Faces on Campus – Enting Wu

Faces on Campus – Enting Wu

January is a bittersweet time of year for all of us here at Northeastern University-Seattle. Although we are very excited to welcome our new students, we also have to bid a fond farewell to some familiar faces. 

Enting Wu is graduating from NU-Seattle with a Master’s in Computer Science. Enting moved to Seattle after earning her bachelor’s degree from South China University of Technology. Although she majored in architectural design, she also took some computer science classes and discovered that is where her passion lay. When she isn’t hard at work or studying, Enting enjoys hiking, swimming, sketching and traveling.
We caught up with her to learn what the future holds.

Hi, Enting! What influenced your decision to study at the Seattle campus?  

The most important factor was the location. I love Seattle, and NU-Seattle is located at the heart of South Lake Union. A lot of renowned tech companies are based here, so it makes for a fast-paced, exciting, transformative environment. I mean, the 401 building is right next door to the Amazon campus!

With so many tech giants in the area, it is really convenient for the students.

I really value the co-op program. Even before I was a student here, I knew that it was possible to have a full-time co-op while you were studying. The students who participate in these initiatives gain so much experience in the industry and have an advantage when it comes to gaining full-time employment. This really sets Northeastern University-Seattle apart from other universities!

I also appreciate the smaller class sizes. It definitely gives you more opportunity to interact with the faculty on a regular basis. I found this so beneficial, as many of the faculty here at the Seattle campus work in the local tech industry, so their insight and advice is very helpful.

What is the one thing that you have learned at Northeastern University-Seattle that has had the most effect?

The first class that I took here was Program Design Paradigms. I learned that just writing code is not enough, you also have to convey your ideas to a wider audience, write supplementary documents, and also write code quickly and efficiently. This class really helped me to understand the software development process in the “real world” and I was able to apply some of the skills I learned in this class to my internship at Amazon. I also recommend the Building Scalable Distribution Systems course, taught by Dr. Ian Gorton. The coursework really helped us to understand how the system works. We started to build our scalable distributed systems from scratch, and ultimately learned how to develop one that can process thousands of requests per second, persist in data layer with high scalability and integrated with big data analysis techniques. The class was very practical, and the course content was very similar to what I doing throughout my internship, so having those skills really benefited me, especially when it came to developing websites. Dr. Gorton really added to the course, he is very helpful and the coursework was really rich, and included a lot of interesting reading materials. Acquiring these skills has really helped me and I’m excited to utilize them in my career.

What are you going to miss most about the Seattle campus?

Time goes by very quickly. I wish that I could stay here and take more classes before I graduate! I will miss the Algorithm and Computer Network courses taught by Dr. Sun, as well as the Mobile Application course taught by Dr. Slaughter.  I will really miss the staff and faculty. They are so friendly and helpful, and have offered me some fantastic advice. When I had questions about the CPT and OPT, Laure Iwane always gave me really helpful information. Paco Mesch also gave me a lot of advice and guidance on finding the right co-op.

Of course, I will also miss my classmates. I’ve worked with many of them on group projects, and they’re all very interesting, hard-working people. Hopefully we will keep in touch!

I’ve found that I’ve really grown throughout my time here, and although I’d love to stay, I’m also excited to see what the future holds for me.

What are the next steps for you?

The first thing I’m going to do is travel around the West Coast with my parents! We’re going to check out L.A. and San Francisco, although I’m sure there will be a few more stops along the way! When I return in the New Year, I will be working as a full-time engineer at Facebook. I’m really looking forward to the next chapter!

Finally, do you have any advice for new students?

Actually, I do! First, I think it’s really important to try to secure an internship as soon as possible. Many companies tend to hire full-time employees from their pool of interns, so finding an internship is more important than ever before. Not only do you gain a wealth of industry experience, you are also in an optimal position when it comes to securing a full-time job.

I have also learned that it is very important to ask the right questions. I have completed two internships, one at Amazon and one at Facebook, and I have found that although it is good to ask questions, you should try to see if you have the answers before asking. I have frequently been able to troubleshoot and find the answer for myself, which always helps to boost my confidence.

My final piece of advice to new students is this; don’t be afraid to break out of your comfort zone!

 

Find out more about Enting Wu here.

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