Google Cloud: Passport to Containers | The Next Generation - AI from Student Perspective

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More from Google Cloud: Passport to Containers

Savannah Peterson

Principal Analyst & Host

SiliconANGLE Media, Inc.

Bobby Allen

Cloud Therapist

Google Cloud

Sydney Allen

Information Science Student

University of Michigan

Ciara Cade

Computer Science Student

University of Michigan

Calvin Kraus

Business Student

University of Michigan

play_circle_outline Introduction to the final episode of “Passport to Containers” hosted by Savannah Peterson.

play_circle_outline Launch of "GCP Goes to School" initiative collaborating with universities and schools.

play_circle_outline Interviews with University of Michigan students Calvin, Sydney, and Ciara about their experiences.

play_circle_outline Empowering Students: Navigating AI's Role in Academics and Overcoming Challenges in Writing and Coding Courses

play_circle_outline Conversations on how professors are adapting to new technology and tools in education.

play_circle_outline Diverse AI tools and their applications discussed by students and Bobby Allen.

play_circle_outline Exploring AI's Influence on Job Markets: Student Concerns About Future Career Security and Workload Challenges

play_circle_outline Discussion on the most valuable human skills expected in the next five years.

play_circle_outline The importance of networking and the potential of Gen Z in the job market.

play_circle_outline The role of support systems in achieving dreams and educational success.

play_circle_outline Personal anecdotes on childhood dreams and career aspirations from the students.

play_circle_outline Advice for students regarding pursuing education and staying true to their aspirations.

play_circle_outline Bobby Allen expresses pride in his daughter's accomplishments and those of her peers.

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Transcript

The Next Generation - AI from Student Perspective

Savannah Peterson

Principal Analyst & Host SiliconANGLE Media, Inc.

HOST

Bobby Allen

Cloud Therapist Google Cloud

Sydney Allen

Information Science Student University of Michigan

Ciara Cade

Computer Science Student University of Michigan

Calvin Kraus

Business Student University of Michigan

In the season finale of the Google Cloud: Passport to Containers series, theCUBE’s Savannah Peterson travels to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor to explore the intersection of higher education and artificial intelligence. Joined by Google Cloud’s Bobby Allen and University of Michigan students Calvin Kraus, Sydney Allen and Ciara Cade, the panel introduces the "GCP Goes to School" initiative, a passion project designed to partner enterprise resources with academic institutions. The group provides a candid look at how Gen Z is actually utilizing AI tool... Read more

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What is the new initiative being discussed in the final episode of Season 1 of Passport to Containers? add

What is the purpose and approach of the GCP Goes to School initiative? add

What aspects of your education at Michigan are you most excited about, and how do you feel about the balance between work and play? add

What ways are students leveraging AI tools in the classroom and in their personal lives? add

To what extent are professors at Michigan keeping up with new technology and tools, and how does that compare to students' self-learning efforts in this area? add

What is your experience using ChatGPT and Cloud Code for email writing and coding tasks? add

What concerns you about the current state of AI development and its impact on the economy and employment? add

What is expected to be the most valuable human skill five years from now? add

What is the perspective of Gen Z regarding their role and influence in the market? add

What impact did representation have on the speaker's perception of their own possibilities and experiences? add

What were the individual interests and aspirations of the person described in the text during their upbringing? add

What advice would you give someone considering pursuing a dream that seems out of reach? add

What are the feelings and thoughts expressed by a parent regarding their children’s achievements and aspirations? add

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The Next Generation - AI from Student Perspective

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Savannah Peterson

>> Hey, nerd fam, and welcome back to your favorite exclusive series, Passport to Containers. My name's Savannah Peterson. Really excited to be bringing you Episode 12, the final episode in Season 1. Here from Ann Arbor, Michigan, a new stop for us on this multi-city, multi-continent voyage that we've been on in 2025. No one better to bring it to you with me than Bobby Allen, who has helped curate every single guest on the show this series, which has been amazing. Thank you, Bobby. Today's panel is very unique, and I know we're both extraordinarily excited about it. It's going to be a little bit different, y'all. You've launched a new initiative, and this is kind of a bit of the kickoff to that, as well as the bookend to our fabulous Season 1. Tell me about GCP Goes to School.

Bobby Allen

>> So GCP Goes to School is like my passion project now. This is all about a different way for Alphabet to partner with universities, colleges, community colleges, eventually, even high schools potentially, about what does it look like to come alongside the next generation? How do we partner with them? How do we give them expertise and labs and credits, and all the things that we'd want to do to be unleashed if we were them? And so we decided to launch it at the best university in the world, the University of Michigan. So I'm a Wolverine. We have some other DNA. My wife's also a Wolverine, and we said, "What better place to do it? Best alumni network in the world. Let's start it in Ann Arbor."

Savannah Peterson

>> No bias aside, I think it's great, Bobby. But I do think it's great. And I think that enterprise collaborating with academic from day one, regardless of age or student level, is really powerful. And it's super exciting. So you've brought us three brilliant students today. We have Calvin, Sydney, and Ciara. Thank the three of you for being here.

Calvin Kraus

>> Thanks so much for having us now.

Savannah Peterson

>> This is a joy. Super pumped. I've been looking forward to this for weeks. Bobby knows. I was absolutely thrilled when he mentioned this was going to happen. To get us warmed up, I would love for you to introduce yourself, say hello to the audience. Tell us a little bit about where you're from, what brought you here, and maybe what class got you most excited, hypothetically, for your future career. Sydney, I'm going to start with you this time.

Sydney Allen

>> Okay. So I'm from Charlotte, North Carolina. What brought me to Michigan, both my parents went here, actually graduated with degrees in computer science. Now I'm kind of doing some similar, information science. I want to focus on user experience, user interface. Michigan has a great program for that. Class that has me most excited. I guess you could say my Python class, SI 101, because I think Python's important to learn, but it's also the class that has the most stressed for sure. And I'm like, I've never done Python in my life, so it's a whole new world. But yeah, I know that it's going to be important for what I want to do. So, I do appreciate that class.

