From Software Engineer to Technical Product Manager at Amazon
One student, Gbenga, spent his summer in Seattle as a Product Manager – Technical intern at Amazon. Over 12 weeks, he explored customer needs, navigated technical product challenges, and developed a vision for a new generative AI tool. Having previously worked as a software engineer, the experience provided fresh perspective:
“This experience made me appreciate the unseen work that goes into the role. My plan now is to learn even more about Product Management, and hopefully work as one post-graduation or return to Software Engineering with skills that will make me successful as a Senior Engineer”
What advice would you give to new students who are preparing for internships next summer?
“Ask everyone you can for advice. Talk to 2nd years in your program, family members & friends who have worked in industry, and reach out to professionals who are working in the role that you want. About the application process specifically: assume you’ll be in it for the long haul, take breaks as and when you need them.”
Quantitative Analyst at Invesco
Another student, Soham Mall, joined the ETF portfolio management team at Invesco, where he was responsible for conducting daily research, data analysis, and programming. He worked closely with portfolio managers to streamline operations, aid in portfolio construction, and enhance investment decisions. Additionally, he completed an intern capstone project which involved developing an idea for a new ETF product, testing its performance, and presenting the findings to senior management.
What challenges did you face and how did you work through them?
“I worked on the commodities/alternative investments desk, which was a type of investment I was only somewhat familiar with prior to the internship. It was a challenge to familiarize myself with various global commodity markets (e.g. agriculture, metals, oil & gas), commodities-related financial products and derivatives, and how macroeconomic/geopolitical events affected prices. I worked through the problem by setting aside time each day to research the above topics and asked the portfolio managers to share their expertise and insights, which was incredibly helpful.”
How did your coursework or experiences at UChicago prepare you for this role?
“The role involved heavy use of Python, which I felt confident in applying after my MPCS coursework, particularly the Python programming course. Over the course of the program, I’ve also developed skills related to documenting and testing code that I used daily during the internship.”
Advancing AI Adoption at Neuberger Berman
At Neuberger Berman, a leading financial services firm, Mira Pang, worked with the Global Technology AI team to design AI-driven software tools and promote company-wide adoption.
What challenges did you face and how did you work through them?
“A key challenge was taking ownership of an end-to-end full stack project for the first time. I overcame this by seeking guidance from mentors, independently learning new tools, and applying concepts from my coursework. The platform was ultimately adopted across teams and significantly improved efficiency by reducing manual processes.”
How did your coursework or experiences at UChicago prepare you for this role?
“I’m grateful to UChicago PSD and MPCS for connecting me with this opportunity—I actually got the interview through the resume book. MPCS 51083 Cloud Computing was especially helpful, as the concepts applied directly to my work and provided a strong foundation for building scalable, reliable projects using multiple cloud services.”
Exploring Quantum-Classical Computing at Argonne National Laboratory
At Argonne National Laboratory, Kevin Dougherty served as a Research Assistant in the Mathematics and Computer Science division, working on hybrid quantum-classical systems under the direction of Ji Liu.
What was your research focused on?
“I was researching classical pre and post processing of quantum systems. In this case, the pre-processing was answering the question “How can we offload some portion of the quantum system to a classical system?” and the post-processing dealt with answering “How can we efficiently take the quantum measurements and estimate the expectation value of our initial observables?” This work was pretty directly related to my specialization in high-performance computing in the MPCS because on hybrid quantum-classical systems, the classical processing will be performed by an HPC system.”
How did your coursework or experiences at UChicago prepare you for this role?
“One of the most useful simple skills I have worked on in every class I have taken in the MPCS is maintaining a clean, organized codebase, and descriptive logs of my pushes to Github. My project this summer was on par with the largest projects I had worked on in any of my classes to date, so making sure I had left comments for myself throughout the code, and clearly explained what every helper function was doing was a simple, but crucial part of my work. Explaining our code to others and leaving comments throughout were skills we had worked on heavily in Concepts of Programming and Python Programming. Even in classes like Intro to Computer Systems and Advanced Computer Architecture where some of the projects like writing the code for an assembler or the memory system of a computer required multiple files and classes, we had to leave comments throughout so we knew what we were thinking at the time of writing the code.”
Supporting Nonprofits with Data at Los Alamos National Laboratory
Another student, Divya Makkenchery, joined Los Alamos National Laboratory as a Community Data Sprint Fellow. In this role, she cleaned datasets to prepare them for use by data scientists during a week-long initiative in which the lab partners with nonprofit organizations to answer key questions using organizational data. She also supported the scientists in their data analysis and wrote reports summarizing the findings from the initiative.
How has this internship influenced your career goals or future plans?
“During my internship, I was given multiple opportunities to attend talks and presentations by people from various parts of the lab. These experiences showed me the wide range of research being done and how computer science can contribute to many different fields. It made me more interested in research and working at a national lab in the future. I also learned that pursuing research doesn’t necessarily require a PhD, which opened up new possibilities I hadn’t considered before.”
What advice would you give to new students who are preparing for internships next summer?
“My biggest piece of advice is to start applying early. Also, it can be a great experience interning in an environment you’re not familiar with because it can lead to more opportunities to learn.”
Is there anything else you’d like to share about your experience?
“One of the best parts of my experience was my forming a connection with my mentors. They were incredibly supportive, answered my questions about different career paths, and offered guidance on how to pursue future goals both within and outside of the lab setting.”
Looking Ahead
These internships highlight the wide range of opportunities MPCS students pursue — from product management and finance to AI, high-performance computing, and research. Each experience reflects not only the program’s strong technical foundation but also the value of mentorship, persistence, and adaptability that drive our students’ success.