Meet Katie White

Hello and welcome to Mind the Gap, a podcast that interviews and spotlights different perspectives in the world of computer science. The host for today's episode is Oreoluwa Odeyinka. They'll be interviewing Katie White, who graduated from Wellesley in 2020 with a BA in media arts and sciences and Spanish. After graduating from Wellesley, Katie secured a job with the chorea, a Boston-based software consulting company, and she is now a senior marketing associate there.

 

Oreoluwa Odeyinka:  Hi, Katie!

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Katie White: Hi Oreoluwa. 

 

Oreoluwa Odeyinka: Thank you so much for joining us today and being willing to do this podcast interview. 

 

Katie White: I'm really, really excited about it.

 

Oreoluwa Odeyinka: I'm so glad. So just so I get us started, where are you right now in the country?

 

Katie White: So, I mean, physically right now, I'm home for the holidays in San Antonio with my parents, but I right now work full time in Boston, although it's remote, my company's based in Boston. 

 

Oreoluwa Odeyinka: So nice. And just wondering, kind of, what is your background in regards to Wellesley? What did you study? Um, how does that relate to what you do right now? 

 

Katie White: Yeah. So I graduated from Wellesley in 2020. Um, so very interesting year to graduate in the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

 

But while I was there, I majored in Spanish and media arts and sciences, as the double major. Um, and then within media arts and sciences, um, for those who aren't familiar with the major it's half studio art courses, and then half, computer science. So my track within MAS really focused on the studio arts side on printmaking. And on the computer science side, um, on front end web development, UX, UI, that sort of path. So right now I'm a senior marketing associate, um, for a company called a coreo. We were a startup, um, that works in software consulting, but now we have been bought out by, uh, one of the largest it service providers in the world.

 

Um, so it is, we're now part of like their digital transformation office. So they buy a lot of startups. Like specialize in offering consulting services for, um, specific software platforms. So we specialize in service now projects, but they have like an SAP practice, a snowflake practice, etc. Um, so. I, the graphic design component of MAS is really what's most applicable day-to-day to me now, my job, uh, I do a lot of different things, but a lot of it is content writing, um, putting together a sales collateral for our sales teams, um, updating our website on WordPress.

 

So I definitely use some HTML coding in that respect, but that's the extent of my coding. 

 

Oreoluwa Odeyinka: That sounds very lovely. I'm glad that you were able to find a job that really seems to fit all the parts you like. Next thing I'm going to ask is what would you say your favorite thing about working in a field that uses your MAS degree is?

 

Katie White: Hmm. I think something that's really special to me about MAS is that it can tie into so many different things. Um, and it really teaches you, uh, framework of approaching work. What's so cool about CS, MAS, and UX is, it's always expanding what's happening in that field. And so it's never really a list of skills that you can check off.

 

You're continuously trying to stay in touch with, um, industry standards as they change and evolve. But I think that was my favorite thing about studying CS at a liberal arts institution was to get the skills and learning the framework behind like critical thinking. I think that that's such an important and universal skill to have.

 

And so that to me is like the basis of marketing. Um, I find marketing like very intuitive because to me it's a mix of like technology graphic design, and psychology of trying to understand your customer and like where you can help them. And so to me, that, that ties back to MAS, but also just the foundation of a liberal arts college.

 

Oreoluwa Odeyinka: And to kind of piggyback off of that. I want to ask, how did you, if at all find support on campus, were you able to find support for challenges? Or did you find that in the end you were unable to find a good supportive community? 

 

Katie White: Interesting. I, I think I took it class by class, at least in the CS department. My intro to Python class, I definitely struggled with, but it was shadow graded. And so I tried to take it from the stance of like, you don't have to get an A, you're not going to get an A, there's people in this class who have taken coding before, and don't try to compare yourself to them. Just try to learn whatever you can.

 

And then there were other classes where, I ended up being the TA for the class. Peer studying was a huge resource for me at Wellesley. I think studying with friends, they can explain things to you in a way that your professor may not. And sometimes it takes me, like hearing a few different explanations from different people to really pick up a topic and understand it and be able to like turn away.

 

So that's a big thing. Um, it also just needs studying more fun. And I have to be someone who really like talks through things to be able to understand them. And so like sitting in a room and just like banging out code, if it's not working, um, that's usually not how I'm going to like find the mistake and learn from it.

 

Um, and then finding mentors. So Catherine Delcort, who is at the time, I think was an associate professor in the CS department. Um, she's actually an alum of Wellesley too. She, I TA-ed for, um, her for, I think, three semesters. By the time I graduated, um, I also took her senior seminar, my senior fall semester.

 

She was a really integral part of my MAS major. Um, she was my major advisor. We just. I got to know her pretty well. And she was just very reassuring and supportive throughout my time, whether it was me struggling, academically, me struggling with balancing like extracurriculars with coursework or personal things going on.

