From a lemonade stand to a photography business in high school, Marie Armstrong has always had an entrepreneurial spirit.
She had so many interests that it was difficult to narrow her goals to one specific thing. While she initially wasn’t sure if college was for her, Marie decided to study Business and Management Information Systems.
True to form, she had several internships in different areas, including financial software, marketing, and technical project management. She wanted to be well-rounded and have lots of different skills. It paid off: after graduating this past May, she landed a full-time job at Microsoft as a technical account manager.
When her friends noticed that she was having an easier time getting interviews than they were, they started asking her advice on personal branding and how to sell yourself for a job.
And that’s the same reason Marie is joining us on the podcast today!
In the episode below, she discusses why personal branding is important, how to stand out to employers, how to stand out in an interview and get a job if you’re not a straight-A student, and how to brand yourself—including creating a logo, a website and a strong social media presence—to get your name out there.
This episode was transcribed with the help of an AI transcription tool. Please forgive any typos. Laurence Bradford 0:09 Laurence Bradford 0:27 Laurence Bradford 0:49 Laurence Bradford 1:12 Laurence Bradford 1:58 Marie Armstrong 2:01 Laurence Bradford 2:04 Marie Armstrong 2:17 Laurence Bradford 2:23 Marie Armstrong 2:32 Laurence Bradford 3:37 Marie Armstrong 3:44 Laurence Bradford 4:47 Marie Armstrong 4:48 Laurence Bradford 4:50 Marie Armstrong 4:56 Laurence Bradford 4:58 Unknown Speaker 5:02 Laurence Bradford 5:06 Marie Armstrong 5:08 Laurence Bradford 5:30 Marie Armstrong 5:49 Laurence Bradford 6:01 Marie Armstrong 6:10 Laurence Bradford 6:10 Marie Armstrong 6:15 Laurence Bradford 6:16 Marie Armstrong 6:37 Laurence Bradford 7:01 Marie Armstrong 7:05 Laurence Bradford 7:55 Marie Armstrong 8:20 Laurence Bradford 9:44 Marie Armstrong 9:48 Laurence Bradford 9:52 Marie Armstrong 9:57 Laurence Bradford 11:00 Marie Armstrong 11:07 Laurence Bradford 12:00 Marie Armstrong 12:13 Laurence Bradford 12:51 Marie Armstrong 13:08 Laurence Bradford 14:01 Marie Armstrong 14:12 Laurence Bradford 14:44 Marie Armstrong 14:59 Laurence Bradford 15:21 Marie Armstrong 15:29 Laurence Bradford 16:04 Marie Armstrong 16:13 Laurence Bradford 16:14 Marie Armstrong 16:24 Laurence Bradford 16:25 Marie Armstrong 16:39 Laurence Bradford 17:45 Marie Armstrong 17:46 Laurence Bradford 17:48 Marie Armstrong 17:50 Marie Armstrong 18:40 Laurence Bradford 19:29 Laurence Bradford 19:35 Laurence Bradford 20:49 Laurence Bradford 22:07 Marie Armstrong 22:25 Laurence Bradford 23:16 Marie Armstrong 23:26 Marie Armstrong 24:32 Marie Armstrong 25:24 Laurence Bradford 26:28 Marie Armstrong 26:42 Laurence Bradford 27:50 Marie Armstrong 28:26 Marie Armstrong 29:08 Laurence Bradford 29:45 Marie Armstrong 29:47 Laurence Bradford 29:54 Marie Armstrong 30:30 Laurence Bradford 30:51 Marie Armstrong 31:44 Laurence Bradford 31:59 Marie Armstrong 32:07 Laurence Bradford 32:58 Marie Armstrong 33:34 Laurence Bradford 33:42 Marie Armstrong 34:02 Laurence Bradford 34:46 Marie Armstrong 34:50 Laurence Bradford 35:23 Marie Armstrong 35:29 Laurence Bradford 35:37
Hey, and welcome to another episode of the Learn to Code With Me podcast. I'm your host, Laurence Bradford and today's episode is all about how to brand yourself online as a techie. But first, a quick word about this episode's sponsors.
Do you want to automate your workflow to save hours of manual data entry? Mailparser takes email data and uses parsing filters to help you understand your customers. Get a free trial and 30% off your first year over at mailparser.io/learntocodewithme.
