Zero Experience to Telsa, Amazon, & Raytheon

Having zero experience, but needing an engineering internship for the summer, Jabin decides to ruthlessly cold call companies. He goes from stocking shelves at Target to working for Raytheon, Amazon, Tesla, Rivian, and Blue Origin!

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed are solely my guest's and my own. They do not express the views or opinions of our employers.

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Transcript

00:00.29
Jabin
All right? So yeah I learned a lot about thermal interface materials. Um stuff at that level like yeah thermal materials in in electronics applications. So even though that was like a sector I didn't really.

00:03.85
sharonpak5
Are.

00:16.88
Jabin
Care for like I didn't have much interest in I Really valued like the experience of not only leaving the house during Covid Um, but also figuring out what I didn't like um and I think it was at that point where um I really realized that internships were kind of like.

00:17.36
sharonpak5
Are yeah correct.

00:35.43
Jabin
Ah, free trial and error process like you're getting paid to figure out like or what you don't like you're learning a lot and you get to put this on your resume so that you can use it as a stepping stone for feature opportunities. Um, so I returned back to school.

00:41.40
sharonpak5
Um, ah her. Ah.

00:54.26
Jabin
Ah, 2021 that was junior year which was fully remote. Um yes, it was fully remote the entirety which was really unfortunate. Um, but lucky enough I was applying to all these different companies.

00:58.64
sharonpak5
Um, okay, still ok.

01:13.15
Jabin
Um, I also worked at the career center virtually so I was doing virtual appointments prison interviews stuff like that. Um, and I got ah I got reached out by recruiter from Raytheon um, for their Massachusetts location that was. About an hour away from a house but or manufacturing engineering internship and so I interviewed wasn't that demanding of an interview. It was more so trying to ask me about my experience and dissecting all my projects.

01:33.19
sharonpak5
Um, okay.

01:46.36
sharonpak5
Um.

01:46.67
Jabin
Um, and trying to get a glimpse of how much experience I had with certain like topics and processes. So a cost that um I started my internship that summer um of 2021 I think at this point. Yeah.

02:05.63
sharonpak5
Um.

02:06.20
Jabin
And so um, that was manufacturing engineering for um, electronic components. It was high mix high volume so is definitely higher pace than anything I've had before but there's still a really good learning experience just because I've never worked at Aerospace before. Um,, there's a lot more rules that come with that like there's a lot of red lines. Um, there's a lot of like secrecy that come with the position. Um, um, yeah, and just more stringent way more structured just because they're a legacy company. Everything's way more organized and and Streamlined. Um.

02:34.40
sharonpak5
Um, ah.

02:40.42
sharonpak5
Um, ah.

02:44.44
Jabin
But at the end of that I think actually during the internship. Um I was already proactive and I was looking at opportunities for the next summer or the upcoming winter for internships. So I spam applied like all these big companies because in my mind I was like well I'm already at Raytheon.

02:56.88
sharonpak5
Um.

03:04.80
Jabin
Might as well just go for it right? I At least have one name. Ah notable enough on my resume and so um, Tesla actually reached out at the end of my internship. Um, right when I was negotiating a return offer full-time conversion.

03:10.17
sharonpak5
Um, for sure.

03:23.56
Jabin
Um, from Raytheon so they already had given me the green light for returning full time after I would return back to school and finish my senior year. Yeah, so during that negotiation period I was actually interviewing for tesla.

03:30.35
sharonpak5
Um.

03:36.70
sharonpak5
Gotcha yeah.

03:43.40
Jabin
Um, and I got the position for a Npi manufacturing internship which at that point I was just like oh it's just gonna be manufacturing engineering. Um, but in a product new product integration.

03:43.25
sharonpak5
Um, okay.

03:51.87
sharonpak5
Um.

03:59.43
sharonpak5
Introduction or and yeah.

04:03.48
Jabin
Ah, yeah, either 1 um level so I was like oh this is cool. Um I looked over the job requirements and responsibilities with my mom who is a global program manager she works at Dell and she's like oh you're just doing my job. And I was like well she was like she is like I'm warning you. You will not have a single deliverable at the end of any day like all you'll do is just be stuck in meetings. Um, and just yeah, you're just stuck in meetings. You're a glorified messenger and.

04:35.49
sharonpak5
Are.

04:40.26
Jabin
Me being naive right? and being a little little cocky and being like well it's tesla man like I will sell my soul to get this opportunity. Um, there was a lot of back and forth bickering with my parents just because they were like well you have this really really stable job at Raytheon you know you can't deny. It's.

04:49.11
sharonpak5
Um, sure.

04:59.64
Jabin
To be really stable, especially with legacy aospace. They're like you're making decent money you're at home to you're saving money. Why not take? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you're saving money but the real cost is your mental health. So.

05:03.20
sharonpak5
Um, ah here.

05:08.26
sharonpak5
That's always the Asian parent argument. You are home. You're saving money every single time man like yeah.

05:19.45
Jabin
That's that's the hidden cost there. Um, no no that it's hidden to them or maybe they choose not to acknowledge it. But it's very blatant for us and so and so I would like it even got into arguing right? like my dad.

05:21.00
sharonpak5
Ah, it's not hidden. We just don't talk about it.

05:29.18
sharonpak5
Yeah, for sure.

05:37.90
Jabin
Doesn't really have much corporate experience at all. Actually he didn't finish college. He had like a semester left and he dropped out just because he had this business opportunity which became his restaurant business so never had any blue collar job. Um, and he didn't really understand the gravity at which like I.

05:49.38
sharonpak5
Um.

05:57.84
Jabin
Respected this like brand name you know Tesla and this opportunity so it got is really hard to try to convince them but he finally let go. He's like ah if this is really what you want we will support you um, let's do this. So.

06:01.90
sharonpak5
Um, yeah.

