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Tech Fest takes over Northridge Center

Danny Arriaza

February 21, 2017

CSUN alumn and Linquest Director of Modeling and Simulation Christopher Whang, left, greets second year electrical engineering major Nooh Amahfoodhi during Tech Fest 2017 in the Northridge Center. Almahfoodhi stopped by Tech Fest to speak with various recruiters from potential future employers. Photo Credit: Luis Garcia

Tech Fest 2017, was held Tuesday morning to allow students and alumni to meet and network with potential employers, including information sessions with certain companies.

This year there were 43 companies in attendance including JPL, Southern California Gas Company, UPS and the Bureau of Engineering for the city of Los Angeles.

JPL was one of the many companies present for the Spring Tech Fest held in the matador center. Photo credit: Danny Arriaza

Olivia Luna, the HR manager for Trimark Associates, Inc, was in attendance to educate people on what the company does and to give opportunities for students. Trimark is an energy management company, they manage the data for energy producers with a special focus on solar, hydro, and windmill energy. Luna added that is a big point for the CEO to visit colleges.

Olivia Luna, HR manager for Trimark Associates, Inc. readies her table for CSUN students Photo credit: Danny Arriaza

“We’re making the grid green,” Luna said.

Some of the qualities Luna and Trimark look for in applicants who have just graduated college are good communication skills and the energy. Luna admitted the company can receive a lot of applications and it is a competitive job market.

For graduating electrical engineering major Nolyn Preston, 22, the pressure to stand out started two years ago. He explained the difficulty of these events as one should already have experience before coming and to make sure to research companies before, to narrow down which to meet.

Nolyn Preston, 22, a graduating electrical engineering major waits in line to speak to a potential employer. (Far right) Photo credit: Danny Arriaza

Preston described it as a “best handshake” sort of event, where participants have to put their best foot forward. The pressure ramps up on these days, said Preston.

“Try to make a good impression,” said senior computer science major Francis Lagueu, 29.

This was his second year attending the event and he also checked beforehand for which companies he will try to see. Lagueu said the computer science field is competitive and that a goal of the event was to see if any of the companies would ask for his resumé after talking with him.

“Our culture is that there is always room for improvement,” said Ronis Gracie, CEO of LendGenius.

The five-month-old LendGenius, a first-time attendee of Tech Fest, is a loan-matching platform for small businesses. The business, instead of filing several different applications at banks, files one application with LendGenius, and then receives offers from multiple lenders at once.

For Gracie, the students who stand out are the ones with confidence, a smile on their face and those that are straight forward with what they are looking for.