April Underwood
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MIS, University of Texas 2001
MBA, University of California at Berkeley (Haas) 2007
What work brought you to your job today?
The technical foundation I gained in the UT MIS program has been fundamental to my career path. During my undergraduate degree, I worked at 3M and Deloitte Consulting (both through on-campus recruiting), and this practical experience coupled with my classroom education and involvement in MISA helped me land my first full-time job at Intel. The work at Intel led to my work as a software engineer and eventually a Product Manager at Travelocity. I recently completed by MBA at Berkeley (Haas) and now hold a technical sales leadership role at Google.What do you do in your current job?
I am responsible for delivering scalable solutions for Google's strategic partner base. More specifically, I work with the Content Partnerships team, developing the vision and executing on our road map to deliver new distribution opportunities to content owners.What do you value from your MIS education?
Eleanor and Rick's classes were both highly valuable for different reasons. I still do the scope creep dance (at least in my head) on nearly a daily basis, and the project and product management fundamentals are still a core responsibility in my job. Rick's class, and the hands-on technical skills I developed in the program, provided the crucial foundation I needed to sell myself as a software engineer (without an engineering degree).What is your advice for current students?
Read blogs, try creating a product of your own (Silicon Valley is littered with people who started companies while in school), and don't be afraid to get more "technical" than you feel comfortable.