Interview with Damien Howard

1. Introduction: Who you interview and why. The expert’s name, title, and organization. A brief background on why you selected this person.
1. I chose to interview Damien Howard; he is currently a software engineer at google and has been there for 7 years. Before that he worked at United Technologies and obtained a bachelor’s degree from CSU Fullerton. I chose to interview this person because he was my introduction to programming. He suggested I take a computer science class in high school because of how interested I was in what he was doing. My passion for software engineering blossomed from there. 
2. Summary: Key takeaways from the conversation (e.g., career advice, insights into industry trends, technical challenges).
1. From this conversation, I grasped that it will not be easy to break into the field. A lot of companies have slowed down on hiring and there have been a lot of layoffs. AI is extremely prevalent in the tech industry now. I am not competing with experienced professionals. Nonetheless, there is still hope. Projects are essential. A resume is good, but it will not show your potential. Actual projects and experience will show that you know what you are doing. He also suggested networking, he was able to get into the field early, so it was relatively easy, but now networking is the easiest way to get a job. He said the work is not as challenging as some make it out to be. Google is like any other company. It does not take a 4.0 graduate school student to get hired there. They look at the whole picture and not just what you put on paper. In terms of industry trends, automation and AI are really big ones. A lot of people want to use AI to simplify processes in their industry and the same can be said for automation. The outlook on this seems positive but can easily turn negative if precautions are not taken. Overall, from this conversation, I left with the understanding that portfolios are important and getting along with others. There are still jobs available to take in this industry but further into the future these will keep diminishing as a lot of people are scared to leave.
3. Reflection: How this experience influenced your understanding of career options and the industry.
1. It solidified my understanding that it would be hard to get a career in software engineering. Had I started way earlier I would have been able to enter into the industry with barely any experience. Despite this realization I still want to be a software developer. It will not be impossible to get into this field as long as I can show that I would be an asset to the competition. I just have to get my foot in the door. I do not have to be the best programmer either. If my team and I can work together well, I am more likely to keep my position over a person who is a great programmer but hard to get along with.
4. Future Steps: How do you plan to apply this knowledge to your academic or professional journey?
1. I plan to apply this knowledge to work harder. I already planned to obtain my master’s degree, but I may have to look into doing a lot more internships. I can even take the initiative to make projects and use the internet to help whenever I encounter something that I don’t know how it works. In order to get the job I want, I must work hard and I must show my commitment. I cannot give up after one person tells me no because it seems I will be told no a lot of times before I get a yes.