Seattle University offers multiple ways for students to do meaningful work for a variety of companies and government organizations.
Dan Marx, ‘02 MBA, was not looking for an intern to join his online bicycle resale site bikelist.com, but then came a message in March from software engineering grad student Frank Zhang, ’24.
“I get this email out of the blue and I’m surprised,” Marx says. “We don’t even have a jobs page.”
Zhang admits when he went looking for an internship there weren’t many options that piqued his interest.
Instead of giving up, he took the initiative and began combing through Redhawk Landing, a site that connects Seattle University’s 90,000+ alumni working in every state and 93 countries with current students. Here, he came across Marx’s profile. This led him to bikelist.com. Impressed by the site’s speed, Zhang reached out to Marx and in the process landed an internship that fits his interests and will expand his skillset.
The union of Zhang and bikelist.com comes as National Intern Day is celebrated on the last Thursday in July.
Seattle University recognizes National Intern Day to encourage and celebrate interns for their hard work and for advancing their knowledge and professional formation, says Carol Lwali, director of SU’s Career Engagement Office.
Students across campus have interned for a variety of companies and organizations, doing meaningful work for Holland America, Coscto, Boeing, PACCAR, the Space Needle, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Sundance Film Festival and more.
“They are an essential part of building a pipeline of talent for the organizations they intern in,” says Lwali.
Zhang’s hobby is online sales, something he picked up from his parents who sell furniture and clothing in an online business. Zhang, for his part, prefers to sell virtual goods, non-physical items used in online communities and gaming.
Bikelist.com launched in May 2022 after spare bikes and parts had long began accumulating in the basements and garages of Marx and his business partner Rob Einaudi.
Borrowing an idea from other online sales sites such as Reverb.com, which specializes in musical equipment, bikelist.com offers a vertical marketplace for sellers of complete bikes, frames and parts.
Even though Marx was not looking for an intern, he was impressed with Zhang’s proactive approach plumbing Redhawk Landing for leads and sending out cold emails in a search for employment opportunities.
“I was doing the same thing in 1997,” Marx says of the period after he earned his undergraduate degree and before he started the MBA program at SU. “I totally get it.”
Neither considers themselves as bike-obsessed—Marx rode in college but now counts himself as a weekend warrior and Zhang’s cycling hit a wall when the saddle from his bike was stolen.
For Zhang’s internship, which started in June, the focus is on creating a bot that can repost bikes and parts for sale from the bikelist.com website onto Discord, a chat room site popular with gamers.
Before that project was underway, and within a week of starting, Zhang had updated the site, tightening it up and eliminating unnecessary white space. It gave him a solid accomplishment right out of the gate.
“Even though it’s a simple change, it was a lot of work, learning and the set up,” Marx says.
Learn more about the Career Engagement Office and its resources like Redhawk Landing.
Written by Andrew Binion
Thursday, July 27, 2023