06:16.68
Jabin
Hard because I wasn't even living in the bay area for this position. It was like past East Bay like I'm into the San Joaquien Valley like I'm near it like Tracy so we had to find like housing through Craigslist I had to like find it like and.

06:22.39
sharonpak5
Um, this this this this.

06:33.95
Jabin
Tesla doesn't even do a good job with relocation like especially with interns. They kind of like here's a little bit of money and good luck. So that was really hard. Um, exactly exactly.

06:42.51
sharonpak5
Because they know they know that all you guys are like oh my gosh Tesla like they don't care because they're like you're gonna come regardless and if you don't come someone else will come right.

06:54.24
Jabin
Exactly we'll find a we'll find the second person we interviewed and they'll come right away. Yeah, so yeah I immediately moved. Um I think within the span of 2 days I canceled my housing I canceled and yeah I canceled my housing.

06:58.42
sharonpak5
Um, yeah.

07:11.10
Jabin
School I canceled my tuition. My um meal plan literally everything and I was literally about to withdraw from school but I didn't realize since my school is not really a co-op school like it's not branded as that they actually have a student status where they can put you on co-op.

07:25.27
sharonpak5
Um, ah.

07:30.75
Jabin
And then have you return back whenever without like you know, wiping everything out under your name within the system. You know what? I mean? Yeah yeah, Gotcha gotcha.

07:39.75
sharonpak5
Okay, yeah yeah yeah I mean ah my school also like if you leave for a year they don't do anything but if you leave for more than a year then it starts penalizing you? Yeah yeah.

07:47.69
Jabin
Yeah I think I think yeah I think it was the same thing like a year so I was put on co-op status immediately which was really awesome like the process took like literally two days and I immediately moved ah to Tracy California I had no idea what I was doing.

08:02.80
sharonpak5
This is the most chaotic story ever.

08:07.82
Jabin
Um, yeah, it's it's interesting. It's so so so interesting like I don't even know how it all turned out but that's why I kind of like to preface this as like a really long story full of luck and timing. It's literally all luck and timing. So.

08:10.24
sharonpak5
It.

08:21.34
sharonpak5
So basically you got the Tesla offer you're like I'm dropping everything I don't care what I do I'm going to Tesla now mom dad I know you don't understand but this is what I want to do like by.

08:25.62
Jabin
Um, yeah.

08:30.43
Jabin
exactly exactly exactly. exactly so I think the first day I landed in Tracy I was like it is so hot here. It is so hot I didn't expect and then I had like I think I had the weekends just to myself before I started on monday.

08:48.24
sharonpak5
Are.

08:50.34
Jabin
And I was just like driving around trying to get groceries and stuff and I was like what am I doing here like what am I supposed to do like you know what? I mean you just it's like you spawned in a new map and you're just trying to figure out your bearings. Yeah, exactly.

09:02.99
sharonpak5
Um, you like spawn in a new random location in minecraft. It's like you just dropped. Okay.

09:07.63
Jabin
Exactly survival mode literally and so um, yeah I started the job. Um I realized really off the bat that it wasn't like a main location like the building wasn't even branded. Everything was still being set up and so I was like oh this is Tesla. Oh.

09:17.69
sharonpak5
Are.

09:25.94
Jabin
This is not what I expected right? like compared to you know if there were I was in Fremont um, and so I started off the job. Um, first month I liked it. It was exciting enough second month I started to realize what my scope was I started to realize what I was.

09:32.33
sharonpak5
Um.

09:45.80
Jabin
What the position was all about third month I started to realize I didn't like it just because just because I got bored pretty easily and I think everything outside the job itself was kind of taking a toll on me mentally. Um I was getting.

09:47.96
sharonpak5
Um.

10:02.82
sharonpak5
Um, ah.

10:05.36
Jabin
A little bit homesick um, was getting really lonely just because it was a small site so there's like maybe 1 or 2 other grad interns who are way older than me had their own life. Everyone working there kind of didn't hang out after work. They were much older than me they had families attend to.

10:22.18
sharonpak5
Ah.

10:24.99
Jabin
So after work my schedule became go to the gym go get groceries come home cook dinner shower and sleep. Well okay, that wasn't no, you know what? you know what? I mean but it became really routine.

10:30.00
sharonpak5
Um, ok.

10:33.90
sharonpak5
What you get groceries every day after work. Yeah.

10:43.23
Jabin
Became really routine and it just got worse and worse. So but yeah, exactly exactly. So once the end of the third month started rolling in I told myself.

10:43.31
sharonpak5
Um, okay I'm like you're really bored huh you'd be like I'm only graing the groceries for today.

10:55.36
sharonpak5
Ah, okay.

11:02.00
Jabin
I Was like this is not what I've hand out what the opportunity penned out to be um and I think it made it much worse because I realized you kind of have this regret where you were like oh my parents told me that.

11:06.24
sharonpak5
Are.

11:21.31
sharonpak5
Is.

11:21.33
Jabin
Wasn't going to be great out here. It might not be what you imagined My mom told me that I might not I'm probably not going to like the position and you start having this self doubtub right? like why did I Even do this like I feel stupid. So exactly you yeah you have.

11:29.16
sharonpak5
Yeah, yeah, and you're not going to tell them that right? You're not going to be like Mom you are. You're like absolutely not.

11:40.79
Jabin
You have to double down you I exactly so I doubled down I actually um applied to other positions all around random positions I'm I'm talking like aerospace other Ev companies and um.

11:47.41
sharonpak5
Ah.

11:58.49
Jabin
I got a callback or an email back for an interview for Rivian this was around honest say November of that of that year and they were like yeah um, we have a spring internship for you so you can start in January and then it runs all the way until April and at this point.

11:59.89
sharonpak5
Um, ok are.

12:16.51
sharonpak5
Um.