Product Design is a lucrative and in demand skill with online programs flexible classes and one on one mentoring. Thinkful's Product Design program can help you landed a job as a product designer. To find out more and to get $500 off, go to learntocodewith.me/thinkful.
In today's episode, I talk with Marie Armstrong. Marie is a recent business graduate with experience from top IT companies. And this summer she'll be starting a full time job at Microsoft. Marie discusses how to stand out to employers if you're not a straight A student, and the importance of personal branding. So things like creating a logo, a website, strong social media presence and so forth, to get your name heard so that you can become more visible to potential employers. We also discuss applying to tech internships. So if that's something you're interested in this episode will be relevant to you to enjoy the interview.
Hey Marie, thank you so much. much for coming on the show.
Thank you so much. I am so excited to get into this.
Yeah, we're really excited to have you and I just wanted to congratulate you first because you just graduated from college in May, which, at the time of recording, we're in early June. So basically you just graduated.
Yeah, I shared it. It's super exciting time. And I'm ready to get started on my full time job.
Awesome. Can't wait to get into all that. But first, I would love if he could tell us a bit about what you studied at university and why you picked the subject that you chose.
Yeah, of course. So I've always had a very entrepreneurial drive, but not entirely sure what I was good at. So from selling lemonade as a little kid to starting a photography business, in high school, geared towards seniors who couldn't afford the outrageous prices for senior photos. I started myself in business, a well known engineering school. Little did I know that I was not just Doing standard business, I was also integrating it into several of my classes. It was something I was kind of unfamiliar with. But I soon realized I had a passion for it. And my professors pointed that out as well. I like to call my degree the best of both worlds worlds. It bridges the gap between the technical and the non technical side business and management information systems, or some at some schools, it's management information systems, I soon realized how does that desire this degree was when I went in my first internship with hardly any experience under my belt.
Okay, so what was the actual like, name of the degree that you graduate with?
So it's business in management information systems? Okay, got it. Oh, it's business. And then I like to say, how I explain it is business and then it integrates it with it as well. Right. So then what was your first interview ship that you got that you said you didn't really have much experience before landing in? Yes. So my first internship was with a company called jack Henry and Associates, and I was doing project management. But the company itself was a software company. So I was not just doing your typical project management, I was also including a technical aspect to it. And jack Henry associates actually does financial software. And I wasn't super familiar with the company just because when it comes to financial software, that's not a huge up and coming thing right now in the news. But the more I started working with the company, it's actually one of the top it's like number one it company right now. on Forbes, I believe, or.
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
I don't think I've ever heard of that before. So so it's making financial software for other companies.
For banks, and then credit unions as well.
Gotcha. Yes. There was that internship located?
So it was actually located in Springfield, Missouri.
Is that is that where you live currently?
I am from Rolla, Missouri, even smaller than Springfield. I'm from a small town and that's actually where my school is that and the school is called Missouri University of Science and Technology and we are part of the UN system. So if you're familiar with like, Mizzou, we are the engineering school. We are the elite engineering school in Missouri.
I have to admit that a lot of my ms story knowledge comes from the show Ozark. TV Well, I'm somewhat But no, but now I feel like like cuz it sounds like sidetracking gear but the one son in the show wants to go to Mizzou, so yeah, I was talking about Mizzou.
Yeah, we actually get pretty upset in the Ozarks because of how it portrays Missouri. We're like, okay, it's not quite like that. But I guess yeah, where'd you go? Anything can be like that.
No, I know. I totally get it. I had some on the show recently. This was though before we actually hit the record button are talking about it because he was from Connecticut.
Yeah.
And he was a town in Connecticut, that there's a TV show based on called Oh gosh, American housewife.
Yes. Yeah.
Yeah. So he so they, they some people in the town don't love the portrayal but somebody could tansen actually get started. They were sidetracking a bit but Okay, so, so you Okay, so you studied at write that in Missouri and yes, internship was located so you so it wasn't remote basically like you were traveling there every day to work there.
Um, actually, it was it's two hours from where I went to school and where I live. And so I was living there all by myself. I mean, I shouldn't say all by myself. It was a 40 hour job and I was living by myself but that's just part of being an adult. So yep, I moved there for the summer work 40 hours every week and I caught a lot of great experience that I had not Head prior so..
