Like many first-time college students, Alan Yu, ’17, started on the track toward one major before realizing his passion was elsewhere. After taking classes at another university, he decided that he wanted to change his initial plan of studying bioengineering to computer science.

Yu feels his experiences at Seattle U truly prepared him for his current role at Microsoft as product manager at Azure Data. “I took many humanities courses like philosophy, ethics, social justice and women studies,” he says. “Embracing diversity of opinions was one of the most important lessons I learned from Seattle University to help me be an empathetic product manager. When working on products that millions of customers use every day and collaborating with many engineering and product teams, it is crucial to be inclusive in meetings and in product design. Seattle University helps you build the soft skill set to flex that empathy by questioning assumptions and voicing opinions.”

When Yu arrived at Seattle U, he knew he needed to get an internship in order to gain experience in computer science “I applied to 100 companies over five months and only got seven interviews. I ended up taking an internship at Weyerhaeuser as a software developer. After my internship, I realized that as much as I liked problem solving and coding was fun, what I really valued was working with people and building a product vision.”

In his next round of internship applications, Yu applied to 50 companies and got 20 interviews. One of those companies was Microsoft. He interviewed and ended up impressing the hiring manager with his product management (PM) skills. After completing his PM internship, he fell in love with the role. “As a PM you get to ask questions while keeping customers and partners at the forefront: What are we building? Why are we building this product? Then, you get to work with a diverse team of experts to make it happen. I feel really lucky to have this position at Microsoft, so I try to give back as much as I can,” Yu says.

As a natural connector and speaker, Yu is excited about starting a Microsoft Seattle U alumni community to help other people stay connected and provide a platform for others at Microsoft to partner with Seattle U. “My goal is to create a supportive community of people who want to give back to students. Whether it is a capstone project idea, a faculty member looking for a guest speaker or lecturer, or someone that wants to donate time or money, I want them to have a community to collaborate with so that we can make a stronger impact together.”