Savannah Peterson

>> I hear you phoned a friend for some help with that Python homework.

Sydney Allen

>> I did. I did. I did.

Savannah Peterson

>> A friend that might be sitting on this stage. How have you liked Michigan so far?

Sydney Allen

>> Really loved it. Work hard, play hard. I mean, Monday through Thursday, struggle. Friday, Saturday, I'm outside. I mean, I don't know. It's a good balance.

Savannah Peterson

>> Yeah, that's the way to do it. Calvin, what about you? You're also from North Carolina, correct?

Calvin Kraus

>> Yeah. Yeah, I'm from North Carolina originally. I'm sophomore studying business. In terms of class that I've been most excited for... I mean, I'm a business major, so I don't have as many tech-based classes. But what's really interesting is a lot of my classes are starting to integrate AI into the curriculum and really support a lot of the learning there. So that was one of the reasons why I was really excited to come on. In terms of why I ended up at Michigan, pretty similar to Sydney. I think I just wanted the best of all worlds, best academics, best sports teams, best everything. So that's kind of why I ended up here.

Savannah Peterson

>> If your careers don't pan out, y'all could be spokespeople for the University of Michigan. So, just go ahead and keep that in mind. Ciara, what about you?

Ciara Cade

>> Yeah. So I decided on... Oh, well, I'm from Detroit, Michigan, Motown City, and I think... Well, Michigan's 45 minutes away, that's the first thing. I love going home on the weekends to my parents' house. Second thing is I think Michigan is a great school for computer science. I think it's like top 10 programs in the United States. And on top of that, I think probably one of the best classes there is definitely EECS 484. I studied computer science at University of Michigan. I'm all about backend services, technologies, microservices. And EECS 484 is database and management systems, and I am all about that class. I think that class has been the highlight of my entire undergraduate career.

Savannah Peterson

>> Ooh, I love hearing that. So most of y'all just mentioned that you're leveraging AI in the classroom. I'm curious, how much are you using it? How much are you using it for your own life? How much are you using it for school? Anything else that might be out there? Calvin, I'm going to start with you.

Calvin Kraus

>> Yeah, absolutely. Definitely as AI's progressed, definitely seen that I've started to use these tools more. My classmates have started to use these tools more. It started from just idea generation, that's the main function I think most students use it for. Giving yourself somewhere to start and kind of just ground yourself with your ideas, that's really important. But again, I'm not necessarily doing any coding work, so mainly it's for those traditional-

Savannah Peterson

>> That doesn't make you any less. All right. I'm a non-technical as well. You're totally fine.

Calvin Kraus

>> But yeah. I mean, those are really the main things that we're doing right now. In terms of day-to-day functions, I mean, improving your emails, just improving your overall writing, those are really the main things that I'm using it for. And I can see my classmates using it for as well.

Savannah Peterson

>> Cool. Sydney, what about you?

Sydney Allen

>> So I kind of want a minor in English, currently taking my first year writing requirement. I like to use AI when I'm grading my paper. And I put in my paper once it's done, and I'll be like, "Can you give me some critiques on it?" But it's like I have to have a very specific input, like I'm writing a formal research paper. In my Python class, I like to use it when... I don't know. Sometimes Google Colab's very generic, like type error. And it's like, which line is that? Where is that? I like to put it into ChatGPT sometimes, and be like, "What's the error? Where is it? How can I fix it?" And then I go from there, go back to the drawing board. So, as long as I input the right thing, it can kind of be helpful to get me to that final version of whatever work I'm doing.

Savannah Peterson

>> You are actually... The intersection of you studying English and studying computer science is pretty wild when you think about it because that might make you the ultimate prompt engineer. I think I'll be asking you what I should be prompting things with moving forward.

Sydney Allen

>> I got you. Yeah.

Savannah Peterson

>> I love this for us, Sydney. It's going to be great. Ciara, what about you?

Ciara Cade

>> Yeah. I'm a commuter, so I don't have the luxury of attending all the office hours for my classes. I love using ChatGPT or Cloud to basically prompt me on anything that I'm stuck on. But one thing I really like doing is retaining my critical thinking skills. So I never like it actually giving me the answer. I always help or needed... Or I always basically use it to write out like, "How should I approach this problem? I'm having issues with this. How should I think about it?" Or just shortcuts when studying, so that way I kind of optimize the way that I study and optimize I think about the problem. Because I don't have Chat when I'm doing the exam or when I'm studying for a quiz and stuff like that. So I love to use it to just optimize the way that I think when it comes to approaching problems. And also for side projects too. I'm a CS student. I love doing side projects. When it comes to system designs, sometimes I don't have the best, I guess, information on how to pursue creating a certain technology. And so I love to use it, like what technologies do I use, what frameworks should I use? And then it gives me all the answers, and I get to pick and choose from there.

Savannah Peterson

>> Do you think that some people use AI too much as a crutch for learning?

Ciara Cade

>> I think we're definitely approaching an era where people are relying on AI way too much for any issues that they have. For example, I don't really recommend AI for creative writing. I think it's called creative writing for a reason. I actually picked up a book this summer, and it made me realize how much I was missing out, letting AI write basically everything that I do or kind of check over everything I do. And that there's so much value in learning how to see and think for things of yourself, and taking in things that other people think rather than just relying on AI for everything.

Savannah Peterson

>> There's beauty in the imperfection.

Ciara Cade

>> Yes, most definitely.

Savannah Peterson

>> Yeah. No, I think you would agree, Sydney.

Sydney Allen

>> Yes, absolutely.

