Name: Christopher Tsai
Year: Sophomore
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Minor: Entrepreneurship
CFS Program: Business Field Studies
Employer: Wind Point Partners
I am currently working in Wind Point Partners, a middle market private equity firm that has been around since 1984. I had never been exposed to anything finance before so it has been a very interesting learning experience for me. As a Mechanical Engineering major, I wanted to take part in CFS in order to expand my professional horizons and become more financially sound. I hope that by diversifying my work experience I can find a career path that best suits my interests and abilities as well as become a more well-rounded individual.
In this regard, Wind Point has been everything I expected it to be as I have gained a lot of knowledge regarding the financial world and what it is to work in the finance industry. I’m now more informed about business news, financial jargon, and the stock market. Through my tasks, which have involved mostly market/company research and data compilation, I have been able to exercise skills that I rarely exercise at school. The amount of work I’m tasked with varies day to day; there are days where there’s a lot to do and there are days where I just spend time looking at Investopedia articles.
One of the ways I have been able to get to know my coworkers at the office has been going out to lunch with them. As everyone’s usually very busy, I have had to be very proactive in asking people out and I have struggled sometimes to find times that work. However, I would say that this one of my favorite aspects of my internship as everyone has invaluable advice and different experiences that will for sure help me someday.
Alongside my internship, I am taking Business Field Studies with Prof. Nina Wieda. It has been a very insightful class, as I have been able to learn about different people’s internship experiences and opinions regarding recent business news and controversial (sometimes even philosophical) topics. I really enjoyed our class trip to the Chicago Board Options Exchange, as I had never seen a stock exchange before and learned many new things (that I’m still learning about) that day.