My 2nd interview with Vanguard

It was the earliest I had been awake in a while. In fact, I woke up before the sun did. I was supposed to be in Malvern, PA by 7:45am for my interview with Vanguard. 6am is a time that does not exist on my clock. I hopped into the shower (which I nearly fell asleep) and began to drive towards King of Prussia at 6:30. Normally, it would take 45 minutes for me to get there, but I was anticipating traffic.

It turns out there was no traffic at all, and the ride to Malvern was actually a very enjoyable one. The sun was just rising and the air was crisp, just what I needed to wake me up. Route 202 actually goes through a valley, so the trees lit up like fire as the rising sun hit the yellow and brown leaves. It was quite a sight to see.

So anyways, no traffic meant I actually got to Vanguard in 45 minutes, a whole 30 minutes before I was actually supposed to be there. After an extensive check-in process, the HR woman come in and asked for my transcript. Now, I left my transcript in my leather folder and didn't touch it until that very moment, but for some reason it was not in there. I told the lady that I did not have it but I would mail it to her later. Strike one.

7:45 am: More of my "competition" arrived. They came from all over the place, Delaware (there was a girl who was there that goes to UD, and she knows a lot of my friends...strange) Villanova, Notre Dame, UVA, even Arizona State. Vanguard flew people in from Arizona?! Man my chances are going down. Strike two.

8:30 am: Vanguard begins their presentation on the company and the Analyst/Client Engagement (ACE) program. Turns out they recruit 12 people for the program, 5 from returning internships, 3 internal hires, and then 4-5 external hires (which we all were). Great.

9am: 1st interview. I get a guy (I forget his name) from HR. I know these interviews are behavioral based, so my answers don't matter as much how I react to them and how well I bullshit the question. However for some reason, I had a lot of trouble with this interview. He was one of those strict, no joking around, "I'm gonna make you shit your pants" type of interviewers. No, I didn't shit my pants, but I'm pretty sure I didn't impress him. I don't know as much about finance about the other candidates, so I did the best I can. Strike three.

9:50am: Interview is over, I was one of the first people to finish, which is not good because well, the longer you talk to your interviewer, the more interested they are in you. I needed a break...

10:00am: 2nd interview. This time, I get a woman who is a team leader for some group in the finance department. She is much more easy-going, and a lot nicer as well. I don't know what it is, but I tend to interview better if it is a woman interviewing me. I guess I just talk better to women than men. I don't know. Anyways, I kill the interview. One of my best interviews to date (2nd to the Waddell & Reed interview).

11:00am: Interview is over. I'm the last person to finish the interview. Score one for me.

11:01am: No break time this time around. Now its time for the round-table discussion. How well can you defend your views? How well can you convince other people to see it your way? That's what they are testing with this exercise. So the group was split in half, so my round table had 5 other candidates waiting to talk about how the baby boomers were going to affect the financial services industry and how that affects Vanguard. I wait my turn, I hear what everybody else has to say. All they talk about is finance. Buy growth funds. Diversify. Annuities, pensions, 401k plans. Great. I don't know enough to talk about that stuff, so I go into a 5 minute talk about how technology plays a role in everything, including the financial services and how the baby boomers are not tech savvy and that poses a problem. I then start to tie what everybody said into my own idea. Genius (thanks Jarcy). Score another for Alan.

11:30am: Another presentation. Introduction to Vanguard, their values, stats, etc. Pretty boring if you ask me. All I could think of was lunch.

12:00pm: Lunch. Basically, lunch in an interview setting means another interview, and that's exactly what it was. Me and another candidate were seated with 2 staff members, and it felt like it was an interview. However, as the other candidate began to talk about finance and the job and work and stuff, I realize that lunch is supposed to be sort of a break from the job, and so I began to talk about leisurely stuff, such as the Eagles game (62 yd. FG ftw? wtf m8?) and I began to talk about travelling and all that good stuff. Unfortunately for me, nobody at my table watches sports. I then began to talk about my semester project in Comp Sci, and all of a sudden they become interested. Strange. Anyways, the food was really good. Stuffed chicken and rice. Yum.

