Solidifying Ambitions

By: Yahya Khan

Class of 2014, Majoring in Accounting

Peer for Career

I came to college with a very vague definition of what I wanted to do and how I was going to go about it. I wanted to major in a “business” subject and get a “good” job when I graduated. I chose this path because it seemed to offer the perception of stability and perhaps, better career prospects.

Though I had no concrete idea about what I wanted to do or which particular career path I wanted to follow. Many of my peers had similar aspirations about being successful and finding the right career path without actually having set goals or a clear direction about what they wanted to do.

We were told by many, including career counselors, friends, and parents that this was normal, that it was fine to not have our lives all planned out. And I accepted this explanation without even thinking about it. Looking back I wish I thought about it more.

It is perfectly fine to not know what you want to do or how exactly to do it, as long as you are actively searching for those answers.

Yet rather than actively looking for these answers and going out of my comfort zone to find them, I made the mistake of taking things lightly and hoping that I would come to some magical realization. I should have reached out to people more experienced than me, contacted professionals from the prospective fields I was considering and basically put in more time and effort to get to know myself and what I wanted to do.

For a long time, I focused just on my studies and participated in campus activities without a clear sense of purpose. Slowly however, the realization dawned on me that time was slipping away.

I realized that in order to attain something, I had to make some very specific goals and implement a strategy to achieve my chosen goals. I became a lot more motivated and started focusing on my career choices and what they offered me and what I offered in return. Once I started the process, the details fell into place and I started to see some of the fruits of my labor.

I interned over the summer at a large public accounting firm. My experiences there, while providing me with a host of answers about career prospects and expectations, gave birth to just as many more questions.

The point that I am trying to make is that I had an unrealistic view of how a career and/or a job would play out. It is very important to put yourself out there and to obtain as much information as possible.

Each experience that I have had has allowed me to judge my own skills set and inclinations better and hopefully, make informed decisions about the next step.

Too many of us delay the process, waiting for senior year or perhaps just for that weekend around the corner; the time is now to search and to learn because the process is long and arduous and the implications, dramatic.

The career choice we make will have an effect for a long time and therefore, it is essential that we do so with as much knowledge and insight as possible to pave the way for a satisfying and successful career.

Young Journalist and Baruch Student Reflects on Challenges of Reporting

By: Kamelia Kilawan

Journalism and Religious Studies, Class of 2014

Peer for Career

I asked two questions to an Oscar-nominated filmmaker that seemed overly technical once said. Another reporter jumped in asking simple questions–an instance that happened once before when a television reporter amped up her microphone next to my recorder. Oh the joy of reporting.

Reporting is like having the ability to understand all angles of an idea you may have. A New York Times feature writer once said that, “there is no such thing as an objective reporter” but that reporting calls for stepping onto the other side and hearing an argument from both camps.This skill may be integral to the profession of journalism, but I think it is as much a personal challenge as it is one where the results end up in public.

As a local community writer and blogger my foundation in journalism would probably be described as “a grassroots citizen-journalist.” But my summer internship at an online publication geared to city politics and policy has given me the legwork to practice reporting in a world that is quite different from my local Queens neighborhood.

Asking questions on the steps of City Hall, at public countings for contested political races, and during public meetings with Board of Election commissioners has been an invigorating experience this past summer.

I find it either a great process where if I’m persistent enough I can gain a lot of insight into the way someone thinks and I’m able to get the quotes I’m looking for. Or, the process of asking questions can be tedious, scary, and a experience where I feel insecure about my abilities as a reporter.

Imagine how nerve-racking it is to go up to someone and ask to have a little time to speak with them–then when you have the chance, you must come up with questions that are not too over-reaching so the person you’re asking doesn’t look at you as if you have two heads.

Plus, the questions cannot be so obvious that you are wasting the person’s time when you could have done your research and answered it yourself.

Sometimes I’m not sure what direction I am going in when I ask a question, but after reading a few chapters from Porter and Ferris’s The Practice of Journalism: A Guide to Reporting and Writing the News, I realized that understanding is the essence of reporting. It is my chance to understand all of the elements of the story, all of the people in it, and all of the facts.

Many consider the Five W’s–Who, What, When, Where, and Why as the basic checklist of a news story. But I think what needs to be emphasized among reporters even more is the How. How does one develop as a journalist? It certainly becomes a craft with practice and everyone has their own style but what reigns most important to me is following your instincts in asking a question. And this makes reporting quite an adventure worth pursuing–at least for me.

