The Africa Recruiting Initiative aims to engage and recruit engineering talent across the continent. Here, participants share their takeaways, advice for aspiring engineers, and hopes for the future.
Describe your experience attending Goldman Sachs recruiting events at your school / participating in the internship program?
“The Goldman Sachs assessment day in Lagos was awesome. The Goldman Sachs representatives gave me a sense of the amazing culture at the firm, which was exactly the same upon starting the summer internship. They were very supportive and made me feel like a part of the team from Day 1.”
Moriam Computer Sciences and IT graduate from Covenant University 2018 summer analyst and incoming 2019 new analyst
“The event felt more like a workshop than a recruitment event to me. I learned so much from the problems/challenges we were tasked with solving. There was also an actual workshop where we were given feedback on our overall performance and tips on how to answer both technical and non-technical questions. All in all, it was a highly educative experience, one from which I left with more knowledge and experience than when I entered.”
Chibuzor Electrical & Electronic Engineering graduate from University of Lagos Akoka Engineering analyst
What do you enjoy most about engineering?
“What I enjoy most about engineering is the problem-solving aspect of it. I love that engineering gives me the means to flex my creativity in solving a challenging problem. Very few things give me a better feeling than arriving at a solution to a problem that I found challenging initially.”
Timi
Electrical & Electronic Engineering graduate from University of Lagos
Engineering analyst
“Engineering is important. It is also challenging and exciting. Engineers use models provided by science combined with innovative thinking to solve problems and create new designs that benefit humanity. What fascinates me most about engineering is the fact that better, simpler and more cost effective solutions are created by leveraging technology.”
“I love the brainstorming sessions you have with team members before the actual implementation of whatever solution that was agreed upon.”
Oluwaseun
Engineering graduate from University of Lagos 2018
summer analyst and incoming 2019 new analyst
How do you hope to use your engineering skills in the future?
“In the future, I hope to make use of my Engineering skills in creating products that solve societal problems, improve people’s well being while creating business opportunities.”
Adeoye
Electrical & Electronic Engineering major at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology
2018 summer analyst and incoming 2019 new analyst
“I hope to use my engineering skills to develop and design software applications in the financial industry. I am particularly interested in User Experience, and as such I want to create functional applications and components that users of my product find easy, enjoyable, and effortless to use.”
Seun
Computer Sciences and IT graduate from Covenant University
2018 summer analyst and incoming 2019 new analyst
What advice would you share with students considering a career in engineering?
“Don’t be a jack of all trades. Pick up a relevant language such as Python or Java and delve deeply into it so as to understand its intricate details, concepts and implementation strategies.”
Olayinka
Computer Sciences and IT graduate from University of Benin
2018 summer analyst and incoming 2019 new analyst
“As a student, my greatest worry was not being good enough. I was constantly comparing myself to the best and often times I ended up feeling inadequate. My experience at Goldman Sachs taught me that you don’t need to know everything. Instead of thinking about everything I didn’t know, I began to focus on the things that I could know if I dedicated some time to learning. Skill can be taught and every day is an opportunity to learn. Remember that every expert developer was once a beginner.”
Jessica
Computer Sciences and IT graduate from Covenant University
2018 summer analyst and incoming 2019 new analyst
“Don’t just take anyone’s word for it. Try to figure out HOW and WHY things work the way they do. Only then can you make them better or provide better alternatives.”
Oriyami
Computer Sciences and IT graduate from Obafemi Awolowo University
Engineering analyst
Interested in participating? Our 2019 Africa Recruiting Initiative Events are accepting applications until December 31, 2018:
Source: Learn and apply (2018)
