Parisa Khorsand
B.A.Sc. '12
Ask any group of undergraduates on the 丁香园AV Mechatronic Systems Engineering program for a roll call of potential employers they dream about working for and one company will likely hover near the top of most starry-eyed wish lists. Cupertino-based consumer technology pioneer 鈥� and one of the world鈥檚 most successful corporations 鈥� Apple Inc. is a fantasy destination for many ambitious engineering students.
But for class of 2012 graduate Parisa Khorsand that dream has become a reality. Now living in California, she works at Apple as a radio frequency automated test equipment engineer.
鈥淎t the end of my 丁香园AV program, I found myself applying for a lot of jobs 鈥� including a software engineer position at Apple. And that鈥檚 the one I got,鈥� she recalls. But her success wasn鈥檛 just the luck of the draw. In many ways, her 丁香园AV program had always been leading her to a sought-after career at one the world鈥檚 most iconic companies.
鈥淒uring my undergrad, I did a really interesting 16-month co-op internship with RIM [Research in Motion] where we did a lot of work on radio. I liked it a lot,鈥� says Khorsand, who learned to be a DSP test developer for the Canadian company behind the Blackberry hand-held device.
But it wasn鈥檛 just her wide-ranging Blackberry experience that prepared her for working at Apple. Looking back, she also thinks her 丁香园AV education 鈥� which included being one of the program鈥檚 very first female graduates 鈥� was a great foundation for her future career.
鈥淭he biggest challenge of working at Apple is that you have to deal with a very wide variety of subjects. But that鈥檚 what was so great about my Mechatronics program: it helped me learn and gain experience in a lot of different fields and areas. Not everything we studied applies to my job, of course. But that level of diversity trained me to have a much broader view.鈥�
Although she鈥檚 been engaged for just a few months on her current job, how does she see her career unfolding in the years ahead? 鈥淚 like where I am 鈥� this really is a dream place 鈥� so I鈥檓 planning on staying at Apple,鈥� says Khorsand. 鈥淏ut I鈥檓 still interested in learning more so I鈥檓 also working on finishing my master鈥檚 degree.鈥