Madhav Asok

why did i get into tech? a) i was a UCSB political science major from the bay area looking to get a job b) all the poli sci literature i was reading about the potential of ICT4D (Information Communications Technology for Development) struck me as ignorant of how technology actually worked c) i got the opportunity to learn to code. Plus a magazine i interned at allowed me to mess with their WordPress site and that was the instigation There was a clear personal upside for me to learn how to code and learn about how the internet works. I hope that employbl helps other people break into tech and find their upside 📈 #tech #startups #jobs

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I'm thrilled to share that I have been admitted into CodePath's Technical Interview Prep course this fall! By the end of this course (provided to me at no cost thanks to CodePath's team & partners), I will be able to solve challenging algorithm problems in real technical interviews 💻 🔒 #TechInterviewPrep #CodePathAdmit

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Excited to share that this summer I have returned to Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a Software Development Engineer Intern! Just 2 years ago I would have never believed that I could make a career transition from military to SDE. Military transitions are really hard for the service-member and their family. There are so many variables that one needs to think about before deciding to leave the military. For me, the goal was clear: I wanted to break into software development. Despite learning to code on weekends, not having a college degree felt like a significant barrier. As I practiced coding interviews during lunch hours and weekends, the military had a new program called DoD-SkillBridge, which allowed transitioning service members to work for any company that wanted to train service members in a given career field while on terminal leave, (paid by the military). Like all military transitions in general, it is the responsibility of the service member to interview for the company, onboard the company if necessary, talk with Education office, start the process of transitioning, prepare for the interview while serving full time on active-duty, and explain the process to supervisors or commanders. It was overwhelming but I can certainly say that partaking in the skill-bridge with Amazon Web Services (AWS) was the best decision I have made, apart from deciding to serve this amazing country 🇺🇸 I’m sharing this not just to celebrate my journey but to offer support and insight to fellow service members considering a similar transition. It’s stressful and uncertain, but there are resources and people ready to help. If you need advice or assistance, feel free to reach out. Wishing everyone a fantastic 4th of July weekend!

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It's hard to believe it's been three months since I joined Nordstrom as a Software Engineer 1. This week, I had a unique opportunity to step out of my usual coding environment and support our stores during the big Anniversary Sale. I was on the front lines, working in order consolidation and directly interacting with the end users of our apps. Hearing their feedback firsthand was incredibly insightful and rewarding. It gave me a whole new perspective on the impact of our work and how we can improve user experiences. For my fellow entry-level software engineers, here are a few takeaways: 1. User Interaction Matters: Always seek feedback from real users. It bridges the gap between development and actual usage. 2. Field Experience is Golden: Stepping into a different role, even temporarily, can provide valuable insights and inspire improvements in your work. 3. Stay Curious: Every interaction is a learning opportunity. Ask questions, listen, and observe. I'm excited to take these learnings back to the team and continue building great solutions. #Nordstrom #NordstromAnniversary2024

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Great engineers don't need anyone's permission to make something better. One of the ways I held myself back as a junior engineer was waiting to be told what to do and holding myself back from learning. It makes sense because a new grad won't usually know how to write code in a corporate setting. But the mistake I made was letting myself get used to only doing things I was assigned to do. If anyone wants to grow, they'll have to do more than what they're assigned. Nobody has to make a huge design improvement in the beginning. It can be as simple as cleaning up leftover console.log statements. Then it can evolve to updating documentation as they're reading it or removing unnecessary API calls. It might not seem like much in the beginning. But all these little side quests will build an engineer's knowledge over days, months, and years to the point they'll be surprised at how much they learned. Why settle for a 10x engineer when you can be 38x better learning 1% more everyday. #engineering #coding #alexcancode

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Here's a bit of an unexpected update from my side: my recent job offer from a leading tech company was unexpectedly retracted. After completing four rounds of interviews and even saying no to other opportunities, the hiring manager let me know that they no longer need to fill the position. It’s a bit of a shock and certainly disappointing. I had already stopped my job search, so now I'm gearing up to start over. It's a big setback, but I’m determined to keep pushing forward. I'm sharing this on LinkedIn to maintain transparency about the ups and downs of my career path. If anyone has leads or can connect me with potential opportunities, I would really appreciate it. I’m keen to explore any new roles that are out there. Also, I’d love to hear from others who have gone through similar challenges. What strategies did you find helpful to overcome them? #careerjourney #careergrowth #softwareengineering #classof2024

