My Early Careers Experience

Getting involved

Before graduating from Northwestern University in 2019 with a B.A. in Cognitive Science and an M.S. in Computer Science, I began my career at Publicis Sapient (PS) as a summer intern in the Chicago office. From the start, I was impressed with the collaborative culture. Despite being a global company, it feels connected across offices and countries. This aspect of PS makes it very easy to get involved in the office and meet new people. Since the pandemic, we’ve had opportunities to attend virtual happy hours and town hall meetings. I was able to utilize these events to build new relationships with people I would have otherwise never met. Now that I’ve joined the company full-time in the Boston office, I’m a part of Boston’s Up and Up group, which brings together people who are in the early stages of their careers. It is great to be a part of an organization that is both welcoming and supportive throughout the transition from college to career; it allowed me to own my personal development while feeling supported.

The importance of a learning mindset

Embracing a learning mindset is the best way to thrive at PS. If you are open to learning new things, there is certainly an opportunity to gain vast knowledge about different ways of working, tech stacks, and businesses. I love the variety of experiences available across both industries and teams. While working on my current project, I have been able to do much more than pure software development. I’ve had the opportunity to lead the ideation, design, development, and deployment of a new experience for customers, while also refining my knowledge of React Native and GraphQL. This project has opened the door to new fields and interests for me and I’m grateful for the daily learning opportunities.

Looking to the future

In the future, I’m excited to continue delivering meaningful impact for our clients, especially once I’ll be able to do so face-to-face. As I gain more experience at PS, I hope to make an even bigger impact that continues to expand beyond software development and into broader categories of improving customer experience. I also look forward to seeing my colleagues in person again sometime soon!