Every year, Melissa hosts UC Irvine students at the head office in Rancho Santa Margarita for a mock interview event. Recently, we sponsored Data@UCI's second annual datathon, "Atlantis," on April 13-14, 2024, where we challenged participants to showcase their understanding and utilization of Melissa's APIs and datasets in innovative ways. The winning team, Sam, Ryan, Dennis and Keisun, clinched the title for the Best Use of Melissa API/Datasets, and were awarded a tour of Melissa’s headquarters and participation in mock interviews for experience. Their project Geodle is a hybrid game combining elements of Geoguessr and Wordle. Along with the Geodle team, three UCI Physical Sciences Undergraduate students Kristopher, Rachel and Agatha from our mentorship program, managed by Anna, Ha and Daniel, took part in our mock interviews event.
On Friday April 19th, the Melissa Education team welcomed the students to the office where Chief Data Officer Daniel K. Le took the students through various facets of the company, including a close up glimpse into the server room. Dennis Lustre, fourth year computer science major, shared his insights about the tour: "What I found really fascinating about this experience was being able to see the real-life implementations of real-world systems. Seeing the on-prem servers was really insightful, like how it actually operates." After the tour, the students were able to have a quick meet & greet with Melissa CEO & Founder, Ray, to learn more about the company.
A highlight of the visit were the mock interview sessions which occurred after the office tour. The students broke out into their mock interview sessions that were led by Melissa team members from various departments. There were multiple interview stations set up and students had a time limit in each mock interview. Once done, they went to another station and so forth to gain as much face time and interview experience as possible. Sam Pittman, third year data science major, recalls: “I was motivated by the fact that I don’t need to have 100% of the skills. A lot of the interviewers told me that some of the things they learned were on the job and that it’s OK if you don’t know everything, you just need to have a strong passion and go from there.”
Following the interviews, a debriefing session provided an opportunity for reflection and exchange of insights while the students enjoyed pizza. Melissa employees offered constructive feedback on what the students could do to better their interviewing skills and in return, students asked questions about various aspects of the company. Keisun Luc, data science major, enjoyed the experience, saying, “This is my first experience being able to tour an office and a culture that is very welcoming. I’ve never had the opportunity to have this at any other company.” All the students that participated on the tour were very respectful, sharp and intuitive. They asked well thought out questions, made the most out of their experience, and were a pleasure to host.
If you’re a student who is interested in accessing Melissa’s datasets for research and projects, check out our Melissa Education portal. It’s a free resource that can help you use real-life data to enhance your schoolwork—just sign up with a .edu account and get started! And for instructors or institutions interested in learning how Melissa can help your data-driven projects and events, feel free to reach out to us at education@melissa.com.
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The Melissa team with the visiting students: Top Row (left to right): Qingyang Zhang, Jason Zhang, Sophie Ha, Ha Phan, Heidi Laur, Gillian Phan, Athena Nguyen, Eric Horowitz , Anna Cheong, Trinh Pham, Daniel Kha Le. Bottom Row (left to right): Derek Ho, Sara Neiman, ThuyTien Nguyen, Jacob Westlund, Mike Ye, William “Bill” Huynh
Photos Taken By: Vincent Dinh