Finance in China with Arjun Katragadda

Hey guys!

Hope everyone has been having an exciting summer so far. I look forward to sharing my experiences over the next few weeks and hopefully it will provide you with a brief idea of what it might be like to work in the financial services industry, and give you an insight into the kinds of challenges and opportunities you could come across while working abroad.

A quick intro: My name is Arjun Katragadda and I am a rising junior at the Tepper School of Business. I am double majoring in Business Administration (with a concentration in Finance), and Decision Science. This summer I am interning with the Essential Finance Group in Shanghai, China. In a nutshell, the company provides services like asset management and financial planning for its clients who are looking to invest in the Asia Pacific region.

So how do you go about pursuing an internship outside the U.S.? There are quite a few placement companies that are listed on TartanTrak in the Fall, and offer internships in a wide range of sectors all around the world. After submitting my application, I had two follow-up interviews regarding my interest in the industry before I got the offer and was placed at this firm in Shanghai. I had a couple of other offers to work within the States but ultimately I decided on this one because I felt it matched my interests best after consulting with past interns, and I also couldn’t resist the opportunity to work and live in the centre of what is currently the world’s most dynamic economy.

Well that’s it for now! More updates about the city and the office environment next week…

-Arjun

Interning with Chris Conte (Week 2)

Hey! In this blog post, I’ll talk about what I have been doing during my internship at Vterative.

Play-Testing Sessions

One of the most important steps towards developing a great game is LOTS of product-testing. In the entertainment industry, this is referred to as play-testing. In addition to finding bugs, play-testing serves the purpose of redefining and fine-tuning video games. Depending on play-testers’ reactions and feedback, game designers may significantly alter gameplay and game design.

My first project as a Vteractive intern was to organize two play-testing sessions for our latest game, Questinations. Planning the sessions was relatively easy. I had to prepare a room within our office, buy drinks, prepare handouts, and provide a laptop. My boss helped me out with the first three tasks, and I made a note on my calendar reminding myself to bring my laptop. All that remained was finding play-testers.

My boss warned me that finding people willing to play-test a startup company’s game can be difficult. The task was made more difficult when I discovered that we could not bribe people with food or money, as that would likely bias their feedback. Another issue that I had to keep in mind was targeting play-testers representative of our game’s target market.

I posted a link to our play-testing sign up page on a few casual meet up groups and some local gaming-related websites including IGN and Pittsburgh LAN coalition. I also planned to give fliers to the Game Stop in Squirrel Hill. I got lucky twice.

My first stroke of luck was at Game Stop. I knew it would be against store policy for me to distribute the fliers, but I went inside anyway. After making sure it wasn’t busy, I explained the situation to the employees. They were very reasonable and agreed to help us out by distributing the fliers. Soon afterward, the Pittsburgh LAN coalition e-mailed my post to all their members, who then forwarded the relevant information to other gaming distribution lists.

Our first play-testing session was a huge success. We received tons of useful feedback for the game. After significantly updating the game, we held another play-testing session, from which we received a lot more useful feedback. All of the feedback has been documented, but updating Questinations has been put on hold while we work on a video game for our first client!

Fundraising

My first solitary project was fundraising. As most business students know, a common reason for small business failure is insufficient capital. I was assigned the important task of researching potential grants and investors for Vteractive. I started my search with key words such as “how to find funding.” Later, I searched different combinations of specific terms including: entertainment, technology, and Pittsburgh. After a few hours, I noticed decreasing returns from my searches, so I turned to some friends who closely follow entertainment technology. They directed me towards two grants, both an excellent fit for Vteractive. In the end, I compiled a list of 6 funding sources from which we could reasonably be awarded capital. I reviewed my results with Ken, who had done his own research. We had some overlap in our findings, and Ken was very pleased with the funding sources, two of which we decided to pursue.

Operations with My Le (Week 2)

Hey everyone!

I can't believe that it's already been more than a month since I've started my internship. Everything is happening so fast! Last week, DuPont hosted their annual Supply Chain Leadership Conference at the DuPont Country Club in Wilmington, DE. What this basically means is that they fly in all their OBL's (Operational Business Leaders) for a three day conference. I thought that as an intern, I was expected to blend in with the background and observe what was going on; however, reality was quite the opposite. From the very beginning of the conference, the host gave us (the interns) special recognition and had us introduce ourselves in front of all the executives. They wasted no time in putting us to work when we were chosen to present in front of the group after a brainstorming session. It was nerve-wrecking, but also a confidence booster because our ideas were well-received. At the end of each of the 3 days, there was a cocktail hour which allowed me to network with some of the most influential people at the company.

