Students Visit Top AI Companies in San Francisco, Ask Questions About Careers

“We broke off for a casual lunch, and I was able to have a conversation with Peter Teichman, one of the senior software engineers,” Patterson said. They talked about Fastly’s technical capabilities, its largest challenges, and Teichman’s personal passions.

“This 20-minute one-on-one gave me far more insight into Fastly than any research I could have done on my own,” said Patterson, a computer science major. “Plus, Fastly’s catering was top-notch.”

Twenty USF students headed downtown Oct. 28 to visit Fastly and OpenAI to explore careers in the fast-growing world of AI.

“Careers in AI and cybersecurity are projected to grow by 35 to 40 percent over the next three to five years, with San Francisco at the forefront of this expansion,” said Stephanie Belfiore, assistant director of employer relationships in the USF Career Services Center.

The students met up with five USF alumni on the career trek. Maleke Hanson ’24 is a software engineer at Fastly and Mitchell Gurick MS ’19, Lindsey Held MBA ’09, Kobie Wagener MS ’19, and Maddie Casey ’14 work at OpenAI.

Calum Crawford ’25 is a computer science major who went on the career services trek to Fastly and OpenAI.

“I wanted to learn more about the engineering decisions and challenges that these companies face, as well as gain a better understanding of their company values,” he said.

Crawford said it was interesting learning about OpenAI’s origins, the structure of its engineering teams, and the behind-the-scenes details of the ChatGPT-3 launch.

“Plus, both companies offered advice on how to stand out in applications.”