Savannah Peterson

>> And I'm sure your professors would be not too pleased if they sensed that AI was... Yeah. Yeah, that look says it all. That look definitely says it all. So do you feel like... And I think there's a healthy tension between technology business, whether that be public or private sector and academia. Do you feel like your professors... And this isn't a loaded question, I'm genuinely curious. Do you feel like your professors at Michigan are able to keep up with the technology and teach you all the new tools as they're happening? Or do you feel like you're teaching them sometimes? Maybe it's a hybrid? Calvin, what do you think?

Calvin Kraus

>> Yeah, I'd absolutely say it's a hybrid. I think that the university has definitely taken efforts to start to implement it into their curriculum. But for the most part, I think there's a lot of self-learning that's been going on with students. There's so many free online resources that people are using about. And even people that aren't even in technology-based majors, they're really curious about this because they know that's going to impact every part of their lives, every part of their career in the future. So they want to start learning now so they can be capable of using these tools as they progress throughout their careers.

Savannah Peterson

>> I think you're absolutely right about it being cross-sector and folks are kind of getting to poke around. What are some of your favorite tools? Do you have any biases? I know we're sitting here at Google, so be mindful. Calvin, I'll stick with you to start this off. Yeah. Is there anything you rely to? Do you use a suite of tools? Sydney, I heard you talking earlier that you use a bunch of different things depending on what you're doing. Actually, tell us about that while we're here.

Ciara Cade

>> Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I use ChatGPT mostly for anything that has something to do with writing my emails. Anything that has to do with something technical or coding, Cloud is definitely the way to go. I think that Cloud goes way deeper with explaining what's going on, and it definitely catches the point of what I'm trying to do way more quicker than that. I love Cloud Code. It's a coding that you can use in your development environment, and I've used it plenty of times to basically look at my code and tell me, "Is there something I'm missing? Is there something I could do better?" And it kind of goes in and just basically fixes it right up. Or I love to code myself. A lot of the times, or 99% of the time, I'm just asking it, "What should I code up?" And it'll just go and explain anything that it sees and says like, "Oh, well, you should input this, you should input that." So it's way more personal, I feel like when I'm using Cloud Code, integrated into my development environment, than to use something like ChatGPT that's in the browser. And then even that, we're seeing a lot of new tools come out, like the browser for ChatGPT, I found that very amusing. So it definitely depends on the task, but that's usually my suite.

Savannah Peterson

>> Yeah. Sydney, what about you?

Sydney Allen

>> My English teacher told me to use U-M GPT, so I did. Whenever I put in my paper, it's always U-M GPT. They claim that that actually doesn't take your kind of personal data the same way ChatGPT does, and it kind of understands more what university professors are looking for. So when it's tailored to-

Savannah Peterson

>> That's cool.

Sydney Allen

>> Yeah, like academic assignment. I just turned in 2,000 plus word research paper. I was constantly using U-M GPT, and I felt like it's a lot better for when I'm doing something really specific here. But ChatGPT isn't bad for code. But I would definitely say using something specific to the university is my favorite way, and it's a little bit easier to navigate than something as broad as ChatGPT or Gemini maybe.

Savannah Peterson

>> Well, look at that little shout out. Good job, good job. Plus one for that. Calvin, any faves?

Calvin Kraus

>> I've mainly been using Claude. I've also been interested in just learning how to use it as a coding tool as well, even though again, I don't have as heavy as a tech background. Just being able to learn those concepts through that's been really important.

Savannah Peterson

>> You can buy and code it now. It doesn't have to be super technical.

Calvin Kraus

>> Yeah, exactly. But again, especially as a college student, I mean, I don't want to have five different premium subscriptions that I'm going for. So that's really the main one that I'm using right now. And I feel like it's able to encompass most of what I need from a day-to-day perspective. I actually have been using Google Gemini for my group projects and one of my business administration classes. I think one of the useful parts about that is being able to integrate it with all the other Google features. We already have our Google Drive and Google Docs where we're doing everything through. So being able to really easily integrate everything has been super helpful.

Savannah Peterson

>> I love that you just brought that up. So the AI is meeting you where you already are, rather than you having to go into another environment to play with it. Bobby, I know you love the G Suite and everything related to Gemini. But are there any other AI tools you like to use in your personal life? I haven't asked you this before.

Bobby Allen

>> I mean, Gemini is pretty much my daily driver, as you can imagine. But I'm a huge fan of Google AI Studio. If you want to create something, if you want to go kind of prompt a prototype to something that you can play around with and then being able to deploy the Cloud Run, get it in a container, it can scale up to thousands of people. We call that concept vibe coding a viral. If I come up with a cool idea, and I want to expose it into scalable infrastructure, if I blow up an idea because it gets on social media and people eat it up, Cloud Run's got me, it builds by the second and scales down to zero. So that's my style.

Savannah Peterson

>> Cloud Run is great for that.

Bobby Allen

>> Cloud Run's great for that. And there's a path from Cloud Run to my product GKE. So that's my typical suite and where I get down.

Savannah Peterson

>> That's where you get down with your AI, Bobby?

Bobby Allen

>> That's where I get down. Yeah.

Savannah Peterson

>> I love it. I love it.

Bobby Allen

>> And NotebookLM. Sorry.

Ciara Cade

>> I love NotebookLM.

Bobby Allen

>> NotebookLM is fine.

Ciara Cade

>> I use it to consolidate my notes when I'm driving, because I take an hour drive to school three times a week. And so when I don't have time to look at my notes, I plug in all my notes, create a podcast out of it, and then I listen to the podcast while driving.

Savannah Peterson

>> Smart.

Ciara Cade

>> Yes.

Savannah Peterson

>> Clever, clever girl. You're obviously very versed and fluent in AI, as much as anyone can be right now. And when I say AI, I mean, the tools. And obviously you know some about... Well, a fair bit about the technical side of it too, but more that it's just been a part of your life for a little bit now. What was your aha moment where you realized, "Whoa, this technology is probably going to change the way things have been done"? Calvin, I'm going to start with you this time.