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#BayArea folks! Spring's Daniel Chen and Francesco Rubbo are attending the Bay Area Aging Meeting (BAAM) tomorrow, May 14th University of California, Berkeley They'll be presenting our poster titled "Building Machine Learning Aging Models on High-Content Imaging Data from Primary Human PBMCs." Be sure to stop by and learn more about our extensive work developing #aging #phenoprints!

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Shorter post today, but I figured I'd share a unique opportunity to build some Software Engineering skills to be better prepared for the upcoming recruiting season. Headstarter AI is offering a 7 week fellowship in which they'll take you through the process of building 5 AI focused personal projects that you can add to your resume. I've stressed the importance of projects before and this seems like a great way to get a lot done! Additionally, this program offers weekend hackathons, resume reviews, extensive interview prep for participants. The applications for the program close in ONE WEEK, July 12th, so be sure to check it out at the link posted in the comments! Note: I am not affiliated with Headstarter AI in any way, I just thought this seemed like a cool opportunity and figured I'd share with my network :) As such, please direct all questions to the posted link. Feel free to share any other resources you might have and I can help share them with the community. As always, you can also feel free to message me on LinkedIn or schedule and appointment to chat about my experience with recruiting. (I will say that I am a bit busy this weekend so forgive me if there are delays in my response to DMs) #career #SoftwareEngineering #freesource

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Researchers at San Diego State University’s James Silberrad Brown Center for Artificial Intelligence are exploring innovative approaches to mental health support using Pepper. Traditionally, diagnosing mental health conditions involves interviews, observations, and multiple expert opinions, making it a time-consuming and imperfect process. However, Pepper processes large amounts of data swiftly and efficiently, and can crucially detect emotional changes, potentially leading to earlier disease detection. By offering insights and suggestions to healthcare professionals, Pepper empowers them to make more informed decisions. It's important to note that Pepper doesn't replace human healthcare providers but enhances efficiency and accuracy in medical settings by adeptly handling vast amounts of data and identifying emotional changes. "My role is to provide insights, suggestions, and support to help healthcare professionals focus on the aspects of care that require a human touch." This concept aligns with our AI development goals. We aim to create AI solutions that support healthcare professionals by delivering information effectively and enhancing their workflow, and ultimately facilitating early diagnosis. https://lnkd.in/gJdayX8C #AIinHealthcare #MedTech #HealthTech #MentalHealth

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I am part of several software engineering communities online that have folks that have 15+ years of experience to someone who is just trying to find their first internship. I’ve reviewed several resumes with varying quality. While I am not a recruiter nor do I have a perfect resume myself, it is easier to be objective about it since I’m coming with a fresh perspective. Some of the things folks should make sure that they have in their work/project experience include: Impact of their efforts (The R in the STAR method). Why did your contributions matter? Flow of their sentences. Reading your resume out loud to a person is a great way to catch some of this. Not keeping their best achievements/experience at the top. If someone cannot determine your recent/best achievements within 15 seconds, a recruiter is probably going to pass on your resume Not keeping it one page. If you have 15+ years of experience across multiple companies and domains, you can probably get away with 2 pages. But most people should stick with one page and focus on making that one page amazing If you have any disagreements or additional insights, please share them! #Resume #ResumeReview #SoftwareEngineering #Networking #Recruiters

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I genuinely feel like im being torn apart in so many different directions and have too many things to learn & not nearly enough time while unemployed and fighting against the clock I'm really proficient in Java but - If you wanna pass the interview for a FAANG you have to do leetcode + system design, no questions asked - If you wanna be a fullstack, you also need to be a god at angular/react followed by knowing the complete ins and outs of AWS so that involves project work - If I wanted to continue working with Appian (which was my 1st professional technology that i learnt) i'd need to do certs and the senior certification was modified recently to be a lot harder and there's new features released by appian every few months How do you avoid the pressure of succumbing to "I need x,y & z all at the same time" without losing your mind?

