Assertively Seeking Guidance
My Biggest Takeaway as a First Generation College Student Breaking into Tech
By Lunden Cunningham, Solution Ownership Intern, Boston Build Center
What are my biggest takeaways as a first-generation college student? This is a question I’m asked fairly often, and it’s taken a bit of time to come up with a concise answer. It’s hard to summarize it in one statement, but I think the closest sentiment I’ve come up with is that you have to be assertive when it comes to finding guidance.
Unlike many of my peers, I wasn’t able to reach out to my parents when I needed guidance about pursuing post secondary education, or about the careers it opens doors to. I realized very quickly that I would not only need advice to be successful, but that I would need to find long term and sustainable guidance to fill the gaps. Guidance doesn’t necessarily need to come from a singular mentor or person, it can also come from experiences and environments. Finding guidance is crucial for navigating new and unknown spaces, college being one of them. This lesson would eventually go beyond just getting into college and having a successful undergraduate career. Little did I know, it would also be immensely helpful for landing an internship and finding my place in the world of technology.
When I entered graduate school, I was convinced that I would be a software engineer. However, I very quickly realized that I wanted more. I not only wanted to have the technical knowledge necessary to be an engineer, but I also wanted to communicate with stakeholders throughout the entire software engineering lifecycle. I wanted to understand the product not only from a technical perspective, but also from that of business and design. I’ve always been a people person, and I knew to thrive that I would need to find a role where I would not only play a part in building meaningful technology, but where I would also get to interact with other people in a variety of different ways.
This revelation was in some ways intimidating. While my fellow peers were working through dozens of LeetCode problems and were more than happy to put on their noise-canceling headphones and be left alone to code, I was more interested in the reasons behind what we were building and understanding the big picture of assignments and projects. As time went on, I couldn’t find anyone in my program who had desires like mine. I wasn’t sure if I had taken the right path, or if I even belonged in my program.
I needed to figure out how I could leverage my skills to pursue what I was passionate about. As anyone would, my first inclination was to spend hours scavenging Google; when that was only adequately fruitful, I realized I needed to return to what had worked in the past: assertively seeking guidance. I began by scheduling a meeting with my career counselor at Northeastern. Next, I filled my calendar with any and all events for any technology or networking group I found remotely intriguing. I made new connections, scheduled informational interviews over coffee, and grinded for months building relationships and finding space in the Boston tech scene. Finally, I got my big break when I attended a networking event at the Boston Slalom Build Center.
Slalom Build didn’t just blow me away because of their beautiful offices and the amazing cold brew on tap. It was a combination of both the exciting work the firm was doing and the amount of value I felt from my very first encounter. After months of putting in so much effort to make connections and find a break, at Build I felt as if they were just as excited to interact with me as I was with them. Two separate recruiters took time out of their busy schedules to sit down with me for hours and have coffee while discussing my aspirations. They genuinely considered what I was interested in doing, and made recommendations on how I could best fit in at Build. The warmth and support I felt from these and other interactions with the firm motivated me to pursue a Solution Owner (SO) Internship at Build, which I ultimately landed.
What I didn’t know at the time was how much said internship would quench my search for guidance. During my internship I had both a People Manager and a Capability Lead who were easily accessible and generous with their feedback. They not only challenged me to become a better leader, but they also offered guidance on how best to drive business value from the work our team was doing. The SO role at Build is unique, and it allowed me to fill the day-to-day functions of a Scrum master, product manager, consultant, and business analyst all in one. So many positions melded into one came with many lessons, and among the most important was that part of being an SO is accepting imperfection and being adaptable. At the beginning of my experience I was convinced that I would be able to streamline, organize, and control every aspect of the project my team was working on. However, I learned very quickly that when you’re working with a client and on a real agile team, change is constant. My leads helped me build the confidence to navigate these changes and minimize stress on the team and the project. I now have the confidence and understanding necessary to pursue a variety of different roles in tech, and I know the lessons I learned as an SO intern will be invaluable as I start my career.
In addition to the leadership training I received from my People Manager and Capability Lead, I also was lucky enough to learn from those I’d typically be invisible to as an intern at other companies. Besides continuous opportunities to meet with Practice Area Leads and Practice Area Directors from multiple practices within Build, I was also able to spend some time talking with the Managing Director of the Boston Build center. Nobody at Build was inaccessible. Making a connection was as simple as sending a Slack message and having a virtual cup of coffee. This proved to be extremely valuable as I not only learned and improved the skills necessary for my job functionality, but I also learned about new concepts in a variety of subject areas. Build was a great place to not only thrive in my own practice, but it also allowed me to continue to grow as a well rounded tech professional.
I’m excited that even in spite of the global pandemic, I made connections and found mentors who taught me valuable lessons and who I know will continue to be sources for guidance that I can defer to throughout my career. I’m thankful that I found a firm that showed me that while my interests might be different than those around me, I can still maximize my background and skillset and find my niche within tech. Build taught me many lessons that the internet, my parents, and school never could, and for that I will always be grateful. If you’re looking for guidance or mentorship, a place to grow tremendously in ten weeks, or a place where you can find the sweet spot between engineering and business, I can’t recommend Build enough.
Lunden Cunningham was an intern in our 2020 Slalom Build Internship program, where she built real software for real Builders. We’ll be sharing more stories from Build interns as we continue our series of Slalom Build Internship experiences.