Calvin Kraus

>> That's a great question, actually, because that's something that, I guess, pretty uniquely, me and my friends have started talking a lot about recently. I mean, I think back all the way to high school, and I mean, that's when ChatGPT was in its early days. It seemed like a cool tool, but you hadn't really thought about how is that really going to impact your day-to-day life. And especially coming in as a business student, I think that was one of the angles that I really took on it, understanding how it's going to affect large corporations and how real this AI is going to be. And when you've seen all these new startups launching, all these new tools being launched, you understand how much it is going to affect enterprise. And at the end of the day, I think I had a conversation with my friend, maybe it was three or four months ago, and I was originally someone that was very devoted to dealing with the finance career path because that's pretty common within the business school here. But I think I really sat there and thought about it. I was like, "Wow, this technology has the potential to change everything." So that really made me reconsider what I wanted to do with my career path. And ultimately, I think that was one of the big moments that I had.

Savannah Peterson

>> Yeah. Yeah, kind of that... Universe just got bigger. Sydney, what about you?

Sydney Allen

>> I'm not sure I've had a huge moment where I just felt like AI was going to reshape the whole future, but I had a very negative outlook on it because my high school was very like, "Do not use it." And really, they were only talking about it when people were utilizing it to cheat. And so I was very like, "I don't want to use it." But when I came here, it was the first time they were like, "You can use that, integrate that into your work."

Savannah Peterson

>> Oh, wow. So this has been a big shift for you over the last few months then.

Sydney Allen

>> Yeah,, this has been a very big shift. And so for my American culture class, I would go through and read the document. There were some terms, some words I didn't really understand, and I was like, "What's going on here?" And I just put that long PDF into the AI, and it was able to tell me what it meant and actually break it down. And it was a little bit like, "Okay, you can do something. You're not just all bad." So I would say I haven't had a whole reframing type of it's going to change the world, but I have changed my mindset surrounding AI a little bit. And that was probably my moment.

Savannah Peterson

>> I think that's pretty profound though too, realizing you can upload it your own things, whether that's to train or even just to summarize or highlight, I think is really powerful. Ciara, what about you?

Ciara Cade

>> I think there are two moments in my life where I've looked at an AI model and went like, "This is going to completely change the world." I actually caught wind of OpenAI's ChatGPT just around a week after it launched. And so I was probably one of the first handful of people on campus to use it. I was sitting in the Michigan Union Atrium, and I had went to the website, and I'm like, "People are probably bluffing. This isn't real." I went and I put one of my homework essay prompts in it, and I watched it word by word, just typed the entire essay. And I remember calling up my friend, and I went like, "Yo, I just went on this website, and I put in one of our essay prompts, and this thing just wrote the whole entire essay quoted." I mean, it had write citations and stuff like that back then. It was absolutely insane. Of course, I didn't turn in that essay, but it made me realize the impact that AI could potentially have on the future around, I think two, three weeks after that is when the general public started catching, and then eventually just blew up to this, I mean, the thing that we known today. I think the second thing was seeing how LLM tools, AI tools or just infrastructure kind of impacted the way that AI performs. Like, for example, this past summer, I had the opportunity to learn what model context protocol was and how people are able to use this in terms of building separate servers that allow AI to more deeply, I guess integrate into your products and stuff like that. I used it to control a bot in Minecraft. It was absolutely surreal seeing how I had Claude desktop open. And I was basically talking to Claude, and Claude would go and control this bot in Minecraft and would work with me on that. And it was absolutely insane. And I kind of had this thing of like, okay, we have models, we have AI, and stuff like that, but the infrastructure and the tools that come additional to that is putting on an entirely new level of wow-

Savannah Peterson

>> Yes....

Ciara Cade

>> that can impact this world.

Savannah Peterson

>> Absolutely. It's wild to think that was only three... I mean, it was three years ago this month that ChatGPT came out. So the whole world has changed quite a bit. Bobby, I want to ask you, because I never asked you this either, what was your aha moment?

Bobby Allen

>> I don't know that there was one. I mean, getting to work at Google, I get to experience a lot of different things before the general public does. I would say NotebookLM was a game changer, getting to see early versions of that. I think the first time I put in, I put in actually I think one of my sermons from YouTube and it turned it into a podcast. And I said, "This is actually good. They know what they're talking about. This sounds like two people bantering back and forth." So being able to kind of compress down learning that would have taken a lot of time and be able to upload multiple sources and turn that into a podcast that you could listen to while you walk your dog, this is the future. So I think that was a big moment. And then seeing Google AI Studio write code to turn an idea into a prototype in a matter of minutes, and then being able to push that out, I'm like, "This is totally the future."

Savannah Peterson

>> Yeah, it is the future. Are you nervous at all about anything with our AI revolution and the impacts that that could have on humanity? Ciara, I'll start with you on this one.

Ciara Cade

>> I think today we're basically seeing a lot of AI companies approach government agencies or partner with the government in certain senses. So that kind of makes me a little nervous because it's like, okay, what data is being distributed there during those partnerships?

Savannah Peterson

>> Oh, yeah. There's one partnership in particular I think you're referencing that scares the pants off me too. Don't worry.

Ciara Cade

>> Yeah, same here.

Savannah Peterson

>> Yeah, that's pretty scary. Sydney, what about you?

Sydney Allen

>> I would just say climate change wise, environmentally. I was not very aware that it affected the environment, but that was also another reason I had such a negative outlook I previously said on the AI. And just even being here, I remember it was like late September, and it's still like in the 80s, even though first two weeks of school were in the 60s. And it's like, I do believe in climate change. So it's just like another thing that we're kind of using and I am a little bit worried since it is now being integrated, like more jobs and everything, that we're not going to have as much of a way to take a step back in terms of how that's affecting the environment.

Savannah Peterson

>> That's a really good call out. And it's interesting that some of the future geopolitical battles of our world will be over water and data center space and power, which is pricey, super different than the assets of previous conflict. Calvin, what about you? Anything make you nervous?

