In this post, I will summarize some common themes I observed throughout the Villanova in the Valley Program. I had a wonderful time with awesome people and I don’t want to ever forget this trip!
- All the companies are generous with their food and drink corners. Ann explained to me that because they never want their employees to leave and can focus more on work. I agree, but I also want to look at it in a more positive way and I prefer NVIDIA’s mission of making employee’s life easy so they can come to NVIDIA and do their life’s work.
- Most women’s bathrooms that I went in are stocked with feminine products, at the minimum pads and tampons, and at most could range from hair products, lotion, and scrunchies. This shows how much companies care about women’s needs and are willing to invest in the smallest things to make them feel comfortable and respected at work.
- Moore’s Law appears every single day, especially in conversations we had with tech companies. This law states that the number of transistors on a microchip doubles every two years, so the speed and capability of computers are expected to increase every two years because of this
- Psychology can help improve leadership and management because it provides insights into human behaviors and businesses, at its core, are human enterprises. Christine Cruzvegara from Handshake, for instance, revealed to us how some psychological tricks, such as mirroring other people and understanding the basic reason why someone throws tantrum, helped her in leadership roles.
- Networking, networking, and networking. Dayna from Adobe, for instance, got his job of supporting a congress member in their election as an intern and eventually advanced way further in his political career thanks to one genuine connection that he made in his prior job.
- Be kind and have integrity. PJ from Equator Coffee was appreciated by a partner of another company that worked with him and invited him to be on their board because he always looked out for them and was the kindest guy in the room back then.
- Your career path is not going to be linear, especially if you take risks. If it is, you are not taking enough risks and you are not maximizing enough of your potential.
- Be curious about everything you do, then try your best to be an expert in what you do. That way, you will be so valuable and indispensable, which you can use to your advantage when you need to negotiate.
- Problem-solving is key because things break all the time and managing a company is partly solving random problems that rise.
Trang "Tee" Nguyen 