Students met to learn how their arts and sciences background can fit into the growing technology industry at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Global and International Studies Building.
Presented by Arts and Sciences Career Services at IU, the workshop, “My Career in Tech: Evaluating Opportunities in Silicon Valley”, was a Skype workshop led by Mamaghani.
Joe Lovejoy, the director of Career Services at the College of Arts and Sciences, helped organize the event.
Lovejoy said the workshop was the first of a series of events between current students and alumni working in a variety of jobs in Silicon Valley.
“We know that a lot of our students are interested in working in Silicon Valley and we know that we have a lot of alumni out there,” Lovejoy said.
The series, which Lovejoy said is experimental, is part of a larger initiative at the College of Arts and Sciences.
By connecting students with alumni from a variety of educational backgrounds, Lovejoy said the initiative aims to help students learn about the various career possibilities that come with a degree from the College of Arts and Sciences while providing opportunities for them to develop professional connections.
Although the program was designed by the College of Arts and Sciences, Lovejoy said any student can participate.
Laura Fonseca, the associate director of Career Services at the College of Arts and Sciences, also helped coordinate the event.
“We’re really excited to be working collaboratively across schools within IU to provide you all an opportunity to connect with our alumni,” Fonseca said.
During the event, Mamaghani discussed her career trajectory and the events which lead to her work in Silicon Valley.
“December 1996, I’m graduating from journalism school and there’s this new thing that was all the rage in the computer clusters on campus,” Mamaghani said. “It was called the world wide web.”
Mamaghani opted to change her career path after becoming aware of the opportunities the world wide web presented.
This led her to pursue her masters of science degree from Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts.
After working a series of internships and jobs in Boston, Mamaghani relocated to California when she was presented with an opportunity to work for Yahoo and eventually eBay.
In addition to sharing her story, Mamaghani provided students with advice for success in the technology field.
“If you walk away with nothing else today, I really want to impress upon you that you don’t have to do it perfectly,” Mamaghani said. “Nothing is going to necessarily be perfect you just do your best and show up and it’s OK.”
