On 22nd Jan’19, Lincoln University students went on a tour of the Salesforce headquarter in San Francisco led by senior software engineer Partrick Manrahoe.
Q&A WITH PATRICK MANRAHOE : Excluisve Interview By Gibu George
Welcome to our university. Please introduce yourself and tell us about your current position at Salesforce.
My name is Patrick Manrahoe. I work as a software engineer at Salesforce as a part of team called Industries. Basically, I work with financial services cloud where I play a senior role in the team. We work on software, but most of it is on the cloud. You must have noticed that my English is not perfect. Coming to the U.S. was a big part of my journey. I was born in Rwanda in Africa, moved to India for my undergraduate degree at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), then went to Europe for a while before coming to the U.S. to pursue my Masters in IT at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh. I was hired by Oracle in New York where I worked for 2 years before I joined Salesforce.
Most of my questions are from a student’s point of view. You have always been an international student, not only in the U.S. but also in India and Europe too. How was your journey with different cultures in these four continents?
That’s a very interesting question. This is something that defines who I am. Probably that’s the reason I am volunteering now. And if you saw my presentation yesterday, the first slide was a map of the world. I see the world as one, and full of opportunities. I went to India because India was doing well and I could get a better education there than in Rwanda. I was lucky to get into one of the top engineering colleges in India. It was challenging and also very different than my culture. You start to see the world in a different way, you make new friends with people you would never have thought of before. You get roommates you have nothing, even remotely, in common with. But I started looking at how all this diversity was injected in me and how it changed the way I see the world. I remember the first few weeks, I suffered a lot, and I even decided to go home. But two months later I realized that it’s a one-time opportunity. I challenged myself to get on board with everything that was offered. I started exploring everything around me and that makes me who I am now. I’m not afraid of change. I believe changes are always opportunities, especially when you are coming from the bottom.
When you started your higher education in IIT India, did you ever imagine that your education would change from electrical engineering to computer engineering? Also, do you have any future plans to shift your career again?
When I started at IIT, it was really tough due to the educational standards and cultural differences. When I started accepting the facts and evolving, it gave me insight that my life was going to be diverse. When I was studying at IIT, my professor suggested I try the field of software engineering. Once I started, I became more intrigued. I am not afraid to move around. Now I am enjoying the job I am doing. I am not sure it will be the same tomorrow and I am open to change, both in the jobs and the people I meet every day.
Tell us about Salesforce, your contribution and how Salesforce is contributing to our modern way of doing business?
Salesforce is a great company based on CRM software and cloud based services. They are leading in the market. It is connecting customers to the companies. It is a really good company to work for. They have work-life balance, you can even work from home. It has been always in the top 10 companies to work for by Forbes. My contribution is in the financial service cloud. As a software engineer, there is no better feeling than seeing your product selling in the market.
What do you think we can do to evolve and handle the constant changes in new technology, as well as become leaders in those situations?
Yesterday, a student came to me and said that he is new here and is so scared because everything looks so new. I told him that in the 1950s, if you were from a developing country, it was very difficult to adapt to the technology because there was no access to relevant materials to gain necessary knowledge. Think what we have today. I can go to Google and find all the details, like machine learning. I don’t need to wait to raise money and go to MIT or Stanford to learn it. Today you can get the same content for free. You can teach yourself. That’s what I say to my fellow students, you shouldn’t get scared, there’s plenty of opportunity for us. Because of the changes happening around you, don’t think you are behind. It’s new to everyone. It’s like catching the bus, you enter the bus from particular point. You don’t need to go to the first bus stop to catch it. This is the best time to evolve and face the changes as opportunities.
As a former international student, what advice can you give to our current students?
There are couple of things. First, there is opportunity and time to figure out what can be added to your resume that will make it stand out. Nobody reads a resume anymore, machines go through your resume and if your skills match with the requirements, it will pop up. From thousands of applications, how will your resume be different from others to give you an advantage? Through your skills, certifications, experience, internships (paid or unpaid). Don’t go only for extra money. Try to get good internships in NGOs or unpaid internships as a volunteer and you will get great references. They will support your future job search. Also, start networking and going to meetups where you will meet people in the same field of work. You might get lots of help from the people you meet through networking events. Start planning your career right now instead of waiting for the OPT period. You can’t be blind till the end. Start searching for jobs now, before it’s too late. Also, if you are concentrating only on studies and not looking for future opportunities, it will be the biggest mistake that you are making.
EVENT REVIEW BY : Yordanos Woldebirhan
Salesforce is one of the big names mentioned along with customer relationship management (crm) and cloud computing in recent days. It is a revolutionary company that changed people’s perception about software applications.
In our visit to the salesforce headquarters in san francisco, we got to witness how huge the company is indeed, the interesting working environment, and the great vibe between the people working there. We learned how the company provides all the different services related to crm, marketing, and discussed a little bit about the software, platform, and infrastructure services of the company; in a way this made us understand what the company is all about.
1. The welcoming faces and the friendly discussions we had made our visit a pleasant experience and it got us interested in the certificate training program the company has.
2. The sales force office building has a beautiful and natural themed interior design that makes the workplace relaxing and tranquil. The trail head games installed at the different screens and devices in the open spaces of the building are amazingly entertaining and drives the continuous learning of employees that engage themselves in them at break times.
3. The pleasant aesthetics and the existing trail head games i believe are one of the few things that motivate employees. They make the workplace interesting and it shows the company values.
4. Salesforce is a company with the goal and mission focused on customer success, innovation, and environmentally sustainable cloud services. It would be very meaningful to work for a successful company that adds values to people not to mention that it is named one of the best places to work for.
5. I believe the company’s success begins with the idea of making things simple when it comes to software applications by creating a platform for anyone to create their own personalized and customized results. The companies priority to customer success with quality-focused service reinforces the simple idea of becoming world’s leading company.