Calvin Kraus

>> Yeah. I mean, definitely like what you just said, I think the geopolitical risks. You think back to the nuclear race, it feels pretty similar to that in terms of the AI development race.

Savannah Peterson

>> Yes, it is.

Calvin Kraus

>> And at the end of the day, how individual countries are going to be searching for power at the end of the day, and whoever wins that race is going to have the power. I think the other thing for me, I mean, I hate to beat the same horse going from the business perspective, but you see all these stocks skyrocketing valuation. I mean, NVIDIA, I think it's a $5 trillion valuation. And when you think really deeply about that, it's like why lot of these stocks, not just NVIDIA and AI based ones, but just general technology companies skyrocketing valuations because of the cost-cutting measures that is associated with AI. And a lot of that can mean losing jobs. I mean, you just saw Amazon cut 10% of their white collar workforce, and they plan to continue doing so in the future. So I think that's one of the biggest things that I'm thinking about is what is the workforce going to look like in the future? Because I think this is completely different than the dot-com bubble or, sorry, the dot-com wave in the sense that it's not just revolutionizing how we do things, but it is going to automate things, and that does have potential to take jobs. So that's something that I'm always thinking about.

Savannah Peterson

>> Yeah, absolutely. I want to build on that for a second. What do you think, and I want you all to answer this, what do you think is going to be the most valuable human skill five years from now? I mean, one would probably argue it'd be like surgeon or coding before a couple years ago.

Bobby Allen

>> Yeah.

Savannah Peterson

>> Curious if we all think that's still the case or not. Sydney, I'm going to start with you on this one.

Sydney Allen

>> I mean, since we are talking about AI, I do feel like just seeing the wave of vibe coding and how the job, like software developer, everything is constantly evolving. Even me majoring in information technology, I was scared, kind of what Calvin said, that maybe I wouldn't have a role in my job. But it's like, that's not true. If I just kind of like update these skills to be able to work with the AI, I still realize the human input. AI can't really do anything unless you give it a prompt. Even just altering the prop by a word or two is going to change it. So I feel like everyone's going to want to be educated on AI if you're in English, if you're in computer science. And so I still feel like coding and knowing that AI aspect will be really, really valuable in the future.

Savannah Peterson

>> Ciara, do you agree?

Ciara Cade

>> Well, I totally agree with her statement. I think, additionally, in order to run AI models, you're going to need a good GPU. In order to have a good GPU, you're going to have to have good computer engineers and electrical engineers working on those. And so I'm seeing a big rise in the interest of hardware and hardware design and CPU design. And basically how do we make GPUs more efficient? Even GPU frameworks like CUDA, we're going to see a lot of people who work closely with hardware design changing the industry now that AI can perform most entry level software engineer jobs. In the incoming future, we'll see that. Yeah.

Savannah Peterson

>> Yeah. Calvin?

Calvin Kraus

>> Yeah. I mean, if I'm being honest, I really don't know. I mean, that's something that I'm still very curious about, and I think that I'm still trying to think about and learn about. But I think one thing that's always going to be important is people skills and relationship building in terms of understanding that side of it. Because obviously it's going to be all this technology, but a really big part is going to be how do we apply that technology. So from my perspective, I think knowing how to talk to people, understand their problems, that's going to remain important, especially as we embark in this era.

Savannah Peterson

>> Yeah, I think you're absolutely right. Bobby, what do you think?

Bobby Allen

>> I think our future's in a good spot considering the answers that these three young people just gave. I think connections with people are going to still matter probably more than they ever have.

Savannah Peterson

>> The networking piece we were talking about before.

Bobby Allen

>> The networking piece, the making sure they're on ramps for those who are not as far along as you are, making sure that the future that we create is accessible for those who may not be quite up to speed where you are and who need a little bit more time to process it. Going to get our grandparents and our cousins and the other people who may not be in a university like this, being exposed to the classes, the people who feel like let's not leave anybody behind, and then have that community culture, I think that's going to be huge. And then back to something Calvin talked about, the people that are coming up with the right question. AI can help you get to the answer faster, but if you're going down the wrong path, why we're doing is going to be so much more important than just what we do. I don't want to build a three-story house for someone in a wheelchair. I want to make sure that I'm contextualizing the solution based on what people need. So thinking about how am I serving the people that I want to make life better for, that's going to be something that's got to be an anchor in the midst of all this other technology. And you know, one of my favorite movies we talked about before is Hidden Figures. And the reason Hidden Figures is so important to me, Savannah, is because those women were clear on what they wanted to do, bring people to the moon and bring them back. And what I've said in other forums is that the challenge that we have is that we have so much tooling and so much power that we're losing sight of the focus of why we're doing stuff. So here's the way that I've said that. An impossible problem without tooling will go further than incredible tools without purpose. If you know where you're trying to go, even if it's a moonshot, like getting people to the moon and back, that purpose and that focus will attract the types of tooling, as opposed to just falling in love with the stuff and leaving people behind. They wanted to get those people back home because they had families. They were connected to folks. If we lose our connection to people, the technology's not going to save us.

Savannah Peterson

>> The poet in me is just wanting to give you snaps right now. No, absolutely. None of it matters if we're not building a better world. I've asked you this, so I'm not going to ask you this, but I want to hear their perspective. What do y'all hope... It doesn't even have to be AI. Let's just say the powerful brains of this generation. What do you hope that we solve, you solve... I'm not going to put myself in your generation, that'd be generous. You solve through the use of technology for your friends, for your family, for the people that you care about. Calvin, I'm going to start with you on this one. What do you hope tech solves for the world?

Calvin Kraus

>> It's a great question. I think there's a lot of different angles you can take on that. I mean, obviously you're seeing AI help with research on diseases, you're seeing it help with a lot of humanitarian things. And ultimately, I think that's a really important question, because at the end of the day, like Bobby was saying, if AI is not helping society and the progression of technology overall is not helping society, then what's the whole purpose? And I think that's something to keep insight throughout all of it. I mean, I think ultimately a lot of what AI is going to do is improve efficiencies, but I think the result of that is allowing time for people to do a lot of other things and focus on what is really important in life and society. So ultimately, that's what I hope is going to be the biggest progression with technology within the next decade.

