Software Engineering
Listen to the recording below!
David Liu
David Liu grew up in China and immigrated to the US when he was in high school. He first attended a local community college while working part time, and then transferred to UCLA to get his BS, MS, and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering. David started his professional career at Northrop Grumman, an aerospace company, building satellite communication systems and unmanned aircrafts. He is now working at Facebook, where he is leading a team of engineers building software and hardware products to bring more people to faster internet around the world. David is proud faster of two sons, Louis who is a 6th grader at Medea Creek and Lucas who is a 4th grader at Red Oak.
Bryan Magoffin
Bryan Magoffin got started in computing in the late 70's when his mom brought home a new Apple computer. He asked, "Where are the games?" to which she handed him a textbook on how to code and said, "They're all in here." Little did he know, but she had given him a college textbook for a college-level Computer Science class! Fast forward several decades, and Bryan is now an expert in IT Security. Bryan has worked with and many branches of the US Government such as the FBI and US Secret Service, and is now a Sales Architect for one of the world's top IT Security Manufacturers. Bryan has two daughters, a step daughter, and a step son. One of his daughters is currently in 8th grade at MCMS.
David Liu
Engineering manager
- Works at Facebook (6 years) to create software products
- Used to work in aerospace- airplanes and satellite communications
Education
- Moved to the U.S. in high school and attended community college for 2 years before transferring to UCLA (electrical engineering)
- Completed his master's in electrical engineering at UCLA
- Took many math and physics classes
Bryan Magoffin
bmagoffi@checkpoint.com
Sales engineer
- Western U.S. at Checkpoint- works with sales reps and customers to ensure the creative products are correct and meet requirements; works in competition with other companies, so gives customers a good platform in comparison to other companies
- Have been working in this industry for 14 years
Education
- Joined the navy out of high school, maintained mainframe computer
- Took a programming course as a child and enjoyed it
- First break during the TJ Maxx breach- subcontracted to the Secret Service and got to conduct forensic analysis on the culprits selling credit card numbers
What can you do?
2.4 million jobs in cybersecurity and not enough candidates to fill them: Checkpoint (as well as other technology companies) has internships, mentorship, and job shadowing opportunities for high school students, so interested OPHS students can contact Bryan Magoffin or visit Checkpoint.com
Click this link to register for more! https://checkpoint.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_lN6987j_Toa43rXiGfMWSA?utm_source=bambu-unpaid&utm_medium=social-media
Facebook has internships for college juniors, but not for high school students (at this particular time.
Advice
Read it, Do It, Learn It, Love It
Rewards from a job you love: more customers, adding value, building something, working on cross-functional teams, insanely satisfying outcomes
Software/computer languages that would be good to learn (by buying a book, watching YouTube videos, etc.): Python, JavaScript, SQL, PHP, and others
Have a strong foundation to do what you want to do (career experiences in high school and college will help)
It's okay to pivot a few times to find a job you love
Don't be afraid to fail/Take sound risks
Fail Fast (find out quickly what you don't like to better understand what you like/want to do)
Find Your Why (what you want to do and WHY you want to go to work every day)
What makes you stand out versus others? Address this question with your resume/interviewing
Be Focused and work hard toward your goals