A Snapchat and a lottery ticket: two non-sequiturs that figure in the stories of David Vasquez and Alexander Kozulin and their interest in the Bay Area technology job market. Worlds and ages apart, they both participated in Workday’s Workforce Week, held in Pleasanton last month.
Vasquez, 21, a son of Mexican immigrants, knew he was interested in technology ever since he fixed his frozen cell phone when he was 15, but he lacked guidance. After earning his Linux certification from Mission College in Santa Clara, he took a Snapchat photo of the automated microcomputer that he built and sent it to a friend. His impressed friend immediately recommended Vazquez to Year Up, a nonprofit based in San Jose that provides young adults from underserved communities with six months of classroom training and a six-month internship.
Whereas Vasquez is just beginning to gain tech experience, Alexander Kozulin has years behind him. A product and project manager with masters degrees in physics and computer science, he’s worked for companies that include General Electric, Dell and Epicor. In 2014 he was living in Moscow with his wife, a medical doctor, and two daughters when he won the U.S. State Department’s Diversity Immigrant Visa program, or the Green Card Lottery. After months of interviews with the U.S. Embassy, the Kozulins moved to the Bay Area in January and are searching for employment.
A friend steered Kozulin to Upwardly Global, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that helps highly educated immigrants and refugees translate their work experience and education in order to rebuild their careers in America’s job market. “I was surprised that there was an organization that helps immigrants,” said Kozulin. “The job markets are so different. It’s not easy to transfer one’s work experience and skills.”
Because Year Up and Upwardly Global are among the nonprofits that Workday supports, Kozulin and Vasquez were in Pleasanton in May for the second annual Workforce Week. According to the website, this is a “global volunteer initiative aimed at preparing people of all ages for tech careers.” This year, 200 job seekers, including 104 from the Bay Area, converged on Workday’s campus for workshops on resume building, interviewing and networking.
Carrie Varoquiers, Workday Foundation’s president, said, “We carefully work with our nonprofits in scheduling the day. They’re very interested in learning what the employer is seeking and ask us to be as honest as possible.”
Each Workforce attendee participated in two mock interviews with a Workday manager. “We received great feedback on our strengths and weaknesses and how to deal with sticky office situations,” said Karla Mora, another Year Up student from Hayward.
“We began this program as a way to add more value to the nonprofits we support,” explained Varoquiers. Not only do the participants receive valuable tips, but Workday employees also learn how essential giving back is to their culture.
“I was surprised at the diversity and self-motivation of the Workday employees,” said Vasquez.
“I found it interesting to learn about Workday’s culture and how their teams are organized,” said Kozulin.
Contact Amy Moellering at ajmoellering@gmail.com.