As far as work goes, I am about half way done with my main project! Which is extremely exciting, given the fact that I know my work will add value to the company. I also just started my second project last week, so I have my hands full at the moment. Sorry for the short blog, I promise next week's will be better!

- My Le

Consulting with Jamie Yieh (Week 3)

Hi again,

It’s Thursday afternoon and I am flying back from Hartford to DC to catch my connection to Pittsburgh. One thing I realized (and love) about the consulting lifestyle is that the hours are long but flexible. I work extremely hard Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday putting in 11-15 hours a day but then on Thursday, I catch a break and leave the client office around 3:30PM to fly back home. And best of all, on Friday, I make a few phone calls from the office if I need a landline for a conference call but no one will yell at me if I decide to work from the comfort of my own comfy bed. The flex-time also means that you need to be flexible in terms of being open to taking a call early in the morning or late at night. Especially if the client or team is in a different time zone, you could be accommodating their West Coast time zone and scheduling an 8PM call.

This week, I interacted pretty heavily with the client. I sent e-mails to the project’s leadership (I re-read my e-mails 1,000 times before clicking send), began speaking up on some smaller conference calls (Yes, I stuttered a lot), and sat in on a pretty intense 8-hr meeting where Aetna managers discussed the next steps that needed to be taken in order to reach their 6/30 and 8/1 milestones. Something in my understanding definitely clicked this week. Another hint about making the most out of an internship especially in consulting is to keep asking questions. Anything that relates to your industry, which is really everything, counts as a legitimate question. Aetna is a health insurance company but I can relate that to healthcare providers (hospitals, clinics, etc.) and pharmaceutical companies, both retail (CVS) and manufacturer (Pzifer). I asked things specific to what I see on a document used within my project such as “Why is the PMO focusing so much on Clinical Programs versus the other workstreams?” I also went as broad as learning the different pay structures for doctors, how to reduce the cost of maintaining linens in hospitals, and the pros/cons of an HMO plan versus a PPO plan. Anything is fair game and those you ask won’t be annoyed. They see it as a “Stump the Partner or Manager” game and want to be quizzed. But once you get all of this information, be sure to try and find a connection point between your discussion and what you are experiencing on your project! It shows that you are genuinely listening and critically thinking about their responses. Since I am helping out with both the PMO and the Clinical workstream, I was able to figure out some information gaps Clinical was experiencing and connect the gaps to those of other workstreams. Hearing certain things in one meeting could very much apply to what is being discussed in another and I was able to find these relationships and advise people on who they can get clarification from. Next week is the 6/30 milestone I mentioned earlier in this post, so it will probably be a busy time at the client office. Let’s see if I can decrease the number of times I re-read an e-mail before sending to the client…

One last thing I would like to share with you is another perk! This weekend is July 4^th so all Deloitte employees get Friday and Monday off. With this rare 4-day weekend, I decided to book a trip to Myrtle with no out-of-pocket costs to me! We have this nice policy that allows me to take weekend trips to anywhere I want and I can apply the cost of the airline ticket that I would have purchased if I decided to fly back to Pittsburgh. It’s called alternative travel and if the ticket ends up being more expensive, you simply pay the difference. So with that, have a fabulous and safe 4^th of July weekend!

-Jamie

Week 2 of Consulting with Jamie Yieh

Hi everyone,

Here’s another update! This past week I was in Hartford on Monday and Tuesday working on my project at Aetna then flew to Atlanta for the two-day Deloitte National Strategy & Operations (S&O… acronym!) training. There were about 55 other interns from all over the country attending this training. I met people from offices in Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Kansas City, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Dallas, D.C., New York, and even Houston.

Over the two days, we received coaching from 2^nd-year S&O Business Analysts (BA’s), senior managers and partners of the firm. The BA’s were once interns and so were able to relate to our experiences and provide great feedback on what it’s like to work at Deloitte. We received training on PowerPoint and Excel as well as on soft skills such as electronic etiquette and interviewing tips. Lastly, we broke up into 10 groups and worked on a strategy case, which we all presented at the end of the 2^nd day in front of a panel of senior managers and partners.

It was interesting to see the different speaking styles and analysis from all of the groups as they presented one by one, but it was nerve-racking for me to present in front of Deloitte leadership and receive feedback. We were taught how to “storyboard” our thoughts, or in other words draw out an outline of our reasoning, before finalizing an argument and putting together a slide deck. It was difficult to brainstorm that way since most of us were used to diving right into the research, but we were warned that if we did not know what to look for, we would easily waste hours of time filtering through unnecessary information. Overall, training was a great learning experience and I was excited to meet two other interns who were staffed on the same Aetna project in Hartford!

