Tristan Halvorson

What do you do?

I live in Seattle and work at Google as a technical lead on their cloud cost management team. We build tools to help customers understand why we charged them the amount we did for their Cloud usage. I lead a backend team that makes cost data available to other teams, like those that build web frontends or reports. On a practical day-to-day level, I write and debug code, design new systems, review designs from other team members or nearby teams, and mentor new team members.

How did you get there?

I took all the CS classes at WHS that I could, including the 2-year Cisco networking certification class. I went to college at UW-Madison and majored in Computer Science. While I was there I joined the Undergraduate Projects Laboratory (similar to ACM at other schools), and starting my second year, joined a programming competition team. We never made it far but I learned a lot doing it and met some cool people.

I took an Introduction to Computer Networks class and talked to the professor about doing research. (Though I never formally used my CCNA certification for anything, knowing the material was really helpful for a few things like building a connection with this professor.) The classes that made the most meaningful difference were those where I made connections with other students or faculty, regardless of the material. Those also tended to be the harder classes.

After college I went to graduate school at UCSD, where I joined a networking and security group focused on measurement. I got my PhD in 2015 and have been at Google ever since.

The most valuable experiences were the ones where I felt like I didn't belong when I first did them: the first time I attended a programming competition in high school, my first day at a college club, asking a professor to do independent research, joining a PhD program, and joining Google. Over time I've learned that the best way for me to grow is to be around people better than me, even though it's uncomfortable at first.

What advice do you have for current computer science students?

Take opportunities that are given to you. It's usually uncomfortable to know you're the weakest person in your new group, but I found that most people expect the new person to need a fair amount of help, which gives you time to learn from your peers. Learning from people, and then paying it forward by mentoring others, is also a great way to build connections.

Second, be reliable. Nobody cares if the new person doesn't know something, but they'll definitely notice hard work, or if you seem passionate about learning. This is super obvious from the mentoring side, it's far more fun to work with someone who has a lot to learn but puts in the effort than it is to work with someone who knows a lot of things but doesn't try to improve. Your peers will notice and you'll get better if you show up with a growth mindset.

Contact information:

thalvors@gmail.com

Posted January 18, 2019