Yeah, and I believe you had a few other internships right after this one? c
Correct. So, um, after that one, I started noticing that it was a lot more desirable. I had some internships while I was in school. And those were not as technical oriented, those were actually marketing internships, which I wanted to gravitate towards just different aspects of business. So I could be a well rounded person. So I had a marketing internship. And then one of my bigger internships was with MasterCard, and that was in St. Louis, Missouri. And that was a big step. For me, I had always just thought, oh, like it's MasterCard, it's, they're always, you know, on the news or something in a good light. So I was really excited to have that opportunity. And I was doing project management, technical project, project management there as well since it is still software oriented.
Right. And I would love to hear a bit about how you landed those positions. You You know, to be honest, like, we don't talk a lot about internships on the show, like, we talk a lot about getting jobs in tech, but usually they're for people that are, you know, outside of college, you know, wherever they may be in life, you know, furthering that career. So I would love to hear just what your experience was like getting those?
Yes, of course. And so my school I'm really thankful for they bring us a lot of really good opportunities. And so these companies come to this engineering school, not specifically looking for businesses, they're actually kind of looking for more of the engineering type, whether it's engineering management, or computer science, Computer Engineering, and so I'm competing with engineering when it with engineers when it comes to some of these jobs, and I want the same jobs that they have and I am capable of doing those. I just, I have the soft skills and I'm willing to learn the hard skills as well. So when I would go into these interviews, I would try to bring something that the engineers wouldn't be bringing. And that could be my personal experience, my personal personality, and then just a little bit more of the creative aspect in the business aspect opposed to just the technical side of engineering. So I tried to bring something different to the table when it came to those jobs. And they really liked that because some of these engineers, they possess the hard skills, but not the soft skills. So those are both equally as important and the hard skills can be taught. So that's kind of how I would bring it to the table. I have a willingness, willingness to learn.
Got it. So then your MasterCard internship was that last summer?
Yes, yes. That was last summer. And that was in St. Louis.
Awesome. So what are you doing now after you are graduated?
So starting in number I was actually looking for my full time job search. And I, I'd say, starting then I was trying to figure out exactly, you know, where I wanted to go where I wanted to be. But at that point, I was just kind of feeling things out and seeing what interviews I could get. So I had I had an interview with a software company in Denver, and then I had an interview with Microsoft as well. And coming from a business student at an engineering school I, I felt like people were kind of upset with how I was landing these positions and or not positions, but at least interviews and they were having a hard time getting these interviews. So I was kind of like stepping back and thinking, Okay, like, what am I doing differently and maybe I could help my friends figure out what they could be doing to make themselves more desirable or more marketable.
What were some of the things that you were doing to stand out for these, you know, to the software companies and companies like Microsoft?
Of course. Uh, so some of the things that I would kind of do to help get these interviews or get my name out there, I would contact some of the people that would come to our school or I knew recruiters for Microsoft or other companies that I wanted to work for. And I would maybe message them on LinkedIn, maybe try to email them and say, Hey, I'd like to set up a phone call and kind of discuss your professional background, I'm really interested and then maybe possible opportunities for me with the company. and nine times out of 10. People will say yes, they would love to talk about themselves talk about the company. So that's kind of how you could get your foot in the door there in making these personal connections. So that way, you can go a little bit further down.
Was there anything special that you may be sent them when you reached out like? Or maybe you just like, had a really strong LinkedIn profile or anything else that could have made you stand out besides the message that you send?
Yeah, of course. So having a strong LinkedIn profile is super important. And I did want to talk about that further down discussing how you can really brand yourself for your dream job because it's possible. Another way that I was, when I was in these interviews, I was finding a way to relate to people more on a personal level, instead of just having this conversation back and forth, maybe asking them a little bit about themselves, and you might have something in common with them. The world is pretty small. So having something in common with the person who is interviewing you can go a very long way.
Right? And then when you were doing these reach outs and interviewing, did you have any weak points that You know, or questions they asked about skills or something that you knew you were lacking? And if so, how did you kind of position that to your favor?
Yeah. So my grades, I would say, my grades were not up to par. And I knew this and I wouldn't, I'd still have my grade on my resume. But I needed to add, emphasize elaborate in other areas. And one of those areas was all my experience. And there's other ways to get all this experience, opposed to just your grades and making sure you're brand new yourself and getting your name out there. And the right way, is how you can get the experience even if your grades are not outstanding, and that that was exactly my situation. I was struggling with my grades. And I was worried that I wasn't going to get the job that I wanted. And so I really kind of worked, worked a different way to get experience.
