Interview with Neena Baliga — Full Transcript
Neena Baliga is a Junior Nexecon Member pursuing a Bachelor of Engineering in CS and a BBA. Today, we talked to her about her experience in Nexecon as well as her time as an intern for Microsoft this summer.
Q: Can you give us a brief overview of your Nexecon career so far?
A: Absolutely — So, I joined Nexecon during my second semester of freshman year. The first project I worked on was for a small nonprofit, where I got to work directly with the head of the organization. It was a very rewarding experience, as the nonprofit was focused on hiring people with disabilities. I loved not doing busywork — all of our work here was very high-level with regards to organizational strategy. For my first semester sophomore year, I was staffed on a much more technical project where I did a lot of research and Excel work to build a model that forecasted product demand. And, most recently, I worked with a software company doing a competitor analysis for them. Currently, I am a lead for our recruiting SPU and am very excited to be bringing new members into the club.
Q: Has there been anyone in Nexecon who advised you as you chose a career path?
A: Nexecon members in The Class of 2020, who just graduated, really helped me to figure out what I wanted to do and, afterward, land an internship in the field. I was initially deciding between two paths — consulting and tech. After talking to many of the seniors who had internship experience in both areas, I chose to pursue tech. Once I made this decision, so many Nexecon people reached out to me and helped me prep and mock interview. In Nexecon, I felt like a part of a supportive community where people went out of their way to help one another out. Now that I am a junior, I cannot wait to help the younger members too.
Q: Do you feel like your Nexecon experience helped prepare you for your internship this summer?
A: Nexecon has heavily influenced my career path on my way to becoming a software development intern at Microsoft this summer. It was a really interesting internship because I did 4 weeks of project management (PM) and then worked in software development. Nexecon prepared me well for being a PM at Microsoft. At Microsoft, I did a lot of industry research and competitor analysis — internal consulting type-work that I have done with Nexecon before. This previous Nexecon experience prepared me to do a great job this summer.
Q: What has been your favorite experience with a client so far?
A: On my first ever project for a nonprofit focused on hiring individuals with disabilities, I had the opportunity to go out to their location with my Nexecon team. The client was very kind and grateful, and gave us the chance to work alongside their employees and help make products!
Q: As you reflect on your time spent in Nexecon so far, was there anything that surprised you about the organization that you did not know before joining?
A: Before joining, I had talked to many Nexecon members in the recruiting process and got the impression that everyone knew exactly what they wanted to do. However, as I have made friends in Nexecon, I realized that most everyone is still learning from one another and figuring out their long term plans. I think that this just goes to show how we really use each other as resources to help us learn and grow.