Savannah Peterson

>> I love that. Sydney, what about you?

Sydney Allen

>> I would say healthcare. I feel like everything is getting more expensive. I went to Walgreens last night, and I was like, "I can't get Doritos for less than $7?" And so healthcare-

Savannah Peterson

>> That's crazy, first of all.

Sydney Allen

>> I know, I know.

Savannah Peterson

>> Do we need to talk to the Doritos people?

Sydney Allen

>> Right. So healthcare is definitely one of those things I feel like it's always been expensive. I just kind of did a project, and they're saying for women with diabetes during pregnancy, it's like extra $5,000 to get the care they need. And so just as a whole, I think it's really, really hard for people in that lower class, maybe certain middle class to get access to the healthcare they need. And I'm not saying that AI's going to equate to a professional's opinions. But when you can say like, "I'm having these symptoms or I'm feeling this way," and you can just plug that in. Maybe you don't have a car, maybe you don't have gas money, you can just do that from the comfort of your own home. And so I just think even more than just having it right there, there are a lot of people who have to take into account doing little things like even going to urgent care because they don't have the resources to do that. And so I feel like kind of having it at the tip of their fingers like that, it could be beneficial.

Savannah Peterson

>> It's huge.

Sydney Allen

>> Yeah.

Savannah Peterson

>> You're touching on something really powerful and beyond even just telemedicine, it's first and last mile. So people who need the pharmacy the most can't get there. And when you think about that, it's really interesting. I had the opportunity to interview the CEO of Serve Robotics, the delivery robots that are so cute, that bring you burritos. Right now they bring you a burrito, right? Because less risk, kind of innocuous. Worst case scenario, your burrito has an with another robot, or maybe it's a little cold, but other than that, this isn't life or death. But it was really fascinating talking to him because they don't see it just as a burrito delivery mechanism. This is so that you'll be able to have prescriptions dropped in because it is secure. It's only you that can open that up. It's safe delivery in that capacity. And it's going to make it a lot easier for caregivers who can't leave the home, or for anyone who's not in a position to move around or even shoot, even when you're an able-bodied person and you're just feeling ill. I don't want to go to Walgreens to go get that prescription either, and I would like some Doritos with my extra strength Sudafed, whatever. But those details there are I think really important. Ciara, what do you hope this all solves for the world?

Ciara Cade

>> I'm going to add on to the efficiency conversation. One of the foundational topics of artificial intelligence machine learning, and machine learning is really good at predicting based on previous information. And so I read recently about how using AI are being architected to become more efficient. And with efficient GPU use, then we can probably tackle the climate change thing about how much water's being used, how much a GPU is being used to its full capacity. So I think in terms, AI could be used to kind of advance how we view the environment and how we use the environment to take on this whole new industry of artificial intelligence and taking away from that.

Savannah Peterson

>> Absolutely. I mean, it can save the world. It's wild that it could end the world and also save it. And there aren't too many technologies or movements within the business space that have that level of impact. But I think it's really interesting. I have three final questions for you. Let me phrase this differently. How important is our efforts, like Google's, to come into campuses to show you all the tools, to involve you in television production like this? And what do you wish every company did or companies did better to engage students like you? Because you're obviously freaking brilliant. We are silly for not engaging you more often. So what's the best vessel for that? Ciara, I'm going to start with you on this one.

Ciara Cade

>> Yeah. Well, I think Gen Z, we're very powerful in the market. We're just now reaching our 20s, and we have a lot to say about things that are happening in the world. So I think involving Gen Z. What companies could do better is allowing us to have a constant stance and a constant, I think, spotlight when it comes to issues and topics. I see a lot of companies input Gen Z when we become viral for something, and then we're shoot off the stage. And so it's good for us to have a constant output on stuff, and we're not just told that we're lazy, that we were too entitled and stuff like that, that we're considered for our thoughts and values and opinions. Because we're very fast acting. A lot of trends come and go because of us. And especially with dealing with AI, we have a lot to say about it, especially as even the first generation to grow up fully reliant on technology or technology has always been in our face. So I think companies could definitely do a better job at that.

Savannah Peterson

>> Yeah, I think that's great. Sydney, what about you?

Sydney Allen

>> I definitely agree with what Ciara said. But just on top of that, I feel like, we're just like, people still refer to us as kids. And I just feel like that's a little bit dangerous, because it's just like how everyone realizes you got to teach the kids math. It's like when you grow up knowing something, then you know you're not behind. Stay ready so you don't have to get ready. If you kind of implement these important learnings into the education system, I feel like more people are going to be well versed on things that are important like AI. And then we're not going to have to be doing as much catching up in society because at some point it's like the millennials and everybody else, it's not going to be them. It's going to be Gen Z, and then it's going to be Gen Alpha. So to get ahead of that push and to teach them the important skills that we're learning now, I think it's just going to be better long term. And people need to stop kind of fit us in a box of like kids and we're too young to understand. It's like, we'll see about it. See if we can break it down and teach it to people at a really small level. And then you just keep building on it. And it's like at some point, we will all have a better understanding of it like the earlier that you start.