So like on your resume, then for instance, did you just have your degree and GPA lower down or just a caddy experience higher up and was like a more elaborate section.
Actually, I had pretty much left standard on the resume up higher. But what I did was I had a very elaborate experience section as well as some of my like volunteer work and some of my other stuff, freelance stuff that I did do so. Maybe just not focusing in on your GPA and your I mean, my school is great, but my GPA was not, but my experience was what really would show.
Yeah, I feel like I I haven't even I'm just again, resume writing in general. I'm thinking I don't even I think I did have my grades and GPA on there because that was something I was proud of, but I feel geven have to have your GPA like is that like a hard requirement?
It's, honestly, it's coming down to where it's not as big of a deal. And that's what I really try to emphasize is it's not and when people are like, Oh, I'm not I didn't get an A in that class, I'm like, Okay, well, if anything, just work harder in a different area, get start a business do something else. Because if your grades are lacking, there's other ways to improve.
Got it.. And I'm curious, like, where your grade was a kind of same situation for you in high school? Or did you have like really stellar grades in high school? I don't know.
It was even worse in high school. To be honest, I did not enjoy High School at all. I don't, I don't particularly know why but I just was not interested in it. And I considered not even necessarily going the route that I went going to college. I was going to do something but I just didn't know. And the reason I really like telling kinds of story and tip is because I feel anyone's really capable of getting their name out there. If you're willing to put your mind to it. I mean, I started not knowing if College was for me and now I'm packing my bags and moving on to my dream job.
Yeah. Wow. Yeah, I know in high school I my grades weren't terrible, but they weren't that good. I did have significantly better than once I got to college.
Same.
Yeah, I did not do that great in high school. I know some other people have like the opposite story where they did really well in high school and then college. Yes. But I guess it's different for everyone. Yeah.
It is.
Yeah. So what other advice could you share, then for someone looking for a job that may be, you know, lacks and whether it's grades or some other part areas on their resume to stand out to potential employers?
So something I suggest is being present on LinkedIn and keeping it up to date and maybe posting a little bit I know, it's hard to say what am I doing that's that interesting. I don't want to post anything but even a project you're working on and try to draw into something more personable and people love that stuff on LinkedIn. So definitely being present on LinkedIn and keeping up today. And then a positive post. Another thing I suggest is creating a website. And whether you're a developer or not, I think a website is great. It's a great place to showcase all of your current projects in your creative side. Even if you're even if you really enjoy hiking or rock climbing, I think it's a really good place to show your personality because you can't really show it on your resume. can't show it on LinkedIn, but stuff like that can go a long way, especially when I'm sick when I was talking about having the soft skills and hard skills, some of those things are soft skills that aren't shown until they know a little bit more about you.
And then actually..
I have a couple more suggestions.
Yeah, go for share them. Yeah.
So one of the things I did was actually create a logo. This is kind of odd and people like why would you do that but think of yourself as A business and there are recruiters out there almost like customers, you want to get your personality and your business out there. So how are you going to do that and maybe creating like a logo with your name, you know, something that emphasis shows a little bit of your personality. You can use this on emails, you can use this on your website, you can use this on business cards, maybe you hand out. And that will really make them remember you just something different like that. And I think it's super important to when you're really good at something and you keep it to yourself. That's no good. I think you should share your knowledge with the world.
And make sure you're emphasizing your brand while you're doing this so that way people can refer to you you can share different skills through YouTube through a podcast like this through a freelance job, volunteer work and then like leadership positions. And then one other thing I really suggest is getting A professional headshot done. There's a lot of times when I've had to upload a headshot, I think I had upload one for this podcast, there's constantly you should have a good headshot done so that way people can see exactly who you are and you can post it on LinkedIn wherever you need to. So those are a couple tips I have just to make sure your brand is out there and it's penetrating and people can refer back to you and know exactly where that brand came from.
Sit tight podcast listeners, we're taking a quick break to hear a word from our sponsors.
