Chris Zhan
First briefly, introduce yourself with your year pronouns, major, and hometown.
I am a sophomore studying at UC Berkeley. I'm deciding [if] I'm going to be pursuing a CS or Data Science degree, with a double major in molecular cell biology. And my hometown is Vancouver, Canada, and I use the He series.
What’s your go to fun fact?
[My fun] fact is that I get free health care, and you don't. It's my fun way of saying that I'm not from this country. I'm an international student studying in the United States because I am a Canadian national, and I think it's a great way to make fun of people who don't have free health care. I think it's just one of the easiest ways to establish superiority over others.
What do you like to do in your free time?
I love to play the acoustic guitar. I've been playing for 5 years now. A fun fact about [me] is that I have perfect pitch. Another fun fact about people with perfect pitch is that they will always tell you that they have every pitch without asking. That just means I can identify any music without knowing what note it is. I can identify it just by ear. I like covering songs — not singing but just the instrumental. When my knee heals, I will be back to playing Ultimate frisbee because that was my main sport. And as for TV shows, I don't really follow Netflix or HBO shows. I know Euphoria is popular right now, but I do really enjoy watching NHL hockey. I like following my home team, the Vancouver Canucks, and I stream their games whenever I have time.
What are your professional interests? Why are you interested in those fields?
I'd like to go into some kind of data science or bioinformatics in the future. I'd like somewhere where I can really make a difference in terms of human health or healthcare systems in general. You have a lot of companies that are looking to invest resources into making sure that they understand how to use bioinformatics effectively. That combines my interest of still wanting to study biology and MCB, with Data Science or SWE/CS, and it combines it in a very elegant manner. Bioinformatics is the intersection of biology and CS and I think it's a very powerful tool for being able to solve future health problems.
How has SAAS helped with your career or professional development? And how has it helped you decide on a career path or new skills?
I didn't know how to write a resume before SAAS. And I think it’s been valuable having people who've been through the journey before and know the tips and tricks, ins and outs of data science, recruitment, SWE recruitment, and consulting. All of those really helped contextualize what I wanted, and helped me figure out what kind of career I wanted and what kind of direction I wanted to go in for my career. Having that mentorship from SAAS from people who've done it before and know what the tips and tricks are is really, really, really helpful. And it was really nice to get mentorship and feedback on things like how my resume was and how I can improve certain skills and what sorts of projects I should tackle in order to make myself a better candidate for internship searching. And so I'm a lot more confident when applying to internships now. I was able to land a campus job with database administration, and it was definitely thanks to SAAS for helping me get that.
How do you think your life would be different if you never joined SAAS?
I think my community and perspective would be a lot more limited. I think joining SAAS really helped me understand what the tech community looks like at Berkeley. Beyond that everyone here is so good to talk to. I've made some really great friendships that I think are going to last a very, very long time. It’s also just really nice to have the SAAS community to look forward to whenever an event happens, or whenever a social happens. It's nice to be able to look forward to that at the end of a long week, and just be able to have fun with these people that I call a second home, like a second family in Berkeley. It's very nice. It's a warm feeling. So to summarize, I would feel less warm if I never joined SAAS. I would feel considerably colder.
So you mentioned the family aspect of SAAS–let's talk about SAAS friends and Big/Little. How did you meet your friends in SAAS?
Well, the big little family is very nice. I think my closest friend in SAAS is the person that's interviewing me right now, because she happened to be my twin when we were picked up for big little. I think that that's definitely one of the easiest ways to find your closest friends in SAAS is through your big little pairings. I’ve found the more informal time outside of structured SAAS events to be the best at forming stronger and closer relationships. For example, that looks like car rides from Berkeley to anywhere, whether that's to the only IHOP open for 24 hours a day, which is [in] Richmond, or whether that's car rides from Berkeley to wherever retreat is. That's where I find a significant amount of time to bond with people and grow close to people.
Favorite SAAS memory?
I think our mini competition to do the most absurd bowling stance that you could possibly come up with when we went big little bowling sticks out to me, just because I think we very much terrorized that lane and everyone around us. I think it summarizes the chaotic nature of our big little family.
You make it very clear in the club that you're Canadian. SAAS’s Canadian pride and joy. If your identity in the club was not associated with Canada what would you want it to be?
I really like Vancouver, but the problem is that Vancouver is also Canada. So just, “Canadian resident pre-med turns tech.”