Student and Computer Enthusiast Pursues Passion in Game Development

By: Jason Ioffe

Peer for Career, Majoring in Computer Information Systems

As a child of the digital revolution, my household was dominated by personal computers, the internet, and of course video games. Even from a young age, I had to know what made these fascinating devices tick.

By middle school, I taught myself to write simple routines in BASIC and C using my parents’ programming books. In them I discovered the magical world of fractal sets–images of pure, awe-inspiring beauty. Under my command, zeros and ones rushed through a VGA cable to explode into a brilliant lightshow of 256 unique colors. Since then, I focused on delicately crafting code for computer graphics and, naturally, video games.

Game development quickly became one of my greatest passions and hobbies, but I had trouble pursuing it professionally. Local business would often contract me to write front-ends for online stores or databases, but I really wanted to expand into the games industry. Towards that goal, I regularly published samples of my work to gaming communities and later onto YouTube. Albeit few people noticed or commented, I remained persistent. After all, there was nothing to lose; at the very least I would expand my audience and further develop my skills.

In 2008, I received an email from an employer requesting an interview for a new game development blog. I agreed, and we soon spoke over the telephone regarding my work and preferences in video games, both past and present. He mentioned that our interview may be published online or in print, and I was simply overjoyed.

One week later, I discovered he wasn’t writing for a blog at all – he was actually scouting for major development studios! Producers from a prominent London, UK based studio reached out to me via email and asked if I had interest in working on what they called a “special project.”

At the time, it seemed a little too good to be true, but I played along. Good thing, too – the “special project” ended up being one of the most popular games released that decade. Over the next year, I designed gameplay and bonus content using the studio’s custom-built level design tools.

Suddenly, game design was no longer a hobby, but a job that demanded diligence and professionalism. I was under a strict schedule and had to reach milestones with my work every two weeks. Plus, I found myself communicating with the press on a regular basis – sometimes through email, other times on camera for millions of people to see.

Needless to say, it was a life changing experience. I discovered that my passions could lead to real career opportunities, and started building my network of professional game developers. To this day, and likely far into the future, I continue game development as both a hobby and a career. This valuable lesson was learned: if you are passionate about something, keep at it, and do everything you can to put yourself out there. Never give up, even if things do not work out right away. Serendipity plays a role, but that fish will never bite if you never put the line in the water.

Learning from a Last Minute Success

By: Alina Nesterenko

Class of 2015, Majoring in Statistics & Quantitative Modeling

Peer for Career

A few months before summer, I was fortunate enough to be selected as a participant of a two year leadership program, including mentorship and help with securing two summers of internships. But I fell victim to the belief that because I had been accepted to this successful program, and I had access to more resources, I would be able to secure something this summer.

We are advised to do things the “right” way. But the most meaningful pieces of information we obtain and apply, in my opinion, are those which we learn on our own. After getting to the first workshop in the beginning of June, I was disheartened to find out that the internship-recruitment period that the program offered started in fall not the summer. And I had absolutely no plans for the upcoming summer. Nearly panicked, I felt like the one person among my circle of friends that had no ready response to, “So what are your summer plans?”

I started worrying that the gap of time on my resume would scream that I failed to progress this summer. I referenced search engines and checked my resources, but the application period for most firms was already long closed. The pressure to obtain an internship was so stressful I began giving up opportunities to hang out with my friends after exhausting my Internet browsing powers.

You may wonder – how does this story end? It was thanks to my wonderful mentor, a director of another leadership program I participated in a few years ago, that I was able to secure an internship at a world-renowned real estate firm…last minute. Real estate while not my intended career path gave me exposure, experience, and insight in another potential option. It felt great to have experience under my belt.

I was relieved and grateful but the feeling of guilt did not die down. I still felt dependent on someone else and was forced to reassess my management skills with my professional future. Ultimately, in order to succeed academically, professionally, and even personally, it is crucial to keep track of your future yourself, instead of hoping and even depending on someone else to.

I am an advocate for reaching out to others to ask for help, inquiring about questions, and updating those in your network on your struggles and successes. However, this is to be taken with a grain of salt.We should all be thankful for those who are dedicated to watching us grow and helping us succeed. It is also important to have multiple circuits of support and to make sure those relationships keep flourishing.

However, my underlying lesson learned in this scenario was a reminder to rely on myself. It certainly may be an advantage to be in the right place at the right time, but that does not guarantee anything unless you make sure it counts. Your future is your own responsibility.