Safal Adhikari talks life as an Engineering Analyst at Wells Fargo
Meet U.S. Army Veteran, Green River College student, and Mentors in Tech participant Safal Adhikari. Adhikari, who is currently wrapping up requirements to complete his Bachelor of Applied Science in Software Development, recently started a new job as an Engineering Analyst at Wells Fargo. In the Q and A below, he talks about his role and offers helpful career tips for breaking into tech.
What led you to Green River’s Software Development program?
SAFAL: I was working as a technical support agent but I had an interest in engineering. I was lacking computer science knowledge, so I started looking for colleges locally. I liked Green River College’s Software Development program because there were programming courses I could take right away without having to wait, or take pre-requisite classes. I also liked the student-to-faculty ratio in our classes. I could ask my instructor direct questions and get individual help when needed. That is a huge help when you are trying to learn programming from scratch.
Can you tell us about your role at Wells Fargo?
SAFAL: I am an Engineering Analyst at Wells Fargo. I work with Trust Data Services Team within the Wells Fargo Wealth Investment Management Technology (WIMT) line of business. I develop and support RESTful web services and Java applications for the Wealth and Trust businesses. I am part of an Agile team and I am involved in performing application enhancements and steady-state support, along with handling analysis, design, programming, debugging, unit testing, and system support.
What is the culture at Wells Fargo like?
SAFAL: I love working here. We have great management and a great team to work with. I feel like we have a good work/life balance because I can handle part-time school with full-time work here. There is a lot of room to grow and advance my career.
What piece of advice do you have for college students who are currently looking for work?
SAFAL: I use this full-size pizza analogy. One slice will be your technical knowledge, another slice will be your soft skills, the next slice will be your networking: how you present yourself, and talk to the recruiter and the managers during the interview, etc. When you are looking for work, you have to sell yourself as a full pizza, not just as one slice of that pizza.
Let’s say you apply for a job at a company’s career portal. Try to then find a college/technology recruiter and cold message them using a simple template like this:
Hi X, I hope you and your loved ones are safe and healthy. I am ____(name,year) attending school. [Insert relatable connection here (for ex: school, major, interests). I saw you are currently recruiting for (Role) at (Company). It would be great to connect and learn more about this opportunity.
If the recruiter responds to you and wants to move forward, know that someone saw your profile and believed in you that you can do it. So respect that, and it’s game time now to prepare for that next round of interviews. While doing this, know that your recruiter has already worked with a lot of candidates for similar roles in the past, so do not hesitate to ask them for any help, tips on what kind of questions will be asked, etc. A recruiter can only take you to the in-person or panel interview at this stage.
At the interview, it is all you. Therefore, you have to stay prepared by doing coding problems, work on independent projects on modern tech stacks, rehearsing behavioral questions with your friends, family, mock interviews with your mentor, etc. Always send a thank-you letter within 24 hours from the end of your interview. Now you did your job, so relax and do the same steps for the next one, until you finally settle down on an offer which works for you and the family.
Learn more about Green River College’s Bachelor of Applied Science (BAS) in Software Development by visiting www.greenriver.edu/software.
