Chen Chen, a USC graduate, recently obtained an internship offer from Facebook. Congratulations!

Chen received his bachelor degree from the Beijing University of Posts and Telecoms and earned his M.S. at the University of Southern California. He focuses on computer vision research topics in  MCL.  Let us hear what he said about the internship in the coming summer.

1. How does the study in USC and MCL help you? (technically and psychologically)

First. the research studies in MCL build me a solid understanding of the techniques in my field. And I learned how to solve problems from proposals to conclusions independently. The base knowledge and skills helped my to solve new problems during interviews. In addition, MCL provided many opportunities for me to acquire a broad and general view of technologies in Computer Vision and Machine Learning. By attending group seminars and having research discussions with other students in our group, I learned many popular and interest topics and problems, which made me impressive in interviews. Finally, I got many chances in industrial projects in MCL, where I worked on cutting edge industrial technologies. The experience made me competitive for industrial jobs that need industrial job experiences other than research experiences.

2.  What makes you stand out among other candidates applying for the same position?
Since the positions I was targeting at need skills and spirits in dealing with new problems with innovations, I presented advantages over candidates that did not have relevant experiences. Besides, comparing to candidates who also have research experiences, I think our group members are quite unique and competitive in the sense of width of knowledge and skills of presentation. The strict training in MCL stands me out for the same position.

3. Do you have any suggestions to current graduate students? (e.g. interview strategy and preparation, etc.)

First, I recommend our students to build good habits in coding while implementing research ideas. Second I recommend our students to have a specific target and prepare as early as possible. Finally, I think we should broaden our view by learning different topics from other students during our research.