Expedia Internship Opens Doors for NSC Computer Science Student
The following first appeared in the Seattle Colleges Foundation’s “The College Minute” newsletter.
There are few lovelier spots for a summer internship than the Seattle waterfront campus of Expedia. That was Jacq Horizon's good luck this summer, in between junior and senior years in North Seattle College’s BS in Computer Science program. And the setting was the least of the benefits.
“I was given a genuinely important and challenging project,” Jacq reports. “It involved a lot of different teams — data scientists, data engineers, marketing, finance. It really stretched my skills, but fortunately just before I had the perfect preparation in a project management course taught by North prof Hannah Landrus.”
“And also, the people at Expedia were so nice. I could just message random folks on Slack and be like, ‘Hey, would you be willing to answer some questions?’ And they’d say, ‘Of course, let’s meet for coffee.’ Everyone was very open to sharing their experiences.”
Jacq credits North advisor Steve Balo's early guidance — résumé feedback, networking advice, tips on cold-messaging recruiters — as instrumental in landing the internship. "Without the work Steve does, I don't think this would have happened for me.”
Jacq's path to North was unconventional. After teaching art in Los Angeles and relocating to Seattle during the pandemic, he considered expensive coding bootcamps. But then he discovered North's BS in Computer Science program, which was adding a Data Science track. The new curriculum's blend of applied mathematics, machine learning, and AI opened creative and technical possibilities Jacq hadn't imagined.
Last year, Jacq particularly appreciated the AI and Ethics course, which highlights both the extraordinary potential of AI and the ethical questions surrounding it. “We learned about bias mitigation, privacy and copyright concerns, and the environmental effects, all of which are so important," he comments.
As he enters his final year, Jacq is most excited about, yes, Linear Algebra. "In my machine learning class with Prof. Eric Lloyd last year I saw how math underlies so much of AI. I need that know-how."
Where will it all lead? Jacq is unsure, but excited about the possibilities. "Up ahead, I see not just a door, but a whole hallway of doors. I’m so happy I found this program.”