Cristian Guerrero

College: Baruch College

Education Level: Senior

Career Interest: Product Management

I am a senior at Baruch College super interested in technology, in particular fintech and blockchain. I am majoring in Computer Information Systems and have been involved in various campus organizations. I was the Head of Research and Development at the College Entrepreneurial Organization for a year and am currently the Co-Host of the Organization's podcast called Vault Podcast. I Co-Founded a clothing brand called Homme D'affaire and was the Head of Research and Development there as well. I am a Co-Founder of Baruch Blockchain, which is exciting, and I look forward to seeing the club grow with students passionate about blockchain. I am working towards becoming a Product Manager in the future. Aside from my professional background, I am someone who enjoys meeting new people, talking about ideas, exploring new places and having fun experiences. I strive to live a life of humility, consistency, and ambition. I look to understand other people's perspectives and empathize with where they are coming from. What makes me tick is talking about exciting ideas, not only just in technology, but also in business and other domains. This goes hand in hand with my curiosity to learn new things. I want to learn about interesting ideas because it can help me see the world from a better perspective and it can make me a better person overall. As for what tickles my belly, I would figuratively say a good comedy show that I can relate to, or just having a good time with friends and family.

What was your role?

iPM/CS

What did you work on?

What was the impact of your project?

The impact of my project (Goals and Milestones) is to build upon what already exists by adding a way to show more information about goals, and adding default milestones when a goal is created. Also, GM will review whether other systems can be connected to Goals and Milestones, build any potential integrations, and document any integrations that are possible but of low priority. In addition, GM will integrate goals system with fundraising stories in that the current "attach" tab will be overhauled, a goal will have a list of stories, create an interface to demonstrate the effects of boosts on goal progression. Finally, GM will improve the Goal interface (goal list and individual goal view pages) with better user experience/flow ideas and decisions.

What did you learn or improve on from this internship or from your teammates?

What skills have you gained?

I have learned how to interact with the Cloud Shell Editor, clone a repository, deploy a test environment, and visit my test website. I have also learned what PMs should and should not do. PMs should be empathetic and supportive to team members, check in on how their teammates are doing, and offer help to others. PMs should be careful not to be too assertive or authoritative, and should allow team members to voice their thoughts during meetings and check-ins first.

What was the biggest roadblock you've overcome?

The biggest roadblock I have overcome so far is being able to use Discord`s voice channels. I have used Discord before, but have only used the text channels and not the voice channels. I had trouble navigating the interface of voice channels and video at first, but was able to overcome it with practice and exploring the features of voice channels.

How has company culture guided your work?

What was your experience at Unadat?

What was one big project you worked on during the internship? Can you walk me through the process?

What advice would you give to future interns?

I would advise to let the PMs know sooner how they fit into a team. Having the PM training sooner during training week would help clarify any questions on the iPM role. My advice for the interns is do some research and understand the basics of Agile/Scrum methodology.