1:00pm: More presentations. This time, about relationships and being able to establish a good client relationship. By far the most boring presentation of the day. That, combined with the food coma, and I was struggling to keep my eyes open.

1:30pm: Benefits presentation. This woke me up quick. Dental/health plans, year end bonus, raises. Love it. No mention of what the salary is though...

2:00pm: Old ACE program graduates and current ones come in to talk to us. They tell us what they think of it, what sucks about it, etc. When asked how good the salary is, they answered with an ambiguous "It's competitive" statement. I'll take their word for it.

2:30pm: End of the interview. We get a gift bag. In it contained a pen, t-shirt, travel mug, and business cards galore. Cool.

So overall, it was an amazing experience to be able to go to Vanguard and go through the interview process. Vanguard's "campus" (their word for office complex) is huge, and it definately seems like a nice place to work. The only thing I'm concerned about is the location. It's in the middle of nowhere, or so it seemed. I feel like the chances of me getting this job is slim, but I can only hope. We shall see in the near future.

I think I finally understand...

So what do I have to do in the next 2 weeks?
-Software engineering exam
-Cognitive Science paper
-Vanguard 2nd interview
-Computer Networks exam
-Econometrics hw
-Cognitive Science exam
-Econometrics exam
-Java Programs
-Crap for my semester project

But you know what? It doesn't matter anymore.

As I said before, I have so much to look forward to after these 2 months. What I'm going through now is nothing compared to what I will be doing later.

This past week, I had an interview with Waddell & Reed, and investment company that's hiring financial advisors. I basically owned the interview, so much so that the recruiter gave me a 2nd interview on the spot. The job actually sounded interesting too. The thought of me helping people make money while I make money myself is something I can see myself doing for a while.

I also got a 2nd interview with Vanguard, the company I interviewed for last week. I got the call from them the same day I had the interview with Waddell & Reed. They wanted me to come in this Tuesday for the whole day. Now, usually Tuesdays are one of my busiest days (next to Thursdays), and so I told her Tuesdays were not good for me. She told me to check my schedule again and give her a call back later in the day. So I check my schedule, it turns out that on this VERY Tuesday, BOTH of my morning classes are cancelled, leaving my only class at 7pm. First off, the odds of having TWO classes cancelled on the same day is highly unlikely, so is it Fate? I'd like to think so. I was meant to go to this interview, and I can only imagine it happening for my benefit, whether I get the job or I learn that I'm not cut out for it.

Oh, is it also weird that one of my classes is being cancelled because the professor has jury duty? Remember when I had jury duty and I tried to get out of it, but went anyways and only had to stay there for 2 hours? This must be another reward for going in that day...

So yeah, I have a lot to look forward to. I think financial services is where I want to be. These interviews have made me realize that what I'm doing now is not going to matter in a few years. I think I can relate to those kids who have real jobs and don't pay attention to their school work. It just won't matter in a year. All I need is the degree, whatever it takes to get it. Whether its a C or an A, we're all going to graduate with the same piece of paper. Which kind of brings me to another random subject.

Computer Science majors, we suck at networking. No, not setting up routers and hacking people's computers networking, but actually talking to people, establishing a connection within companies so they have an opportunity when they graduate. All we do is sit in front of our computers and program. That is where I think I have the advantage over all the other people in my major. They may be better programmers than I am, but I feel like I'm a lot more well-rounded. It's probably why I hate my Computer Science now. I couldn't see myself sitting in a cube by myself hacking away at a program for the rest of my life. No interaction, no socializing, no connection to the real world. I don't like it.

So, yeah my final words are: Just do what you have to do.

The worst has past and the best has yet to come

I'm a little angry at blogger right now. I wrote a blog last week but somehow it got deleted. In a fit of anger, I decided to boycott blogger for a full 7 days, but then decided that I need to speak my mind. And so here I am again, and maybe I'll touch a little bit on what I said last time.

