Alumni

Alumnus Encourages Students to use their Creativity

Nic Schupe
Computer Science
Class of 2002

Job Title:
Software Engineer

Company:
Google, Inc.

“I believe I was lucky enough to pick the right classes at ASU that exposed me to a variety of computer science topics that are still applicable to me today,” he said. “Getting that variety lets me create the solution that best fits Google’s needs.”

Shupe is currently working on a hiring systems project here in Phoenix that encompasses designing, implementing and supporting all of the systems that keep track of all candidates that apply to Google. “The reason why this project is unique is because we’re working on applications that help identify the right individuals, support hiring at a company that’s growing quickly and tackle a variety of concerns from search to workflow,” he said.

Shupe, who attended ASU on the prestigious President’s Scholarship, credits his undergraduate professors with taking the time to make classes interesting. “Jim Collofello’s lectures were professional and down pat to the point that it seemed as though each class was a $1000 seminar that professionals pay to go to,” he said. “The amount of preparation to get to that point of repeatability is probably second to none…he had your attention the entire time.”

When asked what advice he would give to current students, Shupe emphasized the importance of spending time on one’s resume. “Make sure that the skills you list are also written with your work experience, otherwise it looks like you are spamming your resume for keyword matches,” he said. “If your resume sounds like a job description, then make it specific enough to show where you are making an impact.”

Shupe also spoke of the benefits of undergraduates starting up their own projects as well as contributing to open source projects. “Students who have ideas to create sites need to act on them, implement them and deliver something to the public,” he said.

“My personal project, jTango (http://www.glpwd.com/jtango-web/) help solved a personal itch of mine, looking through three books in order to translate a single Japanese word,” Shupe said. “This could take up to 10 minutes depending on the complexity of the word. Now with my tool, I can do most words in less than 20 seconds, even if I don’t know the characters themselves. This project helped get my job here at Google, as it was something I could show off, and going through the process of development to deployment was invaluable.”