12:17.92
Jabin
It was November and I had a seven month commitment for Tesla which would end around in April or may so it would overlap this rivianership if I took it so I was really debating I was like do I really like this position. No.

12:23.54
sharonpak5
Um, okay.

12:29.82
sharonpak5
Um, yeah.

12:37.79
Jabin
Do I see myself coming back to Tesla Maybe what is the process for transitioning to a full timer. Oh this is interesting. You actually have to interview with your team again and it's the only. It's not even a guarantee either. The only quote unquote.

12:46.90
sharonpak5
Um.

12:51.57
sharonpak5
Um, ah.

12:53.91
sharonpak5
Are.

12:57.54
Jabin
Guarantee you have is that you interview for the same exact position same exact team same exact location and from that point on I was like I'm a I don't want to do this like I don't want to do if I didn't want to do this internship as an intern I'm definitely not going to do want to do it as a full-timer right? so.

13:10.44
sharonpak5
Um, yeah, sure.

13:15.94
Jabin
Ah, got the Rivian call One of the best interview experiences I've ever had. Um, yeah, the recruiter was so personal. Um, like they even had a follow up ah call after I had like my interviews with the hiring manager and other engineering members. Um, they're like how is that like.

13:20.37
sharonpak5
Um, really.

13:33.23
sharonpak5
Um, ah.

13:34.68
Jabin
Have any questions like giving feedback stuff like that. So at that point I was already hooked because night day. The company culture was already like really prominent and I was like well if this is what the interview process is like I couldn't even imagine what it'd be like working there. So.

13:45.81
sharonpak5
Um, ah.

13:50.66
sharonpak5
Um, sure.

13:51.75
Jabin
Went through the interview process got the offer I signed it in late November I want to say um and ah I had this kind of debate. Actually yeah while I was interviewing um on whether or not I should.

13:59.26
sharonpak5
Um, okay.

14:10.69
Jabin
Even take this job if I got it so I actually consulted one of my older cousins. She's big into tech. She has a new job like every two or three years and she has an entire family and she's like at director level status now she's been the consulting program management stuff like that and she was like well.

14:13.47
sharonpak5
Are.

14:21.48
sharonpak5
Um, okay.

14:30.00
Jabin
At the end of the day you have to be selfish here. You have to act on what you think will benefit yourself. Um and also California has this nice law where it's at will employment right? You can leave without any notice. Of course it's a courtesy to give them at least two weeks um so I was like well.

14:44.18
sharonpak5
Are.

14:49.58
Jabin
I'm going to commit to this I'll be even more courteous just because I was pretty close with my manager and my team so I actually gave them a month after I signed the rivion offer I immediately told them like two days after whereas like I will start to develop this transferor of knowledge. Um.

14:56.58
sharonpak5
Are.

15:08.85
Jabin
Process so that I won't leave you guys hanging so that the next inter or whoever takes over in my projects will pick up right? where I left off right when I told him that my manager was like oh okay, give me a second he leaves the room talks to my director and then.

15:09.47
sharonpak5
Sure. Are.

15:26.43
Jabin
Ah, they were like chatting outside the meeting room. Um and they were like yeah we have to talk to HR about this because we don't know if we just follow standard procedure which is we walk you out right now just because you're a competitor you're going to a competitor.

15:31.96
sharonpak5
Um, okay.

15:46.70
Jabin
Um, there might be any yeah exactly because they've had a lot of employees go to lucid at that point and everyone was walked out immediately that day and I was just like well I'm being courteous here I'm giving you a whole week and not a whole week a whole month or at least.

15:46.16
sharonpak5
Um, ah.

15:52.54
sharonpak5
Um, gotcha.

15:59.97
sharonpak5
Um, a whole month. Yeah.

16:02.20
Jabin
Before I leave I'm giving you a whole process and making sure that everything is taken care of. It's no hard feelings here but he was pretty passive aggressive about it and that whole month I Want to say like everyone just like not shunned me but like like looked at me a little differently. Um, yeah.

16:07.30
sharonpak5
Um, yeah.

16:18.40
sharonpak5
Behold so they treated you differently and you still decided to buy a tesla.

16:23.79
Jabin
Um, but Tesla the Tesla the Tesla was a month before everything happened? Um, yeah, exactly like yeah, ah yeah.

16:29.98
sharonpak5
Um, ah okay say bought the car you're like I guess I supported it.

16:39.14
Jabin
And I knew at that point it was a really good time to buy it just because um yeah, everything just made sense in terms of I needed a car. Um, there's a discount. Um, yeah, everything just checked out really so I guess fast forward.

16:54.63
sharonpak5
Um, okay.

16:58.12
Jabin
Um, to the last day at Tesla it was actually a Friday and um I moved out of my apartment on Saturday on Sunday I flew to normal Illinois and that Monday that Monday I started my internship so it's a bit of a transition.

17:00.91
sharonpak5
Um, okay, he hope.

17:17.32
Jabin
Time literally in a weekend. So yeah, yeah.

17:18.58
sharonpak5
This is a trend with you huh or you're just like two days piece out three days other side of the country like you just like pop it back and forth I know that you are doing the same thing when you came to your current role too where you're like.

17:26.33
Jabin
Ah, yeah, yeah, exactly.

17:35.30
Jabin
Um, yeah, yeah I'm I'm used to it this point I'm yeah, it's it actually I'll talk about this in a bit but it hit me in like it finally caught up to me. Um.

17:35.42
sharonpak5
Yeah I like just graduated last week and now I'm here I'm just like what.

17:50.94
sharonpak5
Um, okay.

17:52.42
Jabin
Um, say like last summer but I guess we have to rewind um October when I was applying to other internships including Rivian um I applied to Amazon and I was actually interviewing for them too. So I actually got.

