1. Please introduce yourself

Howdy! In the last 10 years of my life, within the fast - I mean, REALLY FAST - growing industry of IT, I have gladly taken and thankfully enjoyed chances to experience almost every single career there is in this field. From development and testing to product management and consulting, you name it. My name is Michael Suh, a 30-years-old Software Developer / Technical Project Manager (at the same time!), enjoying the current adventures and looking forward to the new ones to come.

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2. What do you hope to achieve with your career?

My ultimate goal in my career, to be honest, is not going to sound very ambitious. It is to reach a point where (1) I am valued by the company of whatever I do; (2) I am continuing to enjoy my role and work; and (3) I am paid reasonably to raise a family of my own (when I get one in the future) without difficulties financially.

Since I do not have a family that I need to support and raise yet, and that the first two points are thankfully met, I can categorize myself as quite a happy person today.

My short-term plan is to continuously develop myself in various ways to keep in line with the quick-changing trends of IT industry, so that may there be any changes to my status in the future by any means, I can be again well-valued at a company where I will be happy at. 

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3. How did you get your first internship position?

It is always not enough how much I emphasize snatching a dream job, or even just a regular paid “job”, for the first time in your career is so difficult, no matter whether it is for an internship position or for a full-time. On my first co-op term, despite facing about 50 rounds of interviews, I failed to land a job.

This taught me a big lesson, however. While experiencing so many interviews, I started to understand what interviewers want and look for in a candidate, and what my weaknesses are. So, I happily gave up in getting employed for my first co-op term, and decided to work on my weaknesses - lack of technical skills, self-confidence, and… the “guts”.

On my second co-op term, much more prepared now, I brought a more well-educated, bright and friendly, enthusiastic and professional candidate - Michael Suh, version 2.0 - to the interview table. Also, brought with me was my laptop, which carried a portfolio of my codes and a few executable applications to present my skill sets.

This preparation seemed quite effective, as it led me to my first professional internship at a company called Hewlett-Packard (Canada) Co. (also known as “HP”, famous for its computers, servers and printers) only on my second interview on that term!

 

4. Any tips for a successful job interview?

Key is “confidence”.

In an interview, you are not expected to know the perfect answers to every single, tricky (yes, we know) questions being asked. Even the interviewers at times face difficulties in answering their own interview questions, too.

At least for me, when I attend an interview to hire my people, I look for the following things: confidence, friendliness, enthusiasm, and eagerness to learn and adapt into new environment.

Interviewers, in general, are either recruiting specialists from the Human Resources (HR) department, or the manager himself of the hiring team. Goal of HR specialists is to filter you out from the huge list of applicants, by attempting to identify and determine you and your personality, and by making sure you mention the keywords the hiring manager have requested for. Hiring managers, on the other hand, will be keen to make sure you will be not only a good asset to the team skill-wise, but also a friendly, well-adapting addition to the existing team.

For this, I advise students and job-seekers to make their interview NEVER ONE-SIDED, but a bi-directional one. Job interviews are undoubtedly an opportunity for the interviewers to ask questions to interviewees to better understand their strengths and weaknesses, but can also be a situation of vice-versa at times. Feel free to ask questions in the middle of an interview. You do not need to wait for the interviewer to let you ask questions nearing the end.

Keep in mind that interviews are not only for the interviewers to interview you, but you should also use the opportunity in a way to get to know the company, the team, the role you are getting yourself into. Hiring managers will not want to trick you into a job. Hiring managers will hope that a good candidate will also feel happy and at home working with him and his team. So, don’t get all nervous, but be confident in yourself. (But, not “too” confident… eh?)

 

5. Who is your role model?

I am a believer that every person has his own pros and cons. Furthermore, I believe another person’s pros and cons are determined subjectively, based on your personal opinion. Typically, everyone has his own dream character, and if the other person has the characteristics meeting up to your dream character, you will consider such characteristics of him as his pros.

Therefore, I do not have a role model. But also, anyone can be considered as my role model on the other hand.