Chengrui Wu received his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Tianjin University before moving to New York City for the master’s degree program through the Data Science Institute (DSI) at Columbia University. Today, the 2020 alumnus is a software engineer at Microsoft, a role he began in March just before the company’s employees began to work from home due to the coronavirus. Here, Wu discusses his new job as part of Microsoft’s Azure team, onboarding and working in the midst of a pandemic, and what current students should anticipate in a tightening job market. 

Congratulations! Tell us about your new job at Microsoft.

As part of Microsoft’s Azure team, I develop and deploy the network file systems for Azure and Windows. They are pretty much the same, but right now we are focused on Azure. Most of my work lately is to make sure there are no security leaks that can be exploited to crash our cloud service. I mostly use C++ for programming and algorithms play a vital role in my job, too. Most of the tools I use are internal to Microsoft.

Can you tell us about the interview process?  

I applied online and met recruiters at a Columbia career fair. They contacted me and I had two rounds of interviews; the first on campus and the second at Microsoft. The first interview was an hour, but they asked me hard questions about my school projects as well as difficult technical questions. For the second round in Seattle, I had four interviews, each lasting for an hour. The hardest part of the interview process was having to solve a coding problem on the white board, essentially how to code an algorithm.

What effect, if any, has the lockdown due to the pandemic had on your work?

I started in March and didn’t even work a full week in the Seattle office before we were told to work from home. Software engineers face a computer all day anyway, so I can work from home fairly easily. But it has been challenging. I can’t just walk up to a colleague’s desk and ask a question. The onboarding process has been harder. If I have questions, I have to book time with my superiors and colleagues. And my team has to figure out the best way to communicate and collaborate on projects and problems. I try to familiarize myself with Microsoft’s tools and figure things out by myself.  It’s been harder in that sense. But now that I’m familiar with the code and the tools, it’s similar to working in an office.

What were the highlights of your DSI experience?

As a software engineer, Algorithms for Data Science, taught by Eleni Drinea, was a very important course and a highlight. I also became the course assistant for her class during my last semester. I also enjoyed Donald Ferguson’s database course. It focused on solving real world problems, which is great training for working in industry.

What do you know now that you wished you’d known during your studies? 

The work you do for industry is nothing like doing homework for grad school. In school, each problem is clearly defined. Generally, students have a clear path to solving the problem or the project. Industry is an entirely different case because problems are not clearly defined. You must either clarify how to approach the problem with your boss or research it yourself. You have to make difficult decisions and rely on your knowledge to make those decisions.

Do you have any advice for current DSI students? 

Connect with alumni for referrals, go to all the career fairs, and get advice from DSI’s career office. Perhaps most importantly, be careful about making decisions and make them as early as possible. It helps if you make decisions at the start of the master’s program, such as what courses you want to focus on and what kind of job you want after you graduate. If you have a job in mind, you can take courses that will help you get that job. You can’t study everything—you only have a year and a half in the program—so it will help to have a focus.

Any additional advice for job-seeking students?

Don’t be in a panic and be well-prepared for job interviews. Take time now to review all the projects listed on your resume. Interviewers will ask about your school projects, so be prepared to tell a story about each one. It’s the only part of the interview you can control, so make sure you have narratives that describe the techniques and models you used in your projects. You must ace your interviews because many companies are hurting now. Many startups are failing, and even companies like Uber and Lyft and Airbnb are laying off workers. So you can’t be picky right now about jobs. Wait until next year to find your dream job. In this market, you just need a job.

— Robert Florida