17:59.40
sharonpak5
Um, yeah, are.

18:10.83
Jabin
2 authors. Um one of them was riian and what was interesting about the offer I got from Amazon that was supposed to actually be a spring co-op I supposed to be based out of Boston exactly I was like well I even have the question should I take Rivien should I take Amazon.

18:22.53
sharonpak5
Um, okay so it's conflict right.

18:29.82
Jabin
And it's not even Amazon it's Amazon robotics which is I think like in a way even more unique so I was really struggling. Um, luckily at the last minute before I signed the Amazon offer they changed it. They were like actually this isn't for the spring this is for the summer and I was like.

18:30.50
sharonpak5
Um, yeah, are.

18:43.22
sharonpak5
Um, ah okay.

18:48.58
Jabin
Thank God that just made my life So easy right? like in the same week and a half was interviewing for these companies I had my spring and my summer covered I was covered until I had to go back to school for senior year. So I was just like okay this is great.

18:52.47
sharonpak5
Ah, yeah.

19:04.54
sharonpak5
Ah.

19:07.69
Jabin
So and then also ah it was based out of Boston too. So I had I could spend the summer at home. It was great. So ah, fast forward to my Rivian internship. Um, it was a small batch of winter interns on say like 15 kids even less.

19:12.60
sharonpak5
Are.

19:27.20
sharonpak5
Um, okay.

19:27.28
Jabin
So its really like it's a really intimate, really close kind of cohort. So I made honestly lifelong friends there we were stuck in the middle of winter in the middle of Illinois in the midwest like there's nothing to do there just snow just winds so we would hang out all the time.

19:33.27
sharonpak5
Um.

19:43.38
sharonpak5
Um, yeah.

19:45.24
Jabin
Ah, that's where I met my current roommate at blue here in Seattle and also a really good friend I met him there. Um I met a couple of great friends too that I'm still really close with right now that was manufacturing engineering in terms of the general assembly process for their.

20:04.70
sharonpak5
Are.

20:04.85
Jabin
R one t so I was on the line every day like firefighting issues. Lots of action. Lots of responsibility in terms of actual hardware because anything an operator touches to carry a piece for the truck. That's under our scope we have to design that kind of tooling and automation and and equipment so lots of troubleshooting lots of hands-on experience. Great company culture I was down to actually go there full time whether or not I wanted to live in Illinois full-time that was another question but.

20:21.64
sharonpak5
Are.

20:35.30
sharonpak5
Um.

20:38.33
sharonpak5
Ah, normal Illinois You don't want to be the only Asian person in the entire county. But.

20:39.58
Jabin
Um.

20:45.59
Jabin
It's it's so funny because there's so many ex-ats like California ex-tats that works there. Everyone was from California ah because they were always in irvine and then once this factor open they had to work there. So um, that was my honest.

20:52.68
sharonpak5
Um, yep, yep yep.

21:03.10
Jabin
Honestly, that was my dream to work in California based out of there lived there and then fly out to Illinois for you know and ad like as needed basis. That was what my manager did he literally would fly out once every like two weeks so I was pretty fine with that.

21:08.14
sharonpak5
Um.

21:12.30
sharonpak5
Um, yeah, yeah.

21:20.28
Jabin
So that insertship ended in April um I had about a month off um so I just traveled to California stay with my friends there um gone with yeah, yeah, exactly. Um.

21:33.67
sharonpak5
You're like let's drive by Rivian every day.

21:39.71
Jabin
And then my Amazon internship started so it started based like a hybrid so I could go in the office if I wanted I could stay at home if I wanted um is really chill is project engineering for robotics. Um.

21:42.56
sharonpak5
Are.

21:51.25
sharonpak5
Um, okay.

21:57.70
Jabin
Really funny because that summer is beautiful summer the office was maybe 2 years old no one was inside absolutely nobody like there was it was full of snacks full of coffee full of everything and I literally would drive in just so that I could hang out in Boston like after so I would just go in just.

22:02.72
sharonpak5
Okay.

22:17.56
Jabin
So like sit in the biggest biggest conference rooms because the conference rooms so they have glass like um walls that you could see the entire boston skyline is that awesome. Um, two weeks in three weeks in I got a call from my manager and she was like um. Getting assigned to your first project. My first major project and I was like oh what's what's this and she said well it's site based um, the other intern that I'm managing also will have their project. It's a different site. He's going to St Louis Missouri for Kansas City I forget

22:39.19
sharonpak5
Sure.

22:54.59
sharonpak5
Same thing just kidding. Yeah.

22:56.13
Jabin
Um, and you're going and you're yeah to us. It's all relative. Um and you're going to Atlanta Georgia so I was like well that sucks I had this entire plan of staying at home hanging out with friends because.

23:05.93
sharonpak5
Um, okay, um.

23:14.48
sharonpak5
Um, yeah.

23:15.30
Jabin
When you have a remote job or like hybrid job like your life after you're 9 to 5 starts immediately. You don't have to commute back. There's no transition and even on Fridays um idy chill like you have a half day kind of.

23:22.30
sharonpak5
Are.

23:30.67
sharonpak5
Um.

23:30.95
Jabin
All of those summer plans went out the door and I was actually really um, annoyed at first I was really sad just because you know it's kind of my my last summer before my um senior year. So um I traveled down.

23:41.10
sharonpak5
Um.

23:42.86
sharonpak5
Um, yeah.

23:49.00
Jabin
To Atlanta for a site visit and funny enough. My site manager there was like okay um, did you book three weeks out your flights and I was like what do you mean? isn't this just the 1 time gig like. I do like a site tour I gather all the influence I need and then work on it at home. He's like he's like no, you're staying here for the entire summer and azure take wait. What do you mean? he's like well not really like you have the option of going back home. Um.

24:10.19
sharonpak5
I.