Savannah Peterson

>> Absolutely. Ageism is gross no matter the age, whether you're discriminating against older or younger. I've always found it so distasteful, and you're truly missing out on an entire demographic of brain power. If you don't encourage folks of different ages, which is absolutely insane if you think about it even just from an economic perspective. I mean, you, the business major, know how much an economy benefits the more people participate in said economy. Someone called me kiddo the other day, and it's probably the most offended I've been at work in a hot minute. So that's really resonated with me. I need you to know, I was like, "Excuse me? What is that?" But I do think that one thing that you have right now, I'm glad we're talking about this, one thing that you have right now is a thing that you will not have when you are my age, or Bobby's age. Our brains are inherently biased by our experiences. We are shaped what is possible is based on what has been possible. And so we are almost bound by the technology of the past or even just our experiences of the past. Obviously you and I try and shadow those molds all the time, but there's a jading that happens. You get a little jaded about certain things, or you've had enough ideas fail where maybe you're not as ambitious to try another one. And the beauty of your stage, let's not even call it an age. The beauty of your stage right now is the world really is your oyster. You can ask those questions. So to our earlier conversation, I don't know how to ask the questions that are going to cure cancer, but you probably do. And what's cool about that is celebrating the minds that can think to even ask the question. Bobby and I might think, "Oh, that's crazy. There's no way we could do that." Whereas having other folks of all different ages changes the way that you get to a solution, and that outcome becomes very different because the impossible becomes possible. And especially as tooling catches up. So it's super cool. Calvin, don't worry. I'm not going to leave you up.

Calvin Kraus

>> Yeah. I mean, I think I mentioned earlier about how they're starting to integrate it into the curriculum of what we're doing, but I still think one of the biggest things is actually learning it and learning it on your own terms. I think there's a lot of fear associated with being able to learn these concepts. There's so much new terminology coming out. You're hearing all this new news that's coming out. It's progressing so rapidly. So for students, I think the biggest thing is being able to take that first jump. And like Google coming on campus, that's one of the best things that a company can do to really start bringing on this new generation. Because again, like you said earlier, it's like... I mean, as a college student, the world is kind of your oyster. I mean, you don't have many responsibilities yet, you have tons of time. I mean, why not learn all these concepts right now when you have all these resources all this time? So that's my view on it.

Savannah Peterson

>> Yeah, absolutely. And go knock on those doors. I mean, a company like Google might, I'm not going to say close the door, but not be as inviting, say to a random person coming in who just wants to say, "Check out the office." You're a student looking to learn, "Hey, come on in. Come look at this cool thing that we're doing." And I know Ciara, you're a big networker. That's one of the advantages of the position that you're in right now is people will talk to you. People will give you a discounted ticket or a free ticket to a conference, or there's space for that in communities that celebrate that type of student. Okay. So this one is... Well, actually, no, I'm going to do this separately in two parts. So just real quick lightning round. What did you want to be when you were a little kid, say like five to seven? Bobby, I'm going to start with you.

Bobby Allen

>> I wanted to be a doctor, and I was specifically going to be an ophthalmologist because I said-

Savannah Peterson

>> At five, you wanted to be an eye doctor. I just wanted to be-

Bobby Allen

>> I think doctor at five, and then soon after that, maybe between five and 10, ophthalmologists. If I'm an eye doctor, they're not going to die. The worst that'll happen is they'll go blind. So no one will die on the table on me. That was my thought. And then-

Savannah Peterson

>> Wow, I'm glad I asked.

Bobby Allen

>> Yeah. Sorry.

Savannah Peterson

>> No, no, no. No, no, no, no, no. I mean, but that's logic, right? And so then when did you shift to wanting to be a nerd?

Bobby Allen

>> Probably to... Thank you.

Savannah Peterson

>> I mean, I say it as-

Bobby Allen

>> And actually, specifically part of the eye doctor thing was glaucoma is a big issue in the Black community. And so I wanted to specifically focus on that. Because I had older relatives who struggled with that and saw more seasoned folks who struggled with that issue, and I wanted to be someone that could help fill that gap. And I think it was in late high school, I actually got a chance to intern at NASA, and that just switched me on to technology in a whole different way.

Savannah Peterson

>> Casual high school internship, Bobby. Geez.

Bobby Allen

>> I live right up the street from there. So some things came together for me to work there. And I think that's where I'm like, I don't want to go to space, but I want to work in tech.

Savannah Peterson

>> Yeah, it's a really tiny capsule.

Bobby Allen

>> Yeah.

Savannah Peterson

>> Have you ever been in those? They're so tiny.

Bobby Allen

>> Yeah, I couldn't do it.

Savannah Peterson

>> You are eating your knees outside of them.

Bobby Allen

>> I couldn't do it. I couldn't do it.

Savannah Peterson

>> NASA's cool though. I like that, that was your gateway. So we have NASA to thank.

Bobby Allen

>> We have NASA.

Savannah Peterson

>> That's awesome. Calvin, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Calvin Kraus

>> It's a good question. I think it rotated a little bit. For a while I wanted to be a soccer player. By the time I got to like 10, I realized that was not going to be possible.

Savannah Peterson

>> You weren't already Ronaldo.

Calvin Kraus

>> Yeah, unfortunately not. But growing up, I always loved Shark Tanks. So I've been watching that. That was something that I always loved, being like Mark Cuban, being up there, talking to pitches and stuff like that. I mean, my parents worked in a startup environment also, so that's something that inspired me pretty early on. And I think that's what really led to me being here today. So, yeah.

Savannah Peterson

>> I love that you love the Sharks. I got to interview Robert Herjavec the other day, and he's probably my favorite. Very affluent person that I have interviewed.

Calvin Kraus

>> Yeah.

Savannah Peterson

>> Yeah, just a wonderful soul. So you're not wrong for watching that. He actually thanked my mom for watching Shark Tank with me as a kid.

Calvin Kraus

>> That's awesome.

Savannah Peterson

>> We all melted. It was just a team melt. Sydney, what did you want to be?

Sydney Allen

>> Kind of switch between a doctor and a performer, like a singer.

Savannah Peterson

>> Love this. Did you want to be an ophthalmologist as well?

Sydney Allen

>> I did not. I did not want to have anything to do with eyes. I think it was just generic. I watched Doc McStuffins, miss the show. It was young Black girl. She had all these stuffed animals, and she would go around and she would fix everything. And that was Disney Channels growing up. I just loved that show. But then on the other side-

Savannah Peterson

>> Talk about representation mattering.

