Reflections from International Students and Alumni

Tzu-Hsuan (Tony) Fu

Education: ENG ’19; M.S. Product Design and Manufacture

Current position/employer: Product Design Integration Engineer at Apple

How did you choose your path after graduation?

To be honest, when I graduated from my bachelor’s degree, I didn’t think too much of it, I simply applied to the job. It was a company that I had heard of and was interested in, and of course the salary and the reputation of the company played an important role, since it was helpful when I looked for my second job.
Finding the right career path in my opinion never has correct answer, and it is like driving on the highway: sometimes you take the wrong exit, only thing you need to do it to figure out where you really want to go while you are still driving and make the adjustment. Don’t panic or be too stubborn about getting into a specific job/position, just try everything out and you will know eventually.

How did you market your BU degree?

I wasn’t specifically “marketing “ my BU degree, for a couple of reasons.. I was be more focused on demonstrating what I have done, and what I’m capable of [doing] after graduating from BU. Because it is who you are and what you can do that beats the other candidates from MIT and Stanford, for example, not your diploma.

Do you have any general recommendations/reflections for current students on networking and employment opportunities in the U.S.?

[In terms of] networking, for me, it was about “getting out of my comfort zone”. I go to the networking event to talk to people and enable myself to comfortably talk to people, this is really important because in our career, we must talk to 100+ people, and we need to learn how to be the person that people are comfortable talking to. As for the employment opportunities in U.S., I would recommend starting early, balance your time between academics and job search and most importantly, put focus on what do you want to present to the interviewer/industry of what you have done. For example, a portfolio would be a great way to record and share your work.