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Nine UC Berkeley Climate Innovation fellows — five undergraduates, three graduate students and one postdoctoral researcher — will receive $10,000 each to address urgent environmental challenges. Read about the innovators and their projects: https://lnkd.in/g73cWF6t UC Berkeley Innovation & Entrepreneurship | University of California, Berkeley | University of California #Sustainability #ClimateChange #UCBerkeley #Innovation #Entrepreneurship

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UW Health is pioneering the use of generative AI to support nurses amid staffing shortages. Their pilot program uses AI to draft responses to patient messages, helping streamline workflows and improve efficiency. With over 75 nurses using the tool across 30+ departments, it's showing promise in reducing administrative burden. As healthcare grapples with nursing shortages, initiatives like this that leverage technology to support nurses and allow them more time with patients could be game-changing. https://lnkd.in/g-e2KbyR

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📞 The Interview Process: Before vs. After 📞 Is it just me, or does the interview process feel like a two-act play? 🎭 Act 1: The Chase Before the interview, companies are like: Call #1: “Can you come in for an interview?” Call #2: “Just confirming our interview time!” Call #3: “Don’t forget about the interview tomorrow!” Call #4: “Do you need any information before the interview?” It’s almost like they’re planning a surprise party for you! 🎉 Act 2: The Vanishing Act But post-interview, it's a different story. Suddenly, it’s like they’ve entered the Witness Protection Program. 🕵️‍♂️ Day 1: 🕰️ “I guess they’re busy, I’ll hear back soon.” Day 3: 🤔 “Maybe they lost my number?” Day 7: 📨 Sends polite follow-up email “Just checking in!” Day 10: 📪 “Is there anybody out there?” Cue the tumbleweeds... 🌵 As candidates, we understand that decisions take time, but a little feedback goes a long way. Whether it's a 'Yes' or 'No', knowing where we stand helps us move forward without holding onto false hope. 🚀 To all the recruiters and hiring managers out there, let’s make it a two-way street. Clear communication doesn’t just end when the interview does. Let's keep the dialogue open and constructive. After all, we’re all in this job search journey together! What’s your funniest or most relatable post-interview experience? Share in the comments below! 👇 #JobSearch #InterviewProcess #CandidateExperience #RecruitmentHumor

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Software Engineers and probably engineers in general can relate. We all know how satisfying it is to meet deadlines, exceed expectations, and learn new techniques. While that’s great and all… have you ever ran your code and not have it crash? Absolutely satisfying to see exactly what you want on the screen. Celebrate the wins. There is no line of code too small to overlook. From case sensitivity to special characters and closing statements, every line of code counts. It’s the little things. #STEM #SoftwareEngineering #MBSE #FirstGeneration #Code #Programming #ModelBasedSolutions

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This week marks my two-year anniversary of getting a job at Microsoft Xbox! 🥳 Reflecting on this milestone, I realize how far I’ve come—from being rejected for a Microsoft internship to now working as a software developer at Xbox. It’s been a long journey full of sleepless nights revising resumes, earning a couple of degrees, and learning countless lessons. While I don’t consider myself an expert in landing a job at a FAANG (FAAMG? MAMAA?) company, here are some valuable lessons I’ve learned along the way that might help you: ✨ Keep your LinkedIn Updated: You never know who might be looking! ✨ Prioritize Continuous Learning: Working a 9-5 can make it tough to find time for learning. I usually plan my week ahead to finish tasks early, dedicating Friday afternoons to personal development and learning. Trust me, it makes a huge difference! ✨ Show and Tell: Instead of just talking about my projects, I showcased them by building a personal portfolio. This really helped restrict my resume to a one-pager, I elected to keep only a few select projects on there and moved the rest to my portfolio. ✨ One-Page Resume: I know I’ve talked about this a LOT, but a well-organized one-page resume can make a strong impression. Highlight the most relevant and impactful experiences, skills, and achievements in your past work/internship experiences. Try to quantify them to the best of your abilities. #Microsoft #CareerJourney #JobSearchTips #CareerDevelopment #SoftwareDeveloper #ProfessionalGrowth #CareerSuccess

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