I was back in the Pittsburgh office on Friday and had a meeting with my counselor to update him on my experiences these past two weeks. I remember during my first day on the job, there was a guiding principle that everyone kept referring back to when speaking about Deloitte and consulting in general. It went something like this: “You shape your own career.” It’s short and it’s somewhat catchy but as I am progressing through my internship, the more truth I see in it. As an intern, I am given a whole lot of autonomy and independence over how much I want to do and what I want to do on the project. In just two short weeks, I have learned so much about the healthcare industry and the consulting lifestyle but it was up to me to choose my pace and show some self-initiative and intellectual curiosity to “shape my own career”. Talking to my counselor, he admitted that finding a good pace is apparently the hardest thing to do as an intern and new hire BA but he nevertheless challenged me to find that balance between wanting to learn and being a living human being who still talks to her family and has a social life.

But anyways, my goal for next week will be to interact with the client a little more (maybe even independently lead a few small meetings!) and better understand the company’s problem areas in order to receive more responsibility in the following weeks. Wish me luck!

- Jamie

BOC Intern with Niki Anand

Hi Everyone,

My name is Niki Anand and I am a rising junior majoring in Business Administration. I am currently interning for the Business Opportunities Conference through the Tepper School of Business. The Business Opportunities Conference is a student run recruiting event that allows students in various business concentrations to interact with potential employers in a formal setting. Along with the BOC, the committee also organizes other events for the recruiters and students to really benefit from the BOC.

You’re probably asking what do I actually do as the BOC intern? Well, while the majority of the committee is all over the country (and even abroad), I am coordinating critical activities that need to be accomplished before the school starts. To hold an event of this magnitude, it is important that the marketing, operations, and financial plans are all in sync. Some of the activities I get to be involved with are working with our Student Activities Office to finalize the contracts between the companies we work with. I also get to personally contact recruiters from big companies and invite them to the BOC. I work with the undergraduate business administration and the career offices on a daily basis.

Another nice thing about my internship is that I get to spend the summer in Pittsburgh! It’s been nice to explore this city when I’m not bogged down by homework and exams.

I look forward to updating you guys on the progress of this event. Be sure to check out the BOC facebook page as well (it’s a link on the side of this blog).

-Niki

Start Up Companies with Chris Conte

Hi! My name is Chris Conte, and I am a junior at the Tepper School of Business.

I am working two internships this summer, both for small companies. In this blog post, I’ll talk about how I got my internship at Vteractive, a Carnegie Mellon startup.

I first heard about the opportunity to intern for Vteractive on TartanTrak. At this point, my internship search had taken up a huge amount of time (about 10 hours/week for five weeks), and I still had no offers. To apply to intern at Vteractive, I had to submit my transcript, resume, and a cover letter. A bit more work than the average application (which literally takes a couple clicks). In order to make sure the added effort wasn’t for nothing, I read the description a few times. With each read over, I became more convinced that the opportunity was worth the time to write an application.

To start, I noticed that the internship was in Pittsburgh, which offers many advantages. First, I am familiar with the city and the people in it. Also, there is a lot of stuff I’ve been wanting to do in Pittsburgh (visit the Mattress Factory, hike in Frick Park, ride the Duquesne Incline….), and (presumably) I would have more time to do it over the summer. Then, there is the consideration of cost. Of all places to live during the summer, Pittsburgh is definitely one of the cheapest. The second thing I noticed about the internship was its broad scope. The description mentioned a handful of things, including business development, case analyses, social media marketing, and analytics. The broad scope is valuable to me, because I am still unsure about what field of business interests me most. Finally, the qualifications made my decision to write an application final. These included an “analytical mind, self-motivation, initiative, [a] can-do attitude, passion for entrepreneurial ventures, [and the] ability to ‘see the big picture.’” These qualifications made the internship seem like a perfect fit for me. Plus, the personal touch in the posting [“We are confident that experience here will open opportunities up for you – our interns have told us this in multiple occasions”] made Vteractive appear welcoming, and so I applied the same day. (The other advantage that the posting won’t mention is that an unpaid internship is less sought-after. Therefore, it is one of the best ways to gain business experience if you are not a rising senior and don’t have the greatest qualifications.)

I was happy to get an e-mail back from Kenneth Hendrata , the President of Vteractive, a few days later. We scheduled an interview at Carnegie Mellon’s Project Olympus (a building that has housed several successful CMU startups). I was pretty nervous for the interview, but I shouldn’t have been, mostly because I WAS well prepared (thanks to the Career and Professional Development Center at CMU), but also because Kenneth Hendrata was extremely kind and personable. In fact, I should mention: if interviewing with your boss –to-be, the interview can serve an added purpose of getting to know what your job environment will REALLY be like. I guess you could say the same thing for all interviews, but you can observe a lot more first-hand than from HR’s formalized description. I was really impressed with Ken. He seemed very intelligent, but not arrogant, and he had excellent communication skills. Best of all, I could tell he would support me and motivate me to work to my full potential as an important member of Vteractive.

