Confucius once said, “find a job you enjoy, and you’ll never work a day in your life”. While this statement may have been well and good in Ancient China, in the modern era there are so many different career paths that it can be difficult to wade through the options and settle on one that will really make you happy.

Blitz chatted to ex-UNSW student Chris Lam to find out how he scored his dream job (and how you can get yours too).

Chris Lam (Software Engineer, Google)

What did you study at university?

I studied a Bachelor of Computer Science.

Why did you choose your industry?

There was a lot of luck involved. I’d enjoyed solving problems since I was a child and had narrowly fallen short of getting into dentistry (thankfully). I followed my friends into electrical engineering and discovered that I had a talent for programming. From there, I fell in love with the structuring and organisation of thought that is the essence of the computer science degree.

How did you go about getting your job?

I went to a Google Tech Talk at their office and they mentioned that internships were available. Not really expecting anything, I gave it a shot and a few interviews later I’d landed an internship. A successful 12 weeks on the Chrome team led to a cool project I could show my friends and an offer to be a full time software engineer.

What do you enjoy most about your work?

While there are a lot of perks like the free chef-cooked lunches and games room, the best part has to be being part of the cutting edge. Google is very open internally so we get to see amazing projects others are working on long before they’re announced to the public; it’s like a form of clairvoyance.

What advice do you have for students trying to land their dream job?

Love to learn, it’s what makes you better at what you do. Don’t pass on opportunities, and understand that excelling in your field is usually a lot of work. The trick is: if you do what you love, it doesn’t feel like work.

Source:http://www.arc.unsw.edu.au/

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