Last year, Lauren Pizzimenti spoke in a video about her experiences with undergraduate programs at the University of Delaware’s Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics and how they helped her land a career opportunity with Bloomberg. Pizzimenti recently returned to UD campus for her first homecoming weekend as an alumna, and chatted with Lerner about her life so far as a working professional.
Now that you have been in your role for almost half of a year, can you describe what you do as a global data analyst at Bloomberg?
My team handles all of the help desk inquiries for anyone who has the Bloomberg terminal. Essentially we answer questions about anything that can be traded. We confirm the values, then help display and set up the information for them. I’ve been especially busy this week because big market impacts increase our volume of inquiries.
You were a marketing major at the Lerner College. How does your educational background inform your work at Bloomberg?
Although my area of study may not directly relate to my work in finance, at Bloomberg I am currently taking a class on Python. I learned a lot of programming languages while at Lerner as a marketing major. Knowing how to approach studying these types of languages has been really helpful because I can understand the technical aspects of the Python course more easily.
You were one of the early participants in the Lerner Executive Mentoring Program. How did that experience prove to be valuable in your professional life?
My mentor told me to always keep a record of the work you do. Whether from internships, courses, or your job, you should make a list of the various programs and things you’ve learned. I have a document that I started in college with information from my internships, capstone projects and more so that if I am ever asked about a program or experience, even five years down the road, I will have that information to refer back to.
If we were to check back in with you in five years, what do you hope you would be doing?
I would love to eventually do more creative work, ideally in digital marketing analytics. Right now I am learning the technical aspects of finance. Hopefully I can later use that, and my new understanding of Python, to move into working in media at Bloomberg.
What advice would you give to current Blue Hen students as they prepare for the working world?
Stay in touch with your UD network after you graduate. You can also build UD connections where you work. My product manager is a UD alumnus. Once I made that connection with him we spent our entire first meeting reminiscing about the campus and developing a good working relationship. My company has a ton of UD alumni working there, which has made building a new office network really easy.