Lebanon Valley College issued the following announcement on Mar. 2.
The ability to program is a challenging yet invaluable skill. An invaluable skill that James Zilinski ’22 taught himself in high school.
Zilinski made the decision early on to pursue computer science in college. He greatly enjoyed programming and knew the job market for the field was promising. After learning about LVC through a friend and visiting the school, he knew it was the right place for him.
“The high job placement the College—and computer & data science majors—had impressed me,” said Zilinski, who also competes in League of Legends for LVC’s esports team. “The department also has a strong focus on internships, and that was something I thought was important for getting a job.”
Following in the footsteps of many computer & science majors, Zilinski applied for internships at large tech companies such as Amazon, Google, and Facebook. Gaining practical work experience bolsters a résumé and can result in a job offer.
Zilinski landed a summer internship with Amazon in Seattle, Wash., where he spent this past summer.
“I was assigned a project to add a piece of software to an established system that would classify data into different groups,” he said. “I had to meet deadlines for the project every two weeks and attend meetings to let supervisors know how I was progressing.”
He is thankful for the preparation his programming classes provided for this role.
“My classes improved my skill to learn things quickly,” Zilinski said. “Most of the technology I used at Amazon was new to me when I arrived, but it wasn’t difficult to pick up because of how fast-paced learning is in the classroom.”
At the end of his summer internship, Amazon offered Zilinski a full-time position in New York City after his graduation.
“I will be a software development engineer I, the entry-level position for software engineers,” Zilinski said. “My responsibilities are essentially the same as those of my internship. Although, I will likely be working on multiple large-scale projects simultaneously.
“Before my internship in Seattle, I had never lived in a city before,” Zilinski said. “It’s exciting to move to a new place. I look forward to that.”
Original source can be found here.
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