Small businesses spend a lot of time managing logistics and trying to understand their customers. Mailparser is a leading email processing tool that makes these things a lot simpler. First, you'll forward emails to male parser manually or with custom email filters. Then Mailparser uses custom parsing rules to automatically extract the important information You need from the email, body or attachments, you can view the extracted data on your male parser dashboard or use web hooks to automatically send the data to your other business applications. Mailparser offers a suite of parsing filters that are highly flexible, and that can render custom output from almost all structured data. Whether you are capturing leads, analyzing order information, or figuring out what new features your customers want, you can do it efficiently with Mailparser. Get a free 14 day trial to see if you like it. Then 30% off the first year of service at mailparser.io/learntocodewithme.
Thinkful is a coding program that's designed to get you your dream job and tech with online programs, flexible classes and six months of support from a career coach. The perfect place to start your new career. In 2019, LinkedIn named product design one of the most promising jobs in the United States, with a median base salary of just over $121,000. This is a lucrative and in demand career. Thinkful's product design program is built to get you a job as a product designer, or your tuition back. With one on one mentorship and the support team behind you, you'll work on impressive projects to build your portfolio and prove your design abilities to future employers. What's more, this course fits around your schedule so you can get ready for your new job without having to quit your current one. 90%f course, graduates are hired as full time designers, but thanks to Thinkful's tuition reimbursement guarantee, if you don't get a job within six months of graduating, you'll get your money back. To find out more and get $500 off go to learnto codewith.me/thinkful.
The logo one is really interesting. I don't know if I ever heard of that before, obviously, Louis for business, but for your personal business, that's really that's really cool. Yeah, I would love to know, like, what are some ways that you shared your knowledge with the world like you're mentioning, like on LinkedIn posts and stuff? Like, could you give us an example or two of what you were doing?
So just by doing this podcast, that's a part of branding myself and really getting kind of my skills that I believe could be beneficial to a lot of people out there. And then on top of that, I have a lot of people who asked me for advice through school and I try to help them make sure that they can land the job they want, make sure their resume is up to par. And I really just enjoy seeing people do well and I know a lot of people don't put their head they want something really bad but they're, they just don't think they're good enough and I know they are they just need to They need to work for that. And I tried to help give them the steps in showing that they are good enough and can get the job they want. And usually, I've had pretty good luck a lot of my friends, I've helped a lot of my friends out. So that's like so rewarding.
So this summer, I believe you're starting a full time job at Microsoft. Yeah. What will you be doing there and what was the application process like for that?
So I will be working as a technical account manager. And this job position is really honing in my degree and my experience, I'll be working with Microsoft's business customers to make sure their solutions are working to their potential and the business is competent with their products. So some of their products that I could be working with to make sure that they are comfortable with his business intelligence, maybe artificial intelligence, Visual Studios, which is like their job. developer tools, which I actually used a little bit so it's really cool to be able to be on the other side helping someone with that tool. And then it's really the job is really a mix of entrepreneurial technical and personal skills combined into one making sure Microsoft customers are going to be happy and have what they need. And the interview process for this was absolutely unreal. Amazing.
I, Microsoft came to my school did a resume review, which a resume review was just to help students who needed help with the resume and maybe someone from Microsoft had some insight and could give advice. I happen to have my resume reviewed and then I got the contact of the guy who did it. And normally it was like everyone just leaves you go home. You don't get you don't get it. Interview out that you're more just getting information. And I was like, No, like, I want this guy's contact, I'm gonna try to set up a phone call with him. So I set up a phone call with him. We had a long conversation about opportunities with Microsoft, and he actually had went to my school. So we shared a lot of things in common about how we felt about our school. And so that alone went a long way.
I had my first interview, I was super nervous. And all I had to do was be myself and I was expecting this technical hard interview. No, they just wanted me to be myself. They said, We can teach you the hard skills. We want to know that you're willing to learn and willing to and have the personality to work with our customers. And I was just so ecstatic. I was like, Oh, I feel like I did something right. And then the final interview that I got to was in Texas and that was in Last Salinas and it was, it was so awesome. They put us up in a hotel for two nights and gave us a stipend to have dinner, all sorts of stuff. It just felt like I was being treated like royalty. And it felt really good. And I was like, this is a company I think I want to work for. So I got my final offer, and I am set to move to Seattle in about a month.
Wow. My next question is going to be if you're going to be moving, and I guess you're not so you're going to be moving to Seattle. That's awesome. So the guy who came to your school and did this like resume workshop kind of thing. Was he a recruiter at Microsoft? What was his role exactly.
