ECE Master’s Alumni Share Experiences and Advice

Transcript

Andrew Tie: Hi, this is Andrew with Duke ECE. Today I have the great pleasure of speaking with three recent master’s program alumni: Grant Eberle, Siyu Chen and Gary Wang. I wanted to hear about their experiences at Duke and how their graduate work prepared them to land jobs in industry. We’re really grateful they took some time to share their personal experiences. First, can we do a quick round of introductions?

Grant Eberle: My name is Grant Eberle. I graduated in May of ’23 from the Duke ECE program. I have a master’s of engineering where I was studying quantum computing and software engineering. I’m currently a quantum control software engineer at IonQ.

Siyu Chen: Hi everyone. This is Siyu. I graduated from Duke University in 2020. My program was MEng, major for computer and electrical engineering. So after graduating in 2020, I have been working for 4 1/2 years within the industry and currently I’m working for ByteDance, which is the parent company of TikTok.

Gary Wang: My name is Gary and I graduated from Duke ECE’s master’s program in 2020 with a focus on software engineering. Now I’m working as a software developer at Oracle. My team is focusing on database infrastructure.

Andrew Tie: Thanks everyone. So, let’s start our discussion with the curriculum and what you learned at Duke. What were some of your favorite or most memorable courses? Let’s start with Siyu.

Siyu Chen: Yeah, the greatest, best thing is, I will say, everyone remembered one course called 551: C++ programming. Because before I joined Duke, I had barely had programming experience. That course really built me the foundation of computer science, which paved me the road to my current situation as a software engineer in the Bay Area. 

Andrew Tie: Great! Gary, what about you?

Gary Wang: ECE 590, the one course for cybersecurity. Professor Tyler was so amazing. Sometimes it’s very interesting. We need to hack the server to find out where our homework is. Otherwise you won’t even get your homework. It’s just like you’re a PI and you need to track down the criminal. It’s very interesting.

Andrew Tie: Absolutely, sounds really engaging. Grant?

Grant Eberle: I think one of my favorite classes specifically was the quantum error correction course that’s taught by Professor Ken Brown. I thought it was really interesting. I never knew about quantum error correction until coming to Duke. It seemed like one of those cutting edge theory topics that you could only get exposed to at a place like Duke that’s so focused on researching things like quantum computing and cutting-edge technology. I also really enjoyed the business management course I took too. I thought that was a great addition. I think it’s MEng 540 with Professors Allegra and Ted. They did a great job giving a lot of the engineering students exposure to the soft skills that they’ll need to be successful in the business world. I thought that was really helpful and that’s helped me a lot in my time in the corporate world so far.

Andrew Tie: This next question is fairly open ended, but how do you think Duke helped get you to where you are today, or how did it prepare you to start your careers? Grant maybe you can start?

Grant Eberle: Yeah the two year master’s program at Duke gave me a perfect mix of the quantum, software and business skills that I needed to jump right into the industry and contribute on my first day of the job. It really gave me the perfect crash course level depth that I needed to achieve my goal, which was to basically enter into the quantum industry right out of school. I didn’t have to go through the traditional PhD track. I was able to be able to jump right in away and start making contributions and that was mostly through my coursework and also through my time spent at the Duke Quantum Center and the connections I made there.

Andrew Tie: Gary?

Gary Wang: They have the tech career fair and a lot of the recruiters from the tech companies came to campus. This Oracle offer was coming from Duke TechConnect. I talked to one of the recruiters there from Oracle at that time. One or two months later I received a follow up from the recruiter and everything got started from there.

Andrew Tie: And how about you, Siyu?

Siyu Chen: Duke has a very good career support program. Teachers and faculties will help to train us how to write a good resume and how to connect to people within industry to understand the real requirements from the outside. The program within Duke really helped me grow my computer science and computer engineering foundation to give me the good solid skills to enter the industry here.

Andrew Tie: Great thanks everyone. Now, when you think back to your time at Duke, what memories do you have outside the classroom? Gary, let’s start with you.

Gary Wang: A lot of very great memories. I always do my homework at the library. That is a really great place. I really loved it. The campus is very beautiful. I really liked the Duke Chapel. The building is so beautiful. I went to Duke Gardens also many times to chill out and hang out with my friends. I also liked to go to Wilson Gym Center a lot because I loved to play basketball and they have 3-4 courts there, it’s super great.

Andrew Tie: Siyu, what’s stuck with you all these years later?

Siyu Chen: Outside the classroom, I would say sports and exercising. Basketball is a big thing for everyone. I remember the first year, I joined the campus camp for the tickets. We lined up for a three-day long camp. That’s an impressive memory for me for sure. I’d never experienced that before.

Andrew Tie: And Grant?

Grant Eberle: Yeah, I thought my time at Duke was awesome. I really enjoyed it. I’m a big sports fan so obviously going to basketball games and lacrosse games were great. The City of Durham too is great. I was pleasantly surprised by the food scene there. I’m a huge foodie and I felt like every restaurant I tried was awesome. I had a great time going around trying new places.

Andrew Tie: That’s awesome thank you. Before we close out, do any of you have any final thoughts about the program or maybe any advice you would give to a prospective student considering the Duke ECE master’s program?

Siyu Chen: I think first choice is obvious because Duke is great. Another thing is Duke can give us a big platform, not only for course-based design or professional prospective, but also it creates a community and invites people to gather together and learn together. That’s why I wanted to come to Duke.

Gary Wang: I think this is a very great choice for everyone if you want to do software-related job or learning. This program really helped me a lot and got me equipped with many fundamental knowledges and that’s the start to my career. I really hope that this program can help many more students who are seeking a job in the tech industry.

Grant Eberle: Yeah I would say that Duke is a great choice because you’re going to be challenged and you’re going to be tested in your abilities and that’s exactly what you need to learn quickly and to really get the most out of a program like a master’s program. That’s what I felt. I came in, I did a lot of work, I learned of things and I really truly did feel prepared coming out of the program. In terms of software in general, the amount of knowledge I was exposed to and able to take in over the course of the two years was really crazy thinking back on it. Without that fast-paced challenging environment that Duke provided, I would not be where I am today and I really do feel like I’m prepared and working at a level above where I am currently.

Andrew Tie: Wonderful! Again, thank you so much to all three of you for your time. We really appreciate your insights.

Grant Eberle: Thanks.

Gary Wang: Alright thank you.

Siyu Chen: Have a good one.