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#CareerAdvice : #CollegeStudent – Essential Advice For Building Your Dream Career In The Digital Economy. Got Kids? Great One Min Read!

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Lauren Maffeo has her finger on the pulse of tech, education, and especially, how to educate people successfully in order to succeed in a tech oriented job market. But she certainly didn’t start out that way.

In fact, in college, computer science was her least favorite course. Yet, today, Lauren is an award-winning technology expert, covering the impact of emerging tech like AI and blockchain on small and mid-sized business owners. I caught up with Lauren on our From the Dorm Room to the Board Room podcast to discuss her interesting career journey and advice she has for young people interested in the digital economy. The following excerpt from this interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Andy Molinsky: Is there anything in particular you’d suggest about preparing yourself in college for a future career in tech?

Lauren Maffeo: If you’re still in a position to be picking classes, pick as diverse a range of classes as you possibly can. I don’t regret being a Media Studies major, but I do wish that I had taken more business courses, especially marketing and product management.

Molinsky: How about just majoring in Computer Science?

Maffeo: And if you’re a Computer Science major, I think it’s really essential to be taking courses on Ethics, and Philosophy, and Rhetoric to understand the bigger picture of what you’re building, and understanding the impact of your products on end users, which is something that tends to really get lost on technical teams if they’re too far away from their customers.

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Molinsky: You majored in Media Studies. Was there anything particularly useful in retrospect about that major?

Maffeo: For sure. I couldn’t foresee at the time how valuable my Media Studies education would be, both in my career and also in this weird cultural moment we’re in. I could not have imagined how media literacy, at large, would evolve the way it has into what it is today where we have this real explosion of literal fake news where even someone who is highly literate can’t necessarily tell the factual accuracy of what they’re reading. We’re in this very unique moment where the value of being able to dissect arguments and rhetoric for what they are and critique things at face value is a more essential skill than ever.

Molinsky: If you had the power to dictate how college was run, is there anything you’d change?

Maffeo: I would require interdisciplinary education, which a lot of universities already do. If engineers are building products for end users not thinking about the myriad of ways they could be used for both good and bad, that’s very problematic. So Computer Science students, for example, need to take coding courses alongside Philosophy. The other thing is that I would emphasize the benefits of project-based work, especially if someone is taking more technical subjects. You’re always going to get more exposure and more knowledge from doing something hands-on versus just memorizing information.

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website.

Andy Molinsky Contributor
Forbes.com | June 26, 2019 | Andy Molinsky Contributor 

Your #Career : The 5 Best Ways to Network While You’re Still in College… When to Start Looking for a Career/Job? Today, IF you start your Junior Year, your Late!

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Thinking about the real world can be intimidating as a college student (I’ve been there!)… So it’s no surprise that our team gets questions from hundreds of students each month about how to network effectively in preparation for a career.

College Graduate

The connections I made in college have been instrumental in my post-grad life, including in starting my own company, WayUp. Below are five ways I suggest networking as a college student. Anyone can and should use them to build an effective set of relationships that will support you throughout your career.

Armed with these strategies, you should walk away feeling excited about the network, and future, that you’re building.

1. Use part-time jobs and internships to your advantage

Warren Buffett started as a paperboy, Madonna as a Dunkin Donuts worker, and Oprah worked at a grocery store. Working during school is the perfect way to gain experience, figure out what you love / don’t love, and make money. But regardless of what you choose to do, you’ll likely meet people who will go on to do bigger and better things, and you never know how they’ll be able to help you.

Today’s barista is tomorrow high-powered ad executive, so don’t discount anybody along the way. Use your time at work to get to know people and ask questions. Stay in touch after you leave a job or internship, even if it’s just a quick email update every couple of months.

 

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2. Cold email people you admire

I love cold emailing people (“cold emailing” means reaching out to someone you don’t know). Every college student should take advantage of how easy it can be!

Students are often intimidated to message someone to whom they have no connection, but in my experience, most people in the world really want to help others, and it’s even more special when a person gets to help a college student. So be sure to cold email people you admire, or even people at your own school who you just haven’t been able to meet.

Cold-emailing helped me plenty in college. I got one internship through it (back then, we didn’t have WayUp!), and I even relied on a cold email to a role model so I could get their advice on which career path to take after graduation. Here’s a video (at 49-seconds) of me telling that story:

A couple big tips here: always be respectful and genuine when cold emailing, definitely make sure that you show that you respect their time, and most of all, be sure to use the “I’m a college student” opening while you still can!

3. Take advantage of professional networking groups and clubs on campus

Many colleges have groups, clubs, and associations that you can join to expand your opportunities and meet amazing people, both on and off-campus. There’s never going to be another time quite like college where you’re surrounded by thousands of amazingly smart and interesting people, so get to know the people you think will change the world someday.

At college, you’re exposed to some of the most brilliant academic minds in the world, so why wouldn’t you take advantage of that? If there’s a subject area you’re interested in, don’t be afraid to go to professors in that field; they love talking about their work and meeting young people who are just as interested.

You never know which professor will end up being the professor who changes your life trajectory. For example, the professor who taught my “Entrepreneurship” class helped me work on a business plan that ended up being the inspiration for WayUp!

5. Reach out to everyone you know in your personal network

The best way to figure out what you might be interested in is to talk to absolutely everyone about your interests. You’d be surprised at how many people your friends and family know.

Pro-tip: don’t forget to take advantage of winter and spring break. It’s the perfect opportunity to reach out to folks at home about connections they may have that are relevant to your interests!

No matter where you attend school or what you choose to study, building a network now will make life so much easier after graduation. Good luck!

Liz Wessel,    CONTRIBUTOR – I write about how to level up your career while in college

Forbes.com | September 7, 2016