He was not necessarily he was not a recruiter. He actually worked for Xbox as a, I believe he graduated in computer science. And so he was working for Xbox. I know he was doing management. But he kind of took this on He does this, because he, he loves the school so much. He wanted to come back and really help. And he's done a lot to help. And so he, he goes and tries to make contacts with students and kind of find the good, the ones that are really interested. So you really have to push yourself out there to let them know you are interested because that's what they're looking for. They're looking for someone with that drive. And they're not going to, they're not going to beg you to want to work there. They want someone to come up to them, call them, message them on LinkedIn and show they're so interested in it makes their job easier, honestly. So that's kind of how that happened. And when people ask me, I really like to explain like, I kind of worked hard to make sure I was known and present.
Yeah, that definitely makes sense. I feel like it's different for someone who's been in the industry working for you know, 1015 like you may have a lot of recruiters you know, metaphorically banging Your door, but when you're new, whether you're college graduate or transitioning later, you really have to like put yourself out there, as you're saying, make those contacts. Yeah, it sounds like, you know, you weren't shy about reaching out to people asking for asking for a phone call. And I imagine you, if you mean off the top of your head, like how many of these kind of phone calls were you doing? This guy like Mike from Microsoft, where you were reaching out and asking for a call.
So I just did one initial call with him kind of just getting his background on how he started there, how long he's been there. And he was more than happy to, you know, talk about his background. And then he was like, Well, let me help you. Maybe we can, I can help you push your resume through. And I was like, okay, like, that would be great. And so that's kind of how that started. And honestly, I like I just feel like reaching out and making that connection is just so vital. That's how they're going to Remember you so don't just follow, I want to say don't follow the rules kind of break the rules do something different.
And one thing that I do is that is quite different. And some people are just like, can't do it is. So for thank you for saying thank you after an interview, I was like, I need to stand out I need, I'm not just going to write a typical email and say, thank you for your time. I actually made like a card a thank you card to send them through a PDF. And so they would get that and it was it showed a little bit of my creative side of my personality. And it was honestly probably like getting a little birthday card. Like it was just as exciting for them. And I could tell they really appreciated that. And it went a long way.
Oh, do you mean like in the mail?
No. So I made like, a digital card. And then I would send it to them through email.
Gotcha. Okay, I was going to say I mean, that's like definitely unique from the standard. Thank you email, but thank you card. I think I, I've gotten thank you cards not for jobs or something, but for for other kind of business things. And I feel like getting a card in the mail is so long way. Oh my god, and you're like so surprised, like who's sending me Say what? And then you open it. It's like that person that kind of stands out in your mind forever, like, yes, that they went to that extra step to send you a thank you card for something. And even though it's just like a little card, it's nowadays because no one's sending in the mail. But the problem with that is and you need to know their mailing address.
Yeah, that's the that's the reason why I was like, well, I can't, you know, send them a physical card. So I can do this. And I think it I feel like it still made an impact because it was like a decorative, but professional. Thank you. And they probably showed their colleagues. They're like, hey, look what this interview he did for me. Did they do that for you? And..
Yeah, I know another thing I've seen and this isn't this is more in like the line of like, actually, I've seen recruiters do this But they've done things like with gifts. Uh huh. Like where they record a I don't know, like someone waving Oh no, they'll have like a sign where they'll say thank you for talking with me or whatever their name written on the sign though. Amazing. It'll be like a little image playing right? Or even a video is kind of a long way. But I've seen like for sales type of things like people will actually record like a 15 second video with your name saying like, you know, hey, Marie, thanks so much for reaching out. And you're like, oh, my goodness, this person just recorded and like, like, even though recording a 32nd video at your computer probably doesn't take that much effort. And you're doing a lot of them, but it's just yeah, it makes you stand out.
It does. It really does. Instead of just typing the traditional black and white email, it's like well, I've already seen 15 lows. So something different that was I just something so small like that will go such a long way.
Yeah, I'm curious, we're running low on time, but how many different companies were you interviewing at? While you're also like talking to Microsoft?
Um, one other company and I actually flew to Denver and I was offered with them. So it was it was kind of difficult. And I, I was job searching fairly early in November and Microsoft was on the ball about it. They got, they were so quick about things I didn't even have to stress. It was great because I was, I mean, I could have kept you know, weighton playing around but I was like this. They're quick about it. They obviously want me and I accepted in it. The whole school year or the gap, the entire school year, pretty much because it was November was just so nice, so stressful. And they sent me a care package during one of my finals week, and was like, You aren't forgotten basically. And we're so excited to have you had a blanket in it. It was just just small stuff like that can go such a long way.
