Jiali Duan is a PhD candidate supervised by Prof. C-.C. Jay Kuo at MCL. He interned at Amazon A9 during Summer. Here is a short interview with Jiali.

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

First, MCL helped me lay a solid foundation for research and communication. Academic and technical exchange of

ideas happen almost daily for applied scientist intern at Amazon, making it a necessity to communicate concisely and logically. Thankfully, I got trained for this aspect at MCL by sticking to weekly report and regular personal meetings. Second, the ability to prototype new ideas is intensely tested during internship. Original research here at MCL prepare us well for this aspect.

2. How was it like working at Amazon A9?

I had two internship experience at A9, a physical one in last year and a remote one this year. Generally, the physical one is much better. Last year, I was working at A9 Palo Alto. The company is located at University St, within walking distance to StandFord. Due to its location, there’re many nice restaurants and the neighborhood is very safe. The internship program was also very kind to provide free baseball/football match tickets, Santa Cruz tour and Seattle headquarter tour.

3. Do you have any suggestions for current graduate students?

I know that some companies provide more software development positions than research positions and some allow limited number of interview trials from the same person. So, be ready when you try. In terms of suggestions, be prepared for questions that reach beyond your scope of knowledge, which may require certain amount of improvision.