by Tom Yu, Guest Writer
I’m originally from Taipei, Taiwan, and moved here to the states when I was in middle school. Since I’m 25 year-old, I’ve pretty much lived half of my life in Taiwan and the other half in the US, specifically Arizona. In a way, I’m used to the heat and slowness in this desert – though my goal is to move to somewhere with a bit less sun, perhaps even snow!
DELL!
DELL Headquarters
courtesy Tom Yu
I came across Dell during the ASU Company Networking Night. It was great to chat with the recruiters about my passion in technology and my background in psychology and communications. I was fortunate to interview with Bruno Sarda, Marketing Director of Global Sustainability and Operations at Dell and an Adjunct Professor at ASU. I was extremely excited during my interview as we have shared passions with technology, sustainability, and marketing. We even chatted past our allotted time about Dell’s Legacy of Good 2020 plan. Afterwards, I went on and interviewed with my current manager, Chris Landes.
The interview was more technical second time around as it was focused around analytics and digital marketing. We chatted about my experience in developing websites and SEO consulting, along with my take on marketing trends and other consulting experiences at Thunderbird. I really enjoyed the conversation with Chris and I ended up accepting the offer a few weeks later.
DELL Interns
courtesy Tom Yu
My official role this summer is Graduate Intern Sr. Advisor. Specifically, I am in the Product Group focusing on online services marketing. My role consists a lot of marketing analytics, analyzing several different databases, including sales, revenue, and website traffic. Additionally, I examine the online purchasing experience at dell.com to identify best practices and assist in global standardization and quality assurance process. By working in a global team, I have to constantly interact with people all around the world in both cross-functional and cross-cultural teams.
The intern program is great, where we often feel like there isn’t enough time for us to do everything. We have a lot of intern activities, from case competitions, design thinking workshops, to fun activities such as baseball games and top golf. Everyone I’ve met so far are extremely nice and willing to help, and the cultural at Dell is really flexible and lay back. It’s great to be able to work in a diverse company and interact freely with people from all different seniorities and functions.
DELL Summer Interns
courtesy Tom Yu
What surprised me the most is the company culture at Dell. My perception of Dell before this summer was serious and suit-and-tie. I’d imagine such a big B2B company that the company cultural would be strict and hierarchical. However, my perception changed 180 degree during my first week at Dell. Once I realized, Dell is in fact extremely innovative and open to great ideas. To me, it’s a great blend of being a huge multinational company and an entrepreneurial start-up. People encourage innovative ideas and aren’t afraid to try new things and make mistakes. In fact, the best way to learn is to try, fail, learn, and try again.
The one most important thing I learned at Dell is to work innovatively and with people from all walks of life. My manager completely trust my work and my decisions, regardless how out-of-the-world it may be. With that kind of flexibility and trust, it also comes with lots of responsibilities as well. It is in this kind of environment that you realize how much impact you can have on the company and how much you can contribute and learn all at the same time.
Aaron Hale (MBA ’16, USA), whose currently interning at Dell Singapore, and I are the first interns from Thunderbird at Dell in 8 years. However, I personally believe Thunderbird and Dell is a great fit with both places celebrating and thriving in a diverse and global environment. In fact, the CMO and President of Enterprise Solutions, Marius A. Haas, is also a T-Bird alumnus with an MIM.
Summer Interns Trip
courtesy Tom Yu
Thunderbird and beyond…
Tom Yu
I received my undergraduate degrees from ASU in Psychology and Communications, and minor in Japanese language. At the time, my focus was on positive emotions and human-technology interactions. While at school, I joined Apple as a Home-Based Advisor, supporting technical support over the phone for a year. Then, I transitioned into Apple Retail. My main responsibilities included technical troubleshooting, training, and facilitating retail operations, such as leading meetings and piloting new retail strategies.
After joining Thunderbird, I shifted my focus to marketing strategy and entrepreneurship. During summer of 2014, I helped started a health clinic, Origin Health Center, in Oakland, California. It was thrilling to create something from inception to see it now, to its grand opening a year later. I continued my passion for entrepreneurship and started my own start-up, Tom Yu Consulting, focusing on marketing strategy, design, and technology integration. Currently, I’m also interning at Dell as a Graduate Intern Sr. Advisor in Global Support and Deployment’s online marketing team where I focus mainly on customer purchase experience on dell.com and driving online traffic and revenue globally.
At Thunderbird, I participated in multiple student organizations, such as Thunderbird Student Government, Toastmasters International, Thunderbird Technology Business Association, AIESEC Thunderbird, Campus Ambassadors, Foundations, etc. My roles varied from VP, Co-Founder, Creative Director, and Marketing Communications.
In the short-term, I’m contemplating in applying for the TEM Lab in the fall. Since this is my last trimester at Thunderbird, I’ll be spending a lot of time job hunting. My goal is to pursue my career at a technology company in product marketing and brand management. There’s something about realizing a new product and owning its success that really excites me!
Tom’s currently blogging for an intern contest at Dell and will be posting weekly posts on everything about Dell. Stay tuned and support a fellow T-Bird by liking, commenting, and sharing his post on LinkedIn!