 

She was always someone who was very supportive of saying like, you can do this, you can get through it. And she, I think just made. Made everything feel okay. Um, and the fact that she is like on a staff or like is a professor at Wellesley that felt, sometimes more reassuring than like friends telling you it's going to be okay, you know, when it's your friends telling you it's going to be okay. You're like, yes. And you're not like grading me. Um, so building relationships with professors I think is really important. And the CS department, I will say, of all the departments. I took classes in at Wellesley, um, there are some professors who are super accommodating in terms of like extending deadlines, like just wanting to work with you.

 

Um, I had friends who did, what are they called? Like individual study, independent studies. Um, like you're doing now or had started in class. Weren't doing well. And then the professor was like, okay, well, let's switch it over to an independent study. And like, take back the workload a little bit or adjust it so that this works for you.

 

I'm not saying that has been the case for everyone, but I do think that, um, the CS department was much more vocal in talking about trying to improve in those areas than the other departments I took classes in. So that was nice. But my biggest, I think the biggest ways that I could find community at Wellesley was studying with friends, either who were in my classes, or sometimes it's nice to have friends who aren't in CS at all in our, like a third party.

 

And you can just kind of commiserate with you and be like, that sounds so hard. Cause I have no clue how to code, just like my friends who were studying, um, science things. I was always like, I have never understood that I've never been good at it. And like, you are so awesome for doing that. Like I just respect you so much for it.

 

And then finding mentors, whether it's, um, recent alums, professors, people in your field of interest that you're looking to go into. Um, I think it's really nice to talk with people who have been with where you are because they faced similar challenges and can, can tell you, like, it's going to be okay if you fail a CS class. You can still have a CS major.

 

And there's a lot of lessons to be learned in that. And so don't get discouraged. Um, that was a really long long-winded answer. I don't know if that helped at all.

 

Oreoluwa Odeyinka: No, that was absolutely perfect. I answered that multi-part question that I felt that I'm frustrated throwing at you, but you answered it so well. I want to kind of circle back now from less about academics and back to your dub and just wondering, like, how would you say your job now is different from your experiences inside the classroom?

 

Katie White: Um, it's definitely more project-based. And so at Wellesley, I think it's really nice how some projects have set up in terms of like, this is how you're going to be graded. This is part of the project part B, or like a problems that you have certain questions you're answering nowadays. It's much more open ended.

 

You know, my boss does, these are our goals for this month. We need to get this many leads. We want to get this much, this amount of money in our sales pipeline. Um, and so. It's all about problem-solving and thinking like, okay, we want to get to point C what, what steps do we need to do to get there? Um, and sometimes it's your boss telling you, like, I need this done by end of day or like this I'm assigning you this project.

 

And it has very strict guidelines, but a lot of times it's very open-ended and you, you have to think about how you're going to solve the problem. So that's where I'm very grateful for the critical thinking skills that I, yeah. I fostered and like matured and grew at Wellesley. Cause I definitely feel set up for success and my boss will say like, you know, we can throw things at you and you really will run with them.

 

And so that's definitely not a skill that I had before my time at Wellesley.

 

Oreoluwa Odeyinka: Nice. Yeah. I think Wellesley teaches you to adapt. 

 

Katie White: Absolutely. I think it teaches you to like ask questions. And to be humble and to not be afraid to mess up. I think a lot of times, like the biggest lesson I've learned in starting work is like, it's not about not making mistakes because everyone is going to make mistakes in their careers.

 

I think the biggest thing is having growth mindset and. Really focusing on learning from those mistakes, because those are the most valuable work experiences I've had is when I've like really messed something up. And yeah, I just, I am really, I really admire too, like people in leadership, I used to think like, oh, You know, executives are these like very buttoned up formal people.

 

Um, and like, we have a lot of people on our executive team who are like very humble, very warm, very welcoming who owns up to mistakes when they make them who are very transparent with our team. And so that is something else that I've learned since starting working is like finding role models like that.

 

And knowing like you, you get to pick what kind of team you want to work for. Um, And that that's not something I always really considered. I Wellesley I was just like, you know, there's certain classes that I have to take and, you know, you don't really get, you can take the professors, but also there's certain limitations in that.

 

Um, and I think in joining the workforce, you have more freedom. Yeah. And picking like where you work and what's important to you in picking your job. You know, you, there are some things where like, salary for people, like at a baseline level, like really like. Makes that choice, like that makes actually for you in some sense, or like limits where you can go.

 

But beyond that, thinking about whether you want to work in an area, that's very like mission driven. Um, whether the leadership team is like very invested in mentorship. PTO, like if you can work remote, there's so many different things to consider. And so that's something that I'm definitely still learning in is like, I internalized a lot of at Wellesley of like, oh, I'm limited in certain choices.

 

Um, so entering the job market, there's a lot more, a lot more choice. Sometimes that becomes like the paradox of choice is like, I know there's so many things. I don't know what I what's most important to me, but it's an ongoing exercise.