24:23.97
Jabin
For the weekend if you want but you can also stay here if you wanted and I was just like let me milk this out. So um, every good. Yeah, exactly exactly and this this.

24:33.95
sharonpak5
Yeah, like hold up this is not a part of the contract excuse me.

24:40.46
Jabin
Because I remember on the actual internship posting it said. Ah I think like 30% travel and I was like 30% that doesn't mean anything for most interns, you won't have the luxury of traveling because you're an intern. So um.

24:52.98
sharonpak5
Um, yep, yep.

24:57.70
Jabin
Talked to my manager and she was like yeah just do whatever um, is under policy and she sent me this wiki full of everything safe to say I live for free that entire summer. So Monday morning I touched the first flight out six seven o'clock fly down to Atlanta from Boston.

25:07.86
sharonpak5
Are.

25:16.78
Jabin
By Friday afternoon I was home in Boston like I flied every single weekend. No wow no what so number 1

25:19.20
sharonpak5
Um, you flew back and forth every single weekend. You're crazy bro I would have not done that I've been like absolutely not I'm staying home likelanche has now home.

25:35.45
Jabin
And Len there's nothing to do there I stayed like different parts of Atlanta by myself like downtown like Buckhead like the nice area like literally every single week could'd be a new hotel just because I wanna try and I get everything expense paid for like I had a new car every week I had meals paid for. Go out with like our teams and every single manager would just throw out their Marriott or Hilton Diamond platinum card that would just like cling you know make a metal sound once they hit the the table just because of all the points they got from traveling. Ah.

26:11.90
sharonpak5
Um, sure.

26:14.59
Jabin
And I had great co-workers there. They put me on like specific ah car rental agencies for the most efficient and the most points I can get out of it credit cards. Um flight plans stuff like that. So I racked up so many points from different hotels stuff like that for that entire summer. Um, granted I did do work. You know it wasn't just all fun. Um I I was on site. Ah for most of the week down at Atlanta just working with our vendors making sure that the equipment was commissioned in terms of the robotics that were inside the. Ah, warehouse just because there's a lot of procurement and organization of your packages going on. Um, so that internship ended um know what? but yeah, ah.

27:01.93
sharonpak5
But that position since you're like project engineering. You're not the one who's installing the robots anymore. You're just kind of like overseeing the other people installing it right? yeah.

27:10.31
Jabin
Correct you're overseeing and if there's any technician work that needs clarification or you to take over to finish the process then you would be responsible for that. So it wasn't yeah yeah.

27:18.13
sharonpak5
Yep.

27:22.62
sharonpak5
It's really funny because I almost I got that role full time and the reason why I didn't take it is because I thought it was going to be more technical and then when I was talking to the manager about it I'm like wait you guys just hire a bunch of contractors to actually do the work and you're just overseeing the contract I'm like.

27:31.50
Jabin
Ah.

27:36.40
Jabin
Um, yeah.

27:38.67
sharonpak5
Want to do that.

27:40.72
Jabin
Um, there was it was technical in the sense that you kind of have to know the nitty-g gritty and the processes that they run through because with Amazon everything happens on a timeline. Very big time crunch. Everything is kind of layered and dependent on each other so that if.

27:45.86
sharonpak5
Um, yeah, um, yeah.

27:57.13
sharonpak5
Um, yeah, um.

27:57.40
Jabin
You have a delay. You're kind of screwing over everyone else. That's behind you. Um, they have a set go live date where all the robot or all the robots come alive and start moving around and yeah, they they have their stuff together. So in terms of technicality. Um, yeah, you have to.

28:09.10
sharonpak5
Um, yeah.

28:17.00
Jabin
Yeah, to know your stuff for sure. Um, so that was my.

28:19.80
sharonpak5
Um, ah.

28:26.19
Jabin
Eighth internship. Yeah, 3 4 5 8 Yeah, that was a last that was the last internship so I returned back to school thinking that I was set with all these experiences um is going really? well.

28:29.64
sharonpak5
Um, yep for 5 6 yeah.

28:41.45
sharonpak5
Um.

28:43.53
Jabin
Um, and then the tech bomb exploded. So and I think yeah during September or October ah mass layoffs were just hitting every single company especially Amazon especially um.

29:01.99
sharonpak5
Um, ah.

29:03.48
Jabin
All these big tech companies. You know, not so much like Apple or stuff like that just because they were already lean from the start but rivian was frozen Amazon was frozen. Um, and I was like oh damn this is not good. Um.

29:18.29
sharonpak5
Ah, yeah.

29:20.52
Jabin
Not only not only are the return offers that I was almost guaranteed um not on the table anymore. They're literally frozen like even recruiters were getting laid off um but all the tech companies that I wanted to go into if I couldn't.

29:24.92
sharonpak5
Um, yeah, um, yep.

29:40.33
Jabin
Return to the previous experienced companies. Um, they weren't hiring so I kind of went into panic mode and really sat down and really methodically went through everything that I was applying for. Um, obviously I did this with internships you know, keep a spreadsheet with all your information keep track of everything.

29:43.24
sharonpak5
Are.

29:58.25
sharonpak5
Are.

30:00.35
Jabin
Um, but I kind of took that a step further and I was like well let's really look at every single opportunity and not overlook any company just because of their size not because of their location I Just want a solid job at this point where I can have a lot of career development and.

30:19.19
Jabin
Yeah, just have it be a strong stepping stone in foundation for my first job. Ah so I got calls back from companies like Johnson Johnson Lucid um tesla funny enough. Um.

30:33.91
sharonpak5
Yeah, even though like get out of here. We don't want you no more I.

30:39.70
Jabin
Yeah, yeah, like Apple um a handful of companies. Oh Spacex was a big one too. And finally yeah, at this point I didn't even apply to blue so I had a few offers.