Sydney Allen

>> I mean.

Savannah Peterson

>> Love to hear that.

Sydney Allen

>> I would say it's part of why I was hesitant to do what I'm pursuing today, because women in STEM, there's huge disparity there. And then Black women in STEM, it's even bigger step back. And so I didn't even consider what I wanted to do for a while. But then my parents, both being Black, they had master's degrees from here in computer science. And so I was lucky to kind of be able to see that, and they really helped me realize this is feasible for you. And that representation, I think really helped me. Because if I didn't see it, I would have felt like, is it possible? Can I do it? And now I still feel imposter syndrome being at such a great university, but I feel like I've seen it. I've seen it happen. There's an example of it in real life. So yeah, now I think there's like a huge contrast between those two things, I don't know, like entertainer, maybe more like stereotypical Black community, and then what I'm doing now.

Savannah Peterson

>> Well, it was something you had seen on stage. There are a lot of revered Black performers. And so it's no wonder that that felt like a reasonable career path in which you could achieve and be successful and have... I really just felt... You almost just made me emotional there, Sydney. I really just felt what you said. And I'm so glad you said it, because I get really hard on our team sometimes when there's nothing but photos of white men covering our website and as our thumbnails. And I even spoke with Bobby when we started this series, and we were a little dude heavy in the front half of the season. And I said, "Bro, you know I love you, man, but we both know there needs to be some more diversity and representation." Beautiful representation today, by the way. This is a strong, Bobby. You're closing strong. You really nailed it, but it matters. And it's a big part of why I take the stages that I take. I'm not up there for me as much as people think performance is an ego thing. I'm up there for the girl in the audience who didn't believe she could, until she saw some sassy tattooed chick like me up there crushing it with the white boys just the same, and wearing color and not in some blue suit like they all freaking wear, because they're boring and monotonous. Have more than a blue suit, Calvin. If you take nothing else from this interview, take that. But I'm really glad you said that. And I'm really glad that you saw that so that you could be here today, because you're going to make a difference and think about all the people watching this who are going to be inspired by you. We're talking thousands of people. That's a big deal, girl. That's a big deal. Ciara, what did you want to be? I'm so curious because you are just a put together go, ambitious go getter.

Ciara Cade

>> Well, I think I grew up a Jane of all trades. When I was younger, I wanted to be an artist. Even to this day, I still oil paint. After that, I think I wanted to be a botanist. I was all about natural earths and remedies. So when I entered my high school, Cass Technical High School, I literally just eat, sleep, breathe, botany. And so I went to chem bio route. However, at the end of my high school journey, I had a dream about building a computer. And I had been playing Minecraft for eight years at that point. And I love the kind of sandboxy, logical perspective that Minecraft brings to the table when you're gaming and stuff like that, because I'm also an avid gamer. I mean, every console you could think of I have in my house right now. When I built my computer over the course of COVID, I actually skipped school to go to Micro Center in Madison Heights to get my GPU. I mean, literally, this is during COVID. So I was joining classes while I was in the line to get my GPU. I went home, put my GPU on my computer, and it came on, and I just realized I enjoyed the entire process of what it was like to get every part, piece by piece. Like I said, COVID had a lot of shortages with every PC part that I had. I had six months to think about this as a career. And when it finally powered on and I started the BIOS, and I put my operating system on, I said, "I could do this. I could totally do this for the rest of my life." And while that may have been more of the computer engineering side, I eventually got into coding and realized, you know what, when University of Michigan, they sent a letter mail saying, "Hey. Michigan, we'll give you full tuition if you apply to our school." I said, "You know what? I clicked off computer science when I sent in my application." I mean, it's been up from there. So I think I chose the right choice.

Savannah Peterson

>> I love that your subconscious communicated with you about your future career like that. Wait, like a literal dream? Were you sleeping?

Ciara Cade

>> Oh yeah, yeah.

Savannah Peterson

>> I really tried to interpret that incorrectly.

Ciara Cade

>> I mean, that's the overhead story I give everyone. The real story is I had COVID complications, that I was in the hospital when I had this dream. So I was in the hospital dealing with COVID complications. They had given me a medicine that made me feel super drowsy. And during that sleep, when I had that medicine, is when I had that super, super vivid dream of just like, "Hey, I should build my computer." And yeah. Crazy, right? If I didn't have that dream, I wouldn't be here today.

Savannah Peterson

>> I'm looking at production, and I know we all just got the feels right now like, "Whoa, that is wild."

Ciara Cade

>> Yeah.

Savannah Peterson

>> So the moral, kids, is to listen to your dreams and then you just go build that. I also love that you got a lesson in supply chain during math too.

Ciara Cade

>> Oh, definitely.

Savannah Peterson

>> Because I think everybody just sort of thought computers came out of thin air unless you worked in hardware, and was like, "What? I can't have that thing I want now? Oh, geez. That's a little more complicated." Wow, that was more emotional than I expected really how to ask that question. It wasn't even on my list. So my next question for you is, think of this as your moment on Shark Tank, Calvin, since you brought it up. This is the opening when you walk out, and you're setting the stage and getting their attention right away. Tell us what your dream job would be. And it doesn't just have to be your first dream job right out of school. It could be where you want to be when you're Bobby and I's age, hanging out, sitting in the middle of your career, and what that looks like. But really sell it to me. Pretend that Bobby and I are in a position to give you that job. Ciara, we'll start with you.

Ciara Cade

>> I think my dream job would definitely be startup founder. Throughout my time at University of Michigan, I have gotten to meet so many amazing people who got an idea and said, "You know what? I don't think college is for me," and drop right on out. And while I didn't follow that path, I definitely shared their passion for the sudden idea they got on a random Thursday morning and just pursuing that idea to the fullest extent. Even in my side projects that I've done and the research papers I've read over the past summer with AI, context engineering, and prop engineering, and stuff like that, