Road Trip: New York City Edition

This week the Penn Engineering Online’s Career Services team had the pleasure of gatheringfor a Road Trip in New York City with forty-six online graduate students and alumni.

While the international network of students in our online master’s degree programs typically connects virtually through our digital learning platforms, we do also have occasional opportunities for students to engage with each other face-to-face. The Road Trip program was developed by our team of dedicated Career Advisors as a means to bring students together — with each other and with potential employers. Each Road Trip not only features opportunities for students to spend time with peers and classmates, but also offers a chance to visit the offices of local employers. During these site visits, participants are able to learn about available career pathways, the workplace culture and the organization’s hiring process. They also are able to meet and hear from Penn Engineering Online alumni who currently work at each company.

By hosting these Road Trips in cities where our online students live and work, we are able to bring the Penn Engineering Online community to them, which fosters a stronger student network in the region and builds bridges that support pathways for our students’ professional development. In recent years, we have hosted Road Trips in Seattle, Philadelphia, Vancouver, Boston and the Bay Area.

Meta

Thirty-three students joined our visit to Meta’s New York office, located within a former U.S. Postal Service Office that happens to be one of the city’s first landmarked buildings. Our students were hosted by three Penn alumni who facilitated the site visit:

◆ Andrew Antenberg (BSE-CIS 2024) — Software Engineer, Meta
◆ Nicholas Kuo (BSE-CIS & MSE-CIS, 2024) — Software Engineer, Meta
◆ Aiden Wu (MCIT Online 2025) — Software Engineer, Meta

Students toured various workspaces and learned about some of Meta’s employee benefits including dining options, outdoor spaces (with views of the Empire state building!) and an arcade. Participants also heard from a panel featuring six Penn alumni who now work as Meta employees. They shared insights into their recruitment and career experiences within the organization while answering questions from the audience. The visit ended with an informal networking session, giving participating students a chance to mingle with the alumni hosts.

Student & Alumni Social

Twenty-six students and alumni joined a social networking event designed to offer opportunities to connect with peers in-person, build connections, and make the most of the Road Trip experience. Participants expanded their personal and professional networks while enjoying snacks, sips and mingling in a relaxed restaurant environment. 

Zocdoc

Twenty-five students joined our visit to Zocdoc, an organization that has built an online marketplace and app to help patients find and book appointments with healthcare providers. With Zocdoc sitting at the intersection of two industries — technology and healthcare — this visit highlighted the interdisciplinary applications of our online master’s degree programs in computer science, data science and artificial intelligence. Students enjoyed an informative presentation from a recruiter about Zocdoc’s mission, goals, and business model before learning about Zocdoc’s internship program and career opportunities for recent graduates. Next they benefited from a panel of current Zocdoc employees at various levels who shared details of their career journeys with the audience. The visit concluded with an informal networking session where students had the chance to speak directly with Zocdoc recruiters and current engineers to ask questions about the organization.

These two days of connection and engagement in New York City provided immense value to everyone involved. The Penn Engineering Online team would like to thank all of the alumni and representatives from Meta and Zocdoc who extended their hospitality to our students.

We are thrilled to be able to facilitate Road Trips and provide opportunities for students to meet in person with classmates who they may have only ever connected with virtually through our Slack community, group coursework, or through peer support services (such as programming with Teaching Assistants, Academic Coaches or the MCIT Online Student Association, MOSA).

We appreciate all of the students who joined us in NYC and look forward to seeing more students on the road in the near future!