30:51.86
sharonpak5
Um.

30:55.62
Jabin
Um, none of them were anything that I was too excited for I mean for lucid um I would have to not I wasn't based out of their new work location in the bay area which I would have preferred I was based out of um Kafi Grande in um, not Mexico sorry Arizona.

31:06.71
sharonpak5
Are.

31:13.36
sharonpak5
Are.

31:15.53
Jabin
So I was just like yeah I don't know about that. You know the pay isn't great. Um I don't know if I believe in this company either I don't know how much runway they have left so I was kind of looking for a little bit more stability than them. Um, so my.

31:29.28
sharonpak5
Um.

31:34.66
Jabin
During my senior year while I was doing this since it was my senior year and I thought at first that I had this career stuff in the bag and my classes were very manageable. Um I was traveling So I remember one week I was just like.

31:43.52
sharonpak5
Um, yeah, um.

31:53.33
Jabin
Looks like I have a light class load next week um it doesn't look like I have too many check-ins for my senior capstone. So I'm just going to go. The prices are okay so I flew to sf and also berkeley I think like twice during school year. Um.

32:07.35
sharonpak5
Okay, guys do not do what he did his bad advice. Do not ditch class in the middle of the year to go travel like what i.

32:12.78
Jabin
So I went to work. Yeah, ah yeah, makes for yeah, um, do not do that unless you know what you're doing which at that point I can't even say 100 % of what I was doing was was under control. So um I had a conversation with my current roommate his name is abiq. Um, at that point I was crashing on his couch at Berkeley and we're talking even throughout the school year before I actually went over. Um.

32:32.73
sharonpak5
Um, keep.

32:49.23
sharonpak5
Um, yeah.

32:50.20
Jabin
He applied to blue because he's he loves aerospace um he had he was transitioning between or looking between 2 offers one of them was virgin orbit and the other one was blue so he was talking to me about the interview process.

33:00.17
sharonpak5
Are.

33:09.62
Jabin
Um, about the company and stuff like that at that point Lou started to get on my radar and I was just like I'll apply because you apply because we did ah we we did. Ah we did a similar thing with the boring company had the same exact interviewer same exact feedback both of us never got the position even though. Answered all the questions right? So there's that um and so I just applied after he got the job and um it was actually for the same department or department at which we kind of understood at that point which is valves so valves.

33:30.48
sharonpak5
Okay.

33:46.12
sharonpak5
I'm like he's not on our team though. He's not on our team right now. Oh gotcha. Ok yeah.

33:48.46
Jabin
But he's an art for valves. Yeah, so department. So I was like valve he was he was propulsion engineer for valves and mechanisms I was contracting engineer for valves and mechanisms where like there's no way it is the same team right.

34:03.85
sharonpak5
If.

34:07.35
Jabin
So I went through the interview process. Um, really liked all of my current co-workers that I work with um, no I really did I really did and um, the interview process was was pretty cool I think is like 3 rounds.

34:15.70
sharonpak5
Yeah, be very careful What you say here? just um.

34:26.47
Jabin
or 3 or 4 rounds 1 on one none. The last one was a presentation and then more one on ones. Um I really liked the presentation segment just because I got to really deep dive into all my projects and they asked actually really good questions. Um, so how thorougho.

34:36.17
sharonpak5
Are.

34:46.40
Jabin
Um I got the offer in on say April so at that point is really really late and I was starting to panic because from my first impression I was supposed to have a job coming out of.

34:54.18
sharonpak5
Um, okay.

35:03.35
Jabin
Summer internship I supposed have a job before the school year even started so that entire spring semester was really stressful in terms of imposter syndrome because I was like I'm known to be the guy with all these internships. Why don't I have a full time offer by now you know this ever exactly.

35:07.18
sharonpak5
Um.

35:16.96
sharonpak5
All my friends have one. Why don't I have 1

35:22.22
Jabin
Exactly I mean it wasn't even that because a lot of my friends were um, picking legacy aerospace which they're always hiring and also local companies which um, yeah, they're not that competitive. Um, no shame for them.

35:30.81
sharonpak5
Um, yeah.

35:39.60
Jabin
I mean they they're definitely learning a lot and they're also saving money by living the home too. So um I got the job in April. Um, yeah, there's a huge panic imposster syome like people kept on asking me like yep, what's what's the status. Update you know.

35:46.39
sharonpak5
Um.

35:58.43
Jabin
Like giving me pressure there. My parents never were giving me pressure. They always like believed in me and supported me. They're just like you know you always will be employable. We understand that the job market is just really, really bad right now. Um, so I was lucky enough to get this position. Um that I liked well enough.

36:08.56
sharonpak5
Are.

36:17.97
Jabin
Um, and thankfully one of my best friends beek. Ah, we decided to move out here together too. So it's an smooth sailing. Yeah.

36:25.88
sharonpak5
Um, yeah.

36:31.26
sharonpak5
Okay, oh that's a beautiful story I Love it. It's like has a nice happy ending. Minus you rushing out here and not having any time between graduation and starting your new job.

36:36.37
Jabin
Um, yeah, oh yeah, that too I had a whole summer plan of you know Ali saying goodbye to my friends and doing a whole like tour of Asia but you live in you learn and. I guess with those market conditions. You couldn't really complain. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

36:54.42
sharonpak5
Sure Yeah, we barely got you in I Remember our manager being like I kind of slipped this one through the cracks. You know we gave him an offer a long long time ago and so this is the last one we got and I was just like Wow This guy got super lucky because we've been on a hiring freeze too as you already know.

37:11.30
Jabin
Yeah, oh.

37:14.52
sharonpak5
Um, but ok so all that being said looking back now. Did you ever feel like burnout because I'm like you were just like full steam ahead. It sounds like the entire time you're in college. Um, and so.