I left the interview for a class presentation. Ken wished me luck. He told me to follow up with him over e-mail, but he didn’t formally offer me the position. I e-mailed him a week later to tell him I wanted the position and let him know when I could start. He responded that he appreciated my enthusiasm and attached an offer letter for me to sign.
I’ll let you know about how my internship has gone since then in my next blog post.

Talk to you soon.

-Chris

Operations with My Le

My name is My Le and I’m a rising senior at Tepper. I will be graduating in May of 2012 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Manufacturing Management and Consulting. I am 20 years old and am from the Bronx in New York City (yay NY! :D)

This summer, I am working at DuPont as one of their Supply Chain interns (there are only about 15 of us, and most of us are located at the Wilmington, DE site). I've been working here for about a month now, and have been enjoying it very much! Each intern is assigned to a different business; I am in the P&IP group under the ECP business. My group manufactures plastics and industrial polymers that go into various applications across all consumer, as well as commercial, products. As an intern, I have 3 mentors with whom I work very closely with. One thing I love about this internship is the access I have to my superiors. I have had lots of opportunities to sit down with each of my mentor for one-on-one sessions to learn about their role in the company, as well as the business.

I have 4 projects that are to be completed by the end of my 13 week internship. Thus far, I must say that all of the track classes that I have taken at CMU has helped prepare me for this internship. It's pretty cool that all the terms that are thrown around in the classroom (safety stock, demand planning, supply schedule planning, etc) are being used, and it's even better that I know what they mean! :) Okay, time to get back to work.

I'll write more for next week!

Consulting with Jamie Yieh

Hi everyone!
I hope this summer has been treating you well! I am very excited to be able to offer my insights this summer regarding my internship with Deloitte Consulting. Let’s do a quick introduction: My name is Jamie Yieh. I am a rising senior, proudly born and raised in Houston, TX. I am double majoring in Business Administration and Policy & Management. I am extremely grateful to have the opportunity to intern with Deloitte Consulting this summer under their Strategy & Operations (S&O) division as it will provide me (and in essence you..) a 10-week sneak peek into the mysterious life of the always traveling, never sleeping, but nevertheless accomplished consultant.
My first week at Deloitte involved an orientation day where I met both undergraduate and MBA interns from the Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Detroit, and Boston offices. Throughout the remainder of the week, we each received project assignments and on-boarding materials and were expected to meet with our counselors to talk about our summer goals.
I was staffed on the Aetna project in Hartford, CT and would be traveling there every Monday and traveling back to Pittsburgh every Thursday for the next 9 weeks. My on-boarding materials consisted of about 8 powerpoints and a document with a list of 50 or so acronyms commonly used in the healthcare/pharmaceutical industry. Decipher these: COB, MAC, DUR, MOD, PBM. Yeah, I was expected to go through these materials prior to arriving in Hartford so I would be caught up with all that has been happening at Aetna. With tons of information thrown at me all at once, I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed. I was reassured though that even senior consultants and managers feel overwhelmed when they start a new project and soon enough I would feel comfortable conversing in acronyms. I’ll let you know if this really holds true.
I arrived in Hartford on Monday morning, drove to Aetna’s office and introduced myself to the team. Immediately, I was thrown into a 4-hour conference call. I was asked to take meeting notes which would be submitted to the project management office (PMO, yes another acronym) so the notes should probably be pretty good. I’ll be honest, taking notes sounds easy but I struggled a lot trying to understand the lingo they were using. Every time I didn’t understand an acronym or action item, I added a question mark to remind myself to go back and see if I could better decipher the sentence that was said. By the end of the 4 hours, I had a good 20 question marks. I submitted it anyway to my manager and received feedback right away. He said my notes got better as It went along and that I would have another try tomorrow to reach his expectations. Yes, I was thrown into another 4 hour conference call and it was a challenge to get the meeting notes to be at what was expected from the PMO but I appreciated being thrown into a blazing fire from day 1 or else it would have taken me twice as long to understand the project’s goals and timeline.
So far, I have really enjoyed my work. It’s challenging but also exciting to see how my deliverables fit into the bigger picture of impacting Aetna’s operations. Being consumers, we never really take note of operational changes because transitions are strategically streamlined. Being behind the scenes is a big eye-opener for me and I am excited to get involved in some client interaction with Aetna next week. More updates soon!