CSpotlight: Beginning the next adventure

B.S. student Marguerite Brugger is used to making big moves. After relocating from Los Angeles to Minneapolis to study at the U of M, she dove into many new things, including hackathons, the ESports club, and an internship with Best Buy. With graduation on the horizon, she's ready for the next leg of her journey—she's headed to Seattle to start her career as a software engineer at Qualtrics.

How did you become interested in computer science?

I always knew that I wanted to go into a STEM field because I absolutely loved math and science ever since elementary school. At first, I thought I would go into physics since it was my favorite class in high school, but it didn’t really feel right.

During my junior year of high school, Mr. Nuño (my favorite teacher) was teaching AP Computer Science and suggested that I sign up for it. I didn’t really know what computer science was, but it aligned with my interest in math and science and it was taught by my favorite teacher, so it sounded like something I would enjoy.

Turned out, I loved it! In the first week, we learned how to print “Hello World” in Java and wrote step-by-step ‘algorithms’ on pieces of paper for how to solve simple problems, such as guessing a number. That week, I went home and with my extremely limited knowledge of Java, the internet, and some help from my friends, I spent all night coding that number guessing game. The next day, I brought it in to show my teacher, and he started testing edge cases in my game: inputting negative numbers, positive numbers, decimal numbers, words, etc. I found it so much fun to try to make my code ‘Nuño-proof’. This AP Computer Science class immediately clicked with me and I knew that’s what I wanted to study in college.

Why did you choose to study at the University of Minnesota?

I get this question every single time I tell someone I am from Los Angeles! Sometimes, I tell them that I came here on a quest to find a dragon and their hidden treasure in the caves underneath Minneapolis. Usually, I tell them the more muggle answer: I had visited Minnesota and Minneapolis before as I had friends here, and I really liked the city and I knew I wanted to go out of state and try something new for the next few years of my life.

I also loved that the U of M campus was right in the middle of Minneapolis and right next to downtown, not only for the gorgeous view, but because I am a city girl and I wanted to stay in the city. Also, I didn’t realize it at the time, but moving to a state in which you have friends is a huge help, in just having someone to help you move into your dorm or pick you up from the airport, or show you the cool restaurants.

Tell us more about your Digital Engineering Internship at Best Buy. How did your academic background prepare you for this position?

At Best Buy, I worked on the Subscription Partner Management Team, in which we made it possible to sell subscriptions and redemption codes from other companies and external vendors through Best Buy’s own website and stores. It was a great experience with great people and I learned a lot.

In all honesty, you learn a lot from an internship or a job in computer science, but at the beginning, it can feel like you don’t know anything. It’s a huge jump to move from an in-class project that takes at most a semester, to a huge project that involves several people, several teams, many months or even years, and possibly several companies. Trying to jump into an incredibly large project like that for the first time is overwhelming and incredibly disorienting. No amount of classes can prepare you for that.

However, you do learn important skills at school. For example, I was able to apply my knowledge of Java to my internship and even help my other new-hire coworker learn Java and work on our system. If I had to pick one class that you should take seriously at the U of M, it would be 3081W (Program Design and Development). I took that class after my internship, but everything that is covered in that class I learned at my internship.

A quick tip: at your internship or job, ask questions. I know it’s scary, and it feels like you are disrupting or annoying your coworkers, but think of it this way: you could spend all day trying to figure out how to fix something yourself, or you could talk with a coworker for 30 minutes and learn a lot more, and now both of you are able to do your job more effectively. It took me longer than I would’ve liked to realize this, and I spent three days trying to figure out unit tests on my own (I had not taken 3081W yet). Once I asked my coworker for help, it just all made sense.

How did you get involved with Liquid Hacks Hackathon?

My friend found a posting on LinkedIn about the Liquid Hacks Hackathon and sent it to me. I had never done a hackathon before but it sounded like a great way to work on a fun project with my friends. Between my passion for video games and Esports and being a fan of Team Liquid in Dota 2, I thought that this was a perfect hackathon for me to try.

Three friends and I got together for the weekend (we had Friday through Sunday to complete our project) and we built a system for finding teams and players to play with for a variety of multiplayer/Esport games. We didn’t end up finishing our project in time (so we weren't eligible to win), but it was a lot of fun and I learned a lot (especially as I was the least experienced teammate).

What advice do you have for incoming computer science students?

Do passion projects and side projects. You may feel like you have an idea but don’t know enough or you don’t know where to start. You know more than you think, and it also helps to find a friend who has a bit more experience to work on your first project with you and can help you get started and fill in the gaps in your knowledge.

I wish I had realized my ability to turn the ideas I had into a reality much earlier. Maybe start with a Discord bot—they can be as simple or as complicated as you want and it’s a great way to share something with your friends. Hackathons are also a way to get started if you don’t have many ideas, since they will often give you a prompt for inspiration.

What are your plans after graduation?

I just accepted a job as a software engineer at Qualtrics in Seattle! I will be moving in January or February and I am really excited to be in a beautiful city full of people and opportunities in tech.

For those of you who don’t know, Qualtrics is an experience management company that helps businesses gather information from their customers through surveys. I promise you, you have seen Qualtrics everywhere, you just didn’t notice. That vaccine survey from the U of M? Qualtrics.

Do you have any tips for other students that are preparing to hit the job market?

I realized one month before I started applying to jobs and interviewing that I was not ready. My recollection of my algorithms and data structures class was weak and I felt that I had very little interesting information to share on my resume. I decided I would get on the grind: I started putting together some of the projects I had wanted to do, I made a portfolio website, I spent many hours on Leetcode, and I practiced interviewing with my friends.

I did this all in about a month, and it was incredibly overwhelming, but I did it, and I had much success with my interview process. I just want to share that, although I wish I had started much earlier (and relieved some of that stress), it’s never too late to prepare and get that job you really want.

Anything else you would like to share?

I have really enjoyed my time here at the University of Minnesota, despite it being short. I have learned a lot, made tons of friends, and survived a pandemic. I found my home away from home and a family here with the ESports Club, in which I became an officer in my freshman year, and allowed me to build and foster a community of fantastic people and friends who also love Dota2.