 

Oreoluwa Odeyinka: That's so nice. This is going to be probably our last question. And just to kind of wrap it up, a lot of our listeners are students currently studying either CS or MAS and aspiring to work in the tech industry. Could you give us some advice for current  students who might be trying to get into the workforce or looking for their  first internship or just kind of a little bit lost about what their next step was going to be. 

 

Katie White: Yes. Um, you are not alone at all the tech industry. Is I think really alluring for people and also sort of mystical and that you're like, I know I want to be in it, but I don't know what that looks like. Or there's so many different types of positions. Like I don't even know where to start. I think the biggest thing is finding mentors.

 

Um, and the Wellesley network is absolutely incredible in this regard. And so I have friends who just start looking at people on LinkedIn. This can be Wellesley alums or otherwise like people who work in a certain industry or at a company that you're really interested in. Cold message. Then. Send them a request on LinkedIn and just ask like, hi, I am currently a sophomore at Wellesley college.

 

I'm studying CS and I'm really interested in learning more about your role and how you got there. Um, would you be available for like a 15 minute call at some point in the next month? Um, and just start asking people questions. Um, if you can find a mentor, this could be a professor, um, an older friend who's graduated at Wellesley.

 

I mean, anyone who you look up to that I think is the quickest way to really learn about an industry. And also it's the best way to get jobs and internships. Um, I wish that wasn't the case, but getting your foot in the door and having someone refer you at a company, skip so many steps in the recruiting process and just like really gets your resume and application to the top of the list.

 

And so I had like quite a few. Job applications where I. If I didn't know anyone, I just submitted it. Like there's been one or two times that the company has said like, oh, we have someone on our leadership team from Wellesley. Like, they're really excited about your application. Um, so, and even if it's not Wellesley, it's a seven sister school.

 

Um, the network, I mean, Wells has never, he's incredibly strong, but I don't. We talk enough about the seven sisters network and how much people value the education of a historically women's college education. Um, so my, my biggest advice is to find a mentor and don't be afraid to reach out for people and ask for help, ask questions.

 

'cause those mentors, they will be eager to talk with you to answer questions and you can tell them, like, I don't know what sort of thing I'm interested in. Um, I know I want to work in tech, but your position sounds really cool. Can you talk to me about how you got to where you are today? And do you have any advice for me?

 

Um, and then stay in touch with these people? Um, let them know what you're up to over the summer. If you're looking for a position. Just don't be afraid to network because that is the quickest and easiest way to learn about the industry to make connections. Um, and nine times out of 10 people are going to be really, really excited and honored that you messaged them and want the help of that has always been my case with people at Wellesley and it astounds me like it never ceases to.

 

Surprised me how strong, um, those networks are in our, our alum base is just so impressive and doing really cool things. So, um, they're eager to share. Share those connections with other Wellstone students. Um, but yeah, the, the mentor thing is absolutely incredible. My biggest mentor right now, didn't go to Wellesley.

 

She's just my boss. She she's our VP of marketing and she has really taken me under her wing in showing me like what's the trajectory of my career can be and giving really candid feedback about how I can grow, where I can improve. Um, those are the kinds of people that even if you go to a different company or they, they go somewhere else.

 

Like, what I've learned is a lot of people like to take their teams with them. Um, so if you can find a few different mentors and like work with them and, and really enjoy find people you really enjoy working for, um, that it makes it makes career transitions very smooth. Not that it has to be that way, but, um, I, I find that mentors are just so, so incredible. And then you get to pay it forward and hopefully mentor other people. Um, once you, once you get your fine.

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Oreoluwa Odeyinka: Thank you so much, Katie. That was such solid advice. Honestly, truly. I needed to hear that too.

 

Katie White: I hope so. I mean, it can be so intimidating because you're like, how am I just supposed to message this person? Like, why are they going to help me? Um, but people really do care. Um, and even if people, a few people don't respond to, you will get someone who eventually responds. Um, and so the biggest thing is find someone who has. You can relate to who you admire, who you respect, who you trust. Um, and then just be honest and open with them about like what you're looking for, what you need help with. The hive can be a really helpful place to find this honestly, or just the company. So that's my suggestion.

 

Oreoluwa Odeyinka: Katie, it has been absolutely lovely interviewing you. You have been so candid and just so able to convey your thoughts in a way that's like very approachable and which I found very easy to connect with. And I hope our listeners will awesome. Find very easy to connect with. I can't thank you enough for being willing to interview with me today, and it's always lovely to see your face.

 

Katie White: Thank you so much for asking. I was like so excited and eager and honored to have been asked. This is such an incredible idea, and I'm really excited to see where you guys take it. Um, and I wish that this had been around when I was a student. So I'm just so, so proud of you and an all of you, um, and wishing you a really, really happy fulfilling senior year.

 

That concludes our episode of minded. Thank you for listening and we'll see you next time. A special thank you to this episodes, guest, Katie White for chatting. This episode was edited by Annie Chu, Alexis Parker and Alexa Leung and brought to you by our executive producer, Smaranda Sandu.