Wow. I just want to add Quick caveat that I feel like the bigger the company is like the more they can do stuff like that because small startups definitely don't have like the bandwidth to like send out things because they're you know, always scrambling to get done. But that is really exciting that when companies go the extra mile like that, that's awesome. That's Yeah, that's like really, really sweet. I've heard of other companies doing stuff like similar like look, but if some especially someone's moving like for that job with Yes, and then like a nice little package or something. No, you guys because obviously moving is like a really big deal. You're moving states to go.
Oh, yeah. relocate. You're like the Midwest. Seattle. Totally different culture shock, but I'm ready for it.
Oh, yeah. It'll be it'll be really exciting, I'm sure. Awesome. Well, thank you so much Marie for coming on the show and for talking about all these things. Before we wrap up. Is there any like final piece of advice you would like to share with people that especially those that maybe are in college or are in like a similar college programme about just getting into tech.
Yeah. So use your expertise to your advantage and either create a business or help other people with your the knowledge that you have that will just, you could if you create a business, you have already put so much experience on your resume. People are so impressed with that. And then just helping people with the knowledge you have. I think it's really empowering to share some of the things that you have that maybe other people don't know how to do. And then one other thing is to always be personable and humble, especially in interviews. I think being humble and thankful. Use your please and thank yous goes a long way as well, because some people forget that and that can really irked someone in the wrong way.
Awesome. Thank you so much for sharing all this. Lastly, where can people find you online?
Yes, so I will have my LinkedIn below and then I have created a website where it shows some of my current projects. So please reach out to me, contact me if you have any questions need some help, I'd be happy to help. I'm actually working on kind of typing up a document that is almost like steps on branding yourself and getting your name out there. And then what to do. Pre interview during the interview post interview. So, I have a lot to do, but I'm really excited about it. So please reach out to me if you have any questions.
Awesome. And we'll make sure to include all that in the show notes, all the links to those resources. Thank you again for coming on.
Thank you so much, Laurence.
Thanks for tuning in today. If you're interested in becoming a tech professional like the guest on this show, there are a few things more powerful for landing a job than a standout LinkedIn profile. your LinkedIn profile can make or break your job hunt. To make sure your profile is up to speed download my free LinkedIn profile completion checklist for in specifically with technical employment in Mind, you can find it at learntocodewith.me/LinkedIn. It was great to have you with me today. Join me next week to hear from another successful techie or browse through the episode archives at learnto codewith.me/podcast. See you later.
Key Takeaways
- When you’re competing to get an internship, try and bring something to the interview that others won’t bring. That could be your personal experience, your personality, or your creativity. Consider what sets you apart from the rest.
- Soft skills are just as important, if not more important, than hard skills, especially when it comes to technical interviews.
- Hard skills can be learned, so you don’t have to check off every box on the job’s list before you go for it. Show the skills you already have plus a willingness to learn the rest, and you’ll have a great chance!
- Good personal branding and having a strong presence online, like a strong LinkedIn profile, is important. Creating your own website is great too, even if you’re not a developer. It’s a great place to showcase all of your current projects and your creative side (e.g. a website about rock climbing, art, etc. can show drive and personality).
- Grades aren’t everything. If you’re getting lower grades in a certain area, that means you could work harder in a different area or work hard to get the experience that outshines your grades. After college, you often won’t even need to worry about how to explain bad grades, since there are plenty of companies that don’t care about GPA. Instead, focus on showing them where you shine.
Links and mentions from the episode:
- Marie on LinkedIn
- Email Marie
Where to listen to the podcast
You can listen to the Learn to Code With Me podcast on the following platforms:
If you have a few extra minutes, please rate and review the show in iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show. I would really, really appreciate it!
Special thanks to this episode’s sponsors
Mailparser: Mailparser takes email data and uses parsing filters to help you understand your customers. Get a free 14-day trial and 30% off the first year at mailparser.io/learntocodewithme.
Thinkful: With online programs, flexible classes, and one-on-one mentoring, Thinkful’s Product Design program can help you land a job as a product designer. To get $500 off, go to learntocodewith.me/thinkful.