Leadership Seminar Series

CSE 390L, Winter 2018


Logistics

Tuesdays, 1:30-2:20, EEB 045
Instructors: Ed Lazowska / Dan Grossman
A one-credit (CR/NC) seminar series

Intent

The UW CSE Leadership Seminar Series, CSE 390L, is a one-credit (CR/NC) seminar series, primarily targeted at upper-division CSE undergraduates, that brings CSE alumni and friends to campus to describe how to be effective in a startup, small company, large company, or less common environment. Our guests will discuss topics such as:

  • What do you need to know in order to succeed, that you don't learn in your classes or during an internship?
  • How do you position yourself to work on interesting projects?
  • In a large company, what strategies can make you influential, vs. a cog in a wheel?
  • What is life like in a startup?
  • If your goal is to start and grow your own company, where do you begin?
  • What are the pros and cons of less common career options, such as teaching high school computer science?
  • Why might you choose graduate school vs. tech industry employment after graduation?
These should be great, informative, interactive sessions. This seminar has been very well received during its past offerings (2011-2017). But it's up to you - you need to make it interactive!

Course requirements

Regular attendance, active participation. Please read up on the individual and his/her employer(s) in advance of each course session.

Course email archive

Send email to course members by using the address cse390l_wi18 at uw.edu.

The archive of email is available here.

The lineup

This year we have another amazing lineup - come to class prepared to take advantage of these alums. Think of them as "postcards from your future."

Tuesdays, 1:30, EEB 045
Date Room Guest(s) Experience
January 9 EEB 045 Recent alums:
    Saloni Parikh, 2015 UW CSE B.S.,
        2015 UW Public Health B.S.
    Nick Shahan, 2014 UW CSE B.S.,
        2016 UW CSE M.S.
    Victoria Wagner, 2014 UW CSE B.S.
 
 
Nafundi (Contract Developer) -> DF/Net Research (Developer) ->
    PicoBrew (Program Manager)
Starbucks (Intern) -> Microsoft (Intern) -> Google (Intern) -> Google
 
LinkedIn (Intern) -> Facebook (Intern) -> Tableau Software (Software
    Engineer)
January 16 EEB 045 Armon Dadgar, 2011 UW CSE B.S.
Slides
kiip (SDE) -> HashiCorp (Co-Founder and CTO)
 
January 23 EEB 045 Veneta (Tashev) Angelova, 2007 UW CSE B.S. Microsoft (SDET, SDE) -> Amazon (SDE) -> Google (iOS SWE)
January 30 EEB 045 Chris Dentel, 2013 UW CSE B.S.
Notes
Facebook (Software Engineer, Senior Software Engineer, Software
    Engineering Manager) -> Lyft (Software Engineering Manager)
February 6 EEB 045 Jenny Abrahamson, 2012 UW CSE B.S.,
    2013 UW CSE M.S.
Google (Intern) -> Facebook (Intern) -> Facebook (Software Engineer) ->
    a year of climbing and skiing
February 13 EEB 045 Anthony Wu, 2005 UW CSE B.S.
 
 
 
Intel (Intern) -> Varolii (Software Engineer) -> Nuance (via acquisition of
    Varolii) -> Google/YouTube (Software Engineer, Tech Lead) ->
    LearnSprout (Co-Founder and CTO) -> Apple (via acquisition of
    LearnSprout)
February 20 EEB 045 Leilani Battle, 2011 UW CSE B.S.
Slides
 
 
Microsoft (Test Intern) -> Telenav (R&D Intern) -> Microsoft Research
    (Research Intern) -> MIT (Ph.D.) -> UW CSE (Postdoctoral
    Researcher) -> University of Maryland (faculty, starting
    August 2018)
February 27 EEB 045 Stephanie Smallman, 2010 UW CSE B.S.,
    2010 UW Spanish B.A.
Teaching in Spain -> Egraphs (Software Consultant) -> Redfin (Software
    Developer)
March 6 EEB 045 Yaw Anokwa, 2007 UW CSE M.S.,
    2012 UW CSE Ph.D.
Helene Martin, 2008 UW CSE B.S.
Slides
 
Intel (Research Scientist Intern) -> Partners in Health (Software Engineer) ->
    Google (Software Engineer Intern) -> Nafundi (Founder)
Grameen Foundation (ICT Innovation Specialist) -> Garfield High School
    (Computer Science Teacher) -> UW CSE (Lecturer) -> Independent
    Consultant -> Algona Studios (CTO)