Hans Sung, MPS ’24, was drawn to Cornell’s Master of Professional Studies program in information science because he wanted to work with great students and learn from leading faculty at a prestigious university. An internship with Microsoft as an undergraduate in Taiwan had inspired him to pursue a career in software engineering. Information science’s MPS program helped develop Sung’s technical and teamworking skills and ready him for a successful career in industry.
What is your job currently?
I work as a software engineer at ASM, which is a semiconductor company that makes the machine for manufacturing the chips and wafers. As a software engineer at ASM, my job is to make sure the software for the machine works for our clients, which include companies like Samsung, TSMC [Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company], and Texas Instruments, and to develop new features and troubleshoot any software issues.
Did you go into the MPS program knowing that you wanted to pursue a career in software engineering?
Yes. I did an internship at Microsoft in Taiwan during my last year of undergrad. It was a one-year internship, and I worked under the Azure Cloud department to help companies, schools, and other entities transition their local IT systems to Azure’s cloud-based system. Basically, my job was to develop software applications based on Azure’s AI cloud service. After that, I knew I wanted to work as a software engineer in a big tech company in the U.S and learn more cutting-edge technology.
How did you decide on Cornell, and what did you take away from your experience in the MPS program in information science?
Cornell is a prestigious school. I wanted to go to a school with great students, great teachers, and great resources. As for Info Sci’s MPS program, there are a few big takeaways. I’m a software engineer, but I’m also interested in product management, user interface (UI)/user experience (UX) design, and data analysis. The MPS program helped bridge these interests. It also provided a lot of opportunities to meet and work with students from different backgrounds and with different interests ranging from data science and human computer interaction to more computer science-related topics. Most importantly, the MPS Project helped me with teamwork and communication skills.
How so?
[Improving teamwork and communication skills] was a huge one for me. Teamwork culture in Taiwan is very different from the U.S. In the U.S., we are trained to be confident, to ask questions, and speak up and communicate with our teammates and our stakeholders. In Taiwan, we tend to delegate tasks and work on projects individually, whereas in the U.S., teams collaborate and brainstorm at the same table to make sure everyone is on the same page, instead of just working things out by themselves. In Taiwan, we value working hard. In the U.S., it’s more about working smart.
What was your MPS project?
For the MPS project, our team worked with the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) on a data project for genomic research.
What skills did you learn during the MPS that you directly use in your job today?
Again, collaborating. It’s easy to communicate with colleagues who have the same interests and background as me. But in industry, your teams might include HCI experts, designers, data scientists, and business managers. During my time at Cornell, I met a lot of people from different backgrounds and learned to speak up, to listen, and to respect other ideas and figure out ways to combine them to meet the team’s goals. Time management, too. During the MPS, the workload is heavy, and I had to job hunt on top of that. I learned how to better balance responsibilities and work under deadline. English is a second language for me, and a lot of the collaborative teamwork and project presentations helped improve my speaking skills.
How did you land your current job?
I have a friend that worked at ASM for a year prior to me joining. He referred me. But I also knew of ASM because they attended Cornell’s career fair last year. Besides hard work, I’ve found the best strategy for finding a job is to connect with as many people as possible. Those connections might become friends or future employers, and you can learn a lot from them.
Did you lean on any of Cornell’s career resources during your time in the MPS?
The MPS program has its own career advisor, Rebecca Salk, and she helped me a lot with building soft skills for job interviews.