So, as the title may suggest, my semester just about hit rock bottom last week. One hour before my group was suppose to make a presentation on our project, we met with the professor to go over some things. While meeting with him, he basically tore us a new one. Just about everything we've been doing up to that point has been wrong, and we need to approach the project in a completely new way. Wow. All that worrying, all that stress that I've been going through the first month of the semester was for NOTHING. It couldn't get any worse than that night...and luckily it hasn't.

Since then, we've picked up the pace. Our project is basically Mapquest for Newark, DE. It is going to be tough, but I feel like that meeting was for the best. My team is now focused, we know what we have to do and we are getting things done. For the first time, I don't have these dreams of not getting the project done and failing the course. I now have dreams of getting the program done, getting the praise of my professor and getting an A in the class.


Of course, there are a few things that keep me going this semester and thus caused my change in attitude. The support I've gotten from so many people is definitely the biggest factor. My parents have, to my surprise, given me more support this semester than I have ever gotten from them ever. My mom told me that my grades don't matter, that I just need to get the credits and move on. My dad told me that as long as I try my hardest, everything will turn out OK, and the grade will reflect your effort. That really means a lot to me.

My friends have also given me a lot of support, from the ones I expect it from to the ones I least expected it from. I don't think some of my friends know how much they've helped me, but its the little things that matter. I think the most important thing is that people have confidence in me, even when I don't have confidence in myself. Also, I think that my group members have confidence in me, and that is most important. My friends, my group members, they all believe that I can get through this, and it really keeps me motivated enough not to quit.

I keep thinking to myself, two months. Two more months and I'm free. My future is in two months. I'm already getting a taste for it. I've had two interviews so far (a third on Wednesday) and I'm excited. In two months, I will be able to forget all about Computer Science and do what I like to do. It's like comparative advantage, everybody does what they are good at, and everybody benefits. I'm not good at programming, so I won't do it. I'm good at helping people, so I will do that. Everybody benefits. It's great how basic microeconomics applies to everything in life.

Anyways, what was I saying? Yes, two months. In two months, I will be exchanging Christmas gifts with my closest friends. In two months, I will be planning a summer vacation with them. In two months, I will be playing basketball every Wednesday in a small gym for 2.5 hours. In two months, I will have a 12 credit semester for the spring. In two months, I may never have to program ever again. In two months, I will finally be able to relax and enjoy my last semester in college.

That's how I get by.

I'm in jail, I didn't pass go, and I don't have a get out of jail free card.

It wasn't like I didn't have any clear indications that computer science was not my major. There were hints 2 years ago that I should have dropped...the constant hours of programming, the fact that programming simply was not as intuitive to me as my peers. I thought it was just the hardships of the major...that deep down I still liked computer science and I liked to program. I used to think that people who dropped computer science were weak, they couldn't deal with the pressure of being a computer scientist and how strong I was for sticking with it. I used to think people in "bullshit" majors were just in it because it was easy. But look at them. They are happy. They don't feel the pressure and stress that I do because they enjoy what they are doing. And for that, I respect them and their choice of majors and I feel sorry for myself for ever thinking that people choose easy majors just for the sake of being "easy".

As a result of my past naiveness, I feel like I've been in prison since for the past year or so. My life sucks right now. I feel like I'm alone, with the occasional visit from a friend or two, when we go out to the bars to relax, only to return to my solitary confinement the moment I wake up the next day. That is probably the worst part of my day, waking up and thinking about what I have to do for the day. It makes me want to sleep forever. I look at the other people around me who are "free". Free of worry, free of sadness and misery, and I envy them. I just want to get out of here, I feel like I can do anything and feel completely at peace. Whether its going back to ACS to collect or live in a rural village in China picking rice all day, as long as I'm at peace. And pretty much anything other than what I'm going through now will put me at peace.

However, time is the best cure for everything, and so I know in time I will get out of this "jail" and I will live life again without as much worry. Hopefully, I get out of this "jail" unscathed and will grow stronger as a result of it.

You know what's ironic? I had this topic of being in jail before the weekend, and when I went home for this weekend I got a summons for jury service. How strange...

See you when I'm out of the slammer.

edit: This is the truth. I think that moment has already passed me by. Click me.