Exploring Your Interests: The Value of Events On and Off Campus

Have you ever wondered what career field is right for you? All of us at some point have considered our interests and how they may align with certain internships, jobs or positions in the future.  Oftentimes, the best way to identify where our interests may or may not lie is through experience.  Opportunities to get involved outside of the classroom can be our windows into different types of real world experiences.  These opportunities don’t always have to take form in a summer long internship.  Events found on Handshake like career treks and local competitions can be valuable learning experiences.

The Charlotte HACKathon hosted by Tresata was an overnight competition that sought to solve a problem presented by Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Greater Charlotte. Contestants were given a large dataset and tasked with identifying strategies or insights into how to improve matches between volunteer mentors and local students.

The competition gave contestants an opportunity to work as a group to help a local non-profit in a meaningful way as well as gain exposure into the world of Big Data analytics.  Overall, the event gave good insight into the skills and techniques used in a real-world application and allowed participants to put their own skills to the test.

These types of experiences are priceless when deciding what career field you may be interested in.  You learn what skills you want to obtain and what tasks you enjoy, as well as learning techniques for solving problems on the fly.

While you’re searching for a potential career field that might interest you, I urge you to consider events on campus or in the area that could help guide you in the future.  Investing your time in an event one afternoon can open the doors for future opportunities.   As a Davidson student, your time is valuable. Participating in and/or attending events like career treks, or the upcoming DataFest on campus, can be a quick and easy way to test your interests before taking on a summer internship in a field that you are unsure about.  Then, once an opportunity that aligns with your interests opens up, you can confidently pursue whatever comes your way.