37:27.49
Jabin
Um, yeah, yeah.

37:32.58
sharonpak5
Do you feel like at any point you did burn out were you just ignoring it.

37:36.71
Jabin
Um, obviously back in Tesla like it did take a mental toll. It wasn't so much like burnout like I wasn't working like 80 hours a week. It was like pretty solid, pretty normal hours. Um.

37:42.25
sharonpak5
Are. Are.

37:50.80
Jabin
More so like external factors making me like burn out in that way I mean that doesn't consider I wouldn't consider that burnout. It's just like a mental toll I Guess really burnout happens on a say like.

37:56.95
sharonpak5
Um.

38:08.78
Jabin
Middle of my Amazon internship. It wasn't because I was working so many hours at Amazon specifically it was more so I had been working for an entire year nonstop traveling balancing like all these different things.

38:09.25
sharonpak5
Are.

38:22.80
sharonpak5
Um, yeah.

38:27.38
Jabin
Um, being away from home for so long and just being in work work work mode. Um, obviously I was having a lot of fun. It was just a lot of work hard play even harder and I think that mindset.

38:30.32
sharonpak5
Um, yeah.

38:37.59
sharonpak5
Are.

38:42.60
Jabin
Got me that far but by the end of like the middle of that summer I was really like I don't have time to even process what's been happening in the past like twelve months you know what I mean so before after I ended my Amazon internship I actually took.

38:52.53
sharonpak5
Um.

38:58.10
Jabin
Cash in my pto and also they have unpaid time off which was pretty nice for intern. So I I took my last week remote remote and I flew to California to visit my friends for 1 final time before um I started school and.

39:01.48
sharonpak5
Car.

39:13.58
sharonpak5
Are.

39:16.42
Jabin
Was just like a really good reflection time after that I came back in my parents had a trip plan too. So We went on vacation like a really nice relaxing vacation. Um, and I just sat there like started journaling started trying trying to reflect on everything just because I think I got in a really unhealthy. And toxic mindset of um, thinking about what's next you know I already got like I was I would get an offer and then I'd start the internship and I'd be like Okay, what's my next internship.. What's my next goal. What should I do and.

39:46.16
sharonpak5
Um, yeah.

39:52.23
Jabin
Did not have any time or even like the capacity to process. Oh you got the job congrats like there's no time for celebration. There's no time to register anything to have that was happening in the moment and that got really really bad. So I did burn out by the middle of that summer

39:57.74
sharonpak5
Are. Are.

40:11.20
Jabin
But I had enough time to reflect and gather everything so that I was okay going back into school. Yeah.

40:11.82
sharonpak5
Um, and.

40:17.00
sharonpak5
Gotcha Ok, and so then when you're applying for all these different companies and positions while you're at your current companies and positions which is absolutely ridiculous. Ah, what do you think was the most like also being at the ah career center right? and then helping um.

40:24.28
Jabin
Um, yeah, yeah.

40:34.30
sharonpak5
But that what do you perceive to be the most important aspects on your resume that stuck out to all these different companies in terms of like formatting bullets. Whatever your information you put on there.

40:45.25
Jabin
Um, yeah, um, so I wish I could pull up my resume now because even one of our teammates actually aren't my entire team including my manager right now made fun of it on my first day I think we had lunch. And they're like pull out your resume I Want to see that thing I show you guys what have like what it looks like and they're like oh my God It was like filled like to the brim and I actually had to take stuff off that was relevant just because I think my strategy was trying to get past. Ai.

41:20.38
sharonpak5
Um.

41:21.30
Jabin
Um, and getting past you know all those queries that we're looking for Keywords That's what I was trying to do yeah exactly? Yeah yeah, exactly exactly.

41:26.87
sharonpak5
I'll grab a few later and I'll put it on my social so that you guys can view Jabin's ridiculous resume I don't even know how it looks like. So.

41:35.91
Jabin
Um, but I actually got really candid advice from a Spacex recruiter. Um and she was like I'll pass you through right now but I want to say for a feature reference take all these things off and I was just like okay I get it but she was just like this is like barely like I can't even read this.

41:48.21
sharonpak5
Take what things off.

41:56.41
Jabin
Um, like in terms of spacing in terms of spacing like it's all just text like just walls and walls of text. Um, even though like I optimize it as much as possible like with all the experience I had that looking at other people's resumes like um. I had thinned that thing out as much as possible even then like a lot of people complained and said that it was racially legible. Um, but I guess yeah, yeah, yeah, um.

42:19.90
sharonpak5
But they so gave you the job offer even though your resume was illegible.

42:29.30
Jabin
I Guess I was just giving them a hard time or harder time than they wanted you know, but I guess we're returning back to a question. The most important thing on your resume that I found was definitely deliverables. Um, and the process.

42:34.50
sharonpak5
Um, ah.

42:46.84
Jabin
Of which you describe the projects you pursue projects being your academic projects personal projects outside of those class-based ones. Um, and also the projects that you pursue at your internship. So I always started with um what the problem was um how you solved the problem. Whether that's a process whether that's a software program hardware anything you use to solve that problem and then results so any deliverables you had even with like an academic project. Did you get a good grade on it. Did you have to write a technical report. Did you have to present on it. You know what? I mean so having those. 3 cardinal ah points I mean you can split them more into detail but having those 3 points um under your projects was really really big because there are a lot of Keywords on those projects where a lot of managers were like. Oh I saw this this was Interesting. Can you tell me more about it. Um, yeah, So I think having those experiences were really important on the resume. Yeah.

43:44.84
sharonpak5
Um.

43:53.17
sharonpak5
Okay, or just put every single keyword possible on your resume I know for the best.

44:01.29
Jabin
Um, that too. Yeah, that's also a strat. It's kind of just like casting your net over everything and hoping for the best but I've seen a lot of people try that strategy out and.

44:18.20
Jabin
Even with the experience that they had They didn't get much luck just because the recruiter can kind of tell that you're not tailoring your resume to the specific position sounds like you're just spamming applications. Um, so yeah.

44:21.90
sharonpak5
Um, ok.

44:27.94
sharonpak5
Um, yep, yep.

44:35.70
Jabin
I guess another point to that is tpa doesn't matter so I'm like I'm like the number 1 in my head proponent of Gpa doesn't matter. Obviously unless it's below a 3 point out three point zero. Um, as long as is about with 3 out you don't even have to list it on there.

44:46.59
sharonpak5
Correct. Yeah.

44:54.42
Jabin
And most of the time I never had to send a transcript in I never had to prove that I had the gpa I mean I didn't lie but I never had to prove that I had that Gpa so really. Wow.

44:54.56
sharonpak5
Um, so yeah.

45:04.28
sharonpak5
I did when I got hired at my first company they required me to give them all my school information so that they could request transcripts from my university. So sometimes they check. Yeah, sometimes they don't um.

45:14.40
Jabin
Plow. Yeah.

45:18.72
sharonpak5
But yeah I'd advocate for not lying. Um, yeah.

45:22.28
Jabin
Yeah I I adate for not lying. Also if your Gpa is on the lower end. Obviously don't include it and hope for the best and hope that they don't Ask. Ah, but yeah, if it's above 3 L You can put on there. Um. I Guess the whole philosophy that I took on throughout this entire like career development throughout my college career was I'll do okay in school I'm not going to shoot for a 4.0 because that's just a lot of effort that I'd rather spend on finding a good job as long as I have the career stuff set.

45:44.60
sharonpak5
Um, yeah, yeah, definitely okay and so knowing everything that you know now if there.

45:52.57
Jabin
Ah should be fine I Just got to graduate. Yeah.

46:00.54
sharonpak5
Is there anything that you would have done differently if you're to go back to school now if you're to like go back to like freshman year Jabin right? if you go back to your old freshman yourself. What would you tell yourself now.

46:05.83
Jabin
Um, in the context career.

46:12.95
Jabin
Then.

46:18.66
sharonpak5
Knowing everything that you know.

46:21.26
Jabin
Stop being so scared like the like if you have an opportunity to stay off the path that everyone takes take it like what's the worst that can happen like I literally experience that Tesla with the worst to happen it sucks and then you leave right.

46:25.81
sharonpak5
Um.

46:36.39
sharonpak5
Um.

46:41.30
Jabin
It's not like you're binded right? that ah, by law I have to stay there right? It's just a trial and error. Obviously there's other consequences that you have to consider but um as a freshman I would tell myself to get out there more I mean my freshman year I want to say that I kind of wasted it like I was still trying to get into group things like transitioning from high school. Didn't really socialize that much. So I think 1 thing I regret was as a freshman I didn't like put myself out there more and meet new people. Turns a career wise. Um I would have probably told myself and convinced myself that um it gets better. Um.

47:00.78
sharonpak5
Um.

47:09.39
sharonpak5
Um.

47:18.96
sharonpak5
Um.

47:19.73
Jabin
Starting so there's nothing wrong with starting small I remember when I got that first internship and as getting paid minimum wage you know pennies on the dollar I don't even know if that's right, um analogy are saying but.

47:27.70
sharonpak5
Um.

47:36.23
Jabin
I had other friends who were in business that were making like double what I was making and I was like what the heck man like I'm struggling through school I'm busting my butt like doing being an engineering student and I get paid minimum wage when I do more work in them.

47:39.45
sharonpak5
Are.

47:55.57
Jabin
And I struggled with that for like the first entire summer and I was just like growing unhealthy spite against people and I realized like everyone starts at different. Um, everyone starts at different levels. Some might get luckier than you. You might get luckier than other people which I did so.

47:58.00
sharonpak5
Are.

48:09.36
sharonpak5
Um, yep.

48:14.75
Jabin
Honestly, in terms of career development and where I ended up I would not change a single thing. Um as a freshman because it all ended up where I am today. So I I don't have a regret about that. Yeah.

48:21.47
sharonpak5
Um.

48:26.64
sharonpak5
Um, awesome and do you have any words of wisdom for current college students who maybe aren't working at all the big companies right? Maybe they haven't. Had um, the same experiences. Maybe they've worked in retail or in service industry for the last couple years but now like their junior year senior they want to like break into some type of internship or whatnot. What would you tell those guys.

48:45.47
Jabin
Um, now know. And yeah, it's number 2 it's never too late. Honestly. Um, I've seen people pick up their careers after they graduate pick up their careers like senior year of college like with internships I would say start small. You can never be too humble, um, starting small will.

49:11.91
sharonpak5
Are.

49:15.63
Jabin
Almost always I want to say I learned more at my internship at my first local company than I did at Amazon honestly start small work really really hard and try to learn as much as possible. The hard way don't learn it the easy way because it won't stick that way. Um, and from there on you'll build a solid foundation and.

49:21.81
sharonpak5
Um, okay.

49:34.50
Jabin
Once you get into the smaller companies. You'll get into medium size companies and from the medium size companies you get into the big companies. It's all a stepping stone once you get into a small company. You're not going to go to a smaller company unless you you know, do it with intent. So um, it will always get better. It will.

49:42.88
sharonpak5
Um.

49:53.56
Jabin
Test you it will test your sanity for sure The job finding process is sure in mine. Um, and it might seem easy for me to say all of this but I literally went through it myself. So take it from someone who started with barely any experience and work my way up. So um.

50:13.21
Jabin
Honestly believe in the process for sure. Yeah, yes, thank you. John.

50:14.56
sharonpak5
I Love it. Thank you so much shaman. This is awesome and yeah, Hamma end it right here.