it’s a conversation you’re simply having with a person who happens to work at a company you’re applying to! In the case of recruiters & hiring managers, they’re looking to fill open roles.
Put your best foot forward by expressing your interest in the company and relevant skills. At the end of the conversation, ask for their contact information, either in the form of an email or Linkedin profile.
- Follow-up
The recruiter has probably spoken to hundreds of students that day. So, we’ll want to make sure you’re fresh in their minds and the best way to do that is with a follow-up email thanking them for their time and reiterating your interest. You’ll re-introduce yourself at the top of the funnel which is a great way to get the right eyes on your application.
Figure - AI Coffee Demo ☕
Figure is a company focused on developing humanoid robotics, working on both first-party hardware and software to create their platform.
Recently, the company released a status update on AI trained behavior - taking video data input of a human operating a Keurig Espresso Machine and outputting the correct trajectory to replicate the same behavior.
What’s particularly fascinating about the recent intersection of hardware and software, is that the neural networks used to train these robots can learn and generalize from data, making them adept at handling a wide variety of tasks and environments. Instead of explicitly programming behavior, tasks involving perception and decision-making can be learned rather than programmed.
Companies in the Spotlight: Bots and Breadboards
Agility Robotics recently announced that Amazon will begin testing Agility’s bipedal robot, Digit, in their warehouses.
This human-like design allows it to immediately interface with preexisting equipment and contribute to worker safety.
They also have open roles for Sr. Mechanical and Software Engineers too!
Everyone’s favorite microcontroller, Arduino, secured a total of $54 million in Q4 of 2023 for financing of their Series B to increase business applications along with other goals.
Question of the Week: Steel or Aluminum?
Let’s say you want to make a 1m cantilever beam and minimize deflection, but you’re given either 5kg of steel or 5kg of aluminum. Which would you choose?
Well, steel’s modulus of elasticity is ~3x that of aluminum. On the other hand, steel is ~3x denser so you’d have much more aluminum. Let’s see what the equation says.
We can see that P and L are constants so we can disregard them. E and I are both functions of the material. I is increased the father away the material is from the axis of bending.
So, if we assume an extremely small width, it’s height will play a role to the power of 3. Aluminum has 3x the area available compared to steel so it’s I value can increase by 3^3 which is 27.
Although aluminum isn’t as stiff, it can still have a smaller deflection by a factor of 9! See the full discussion here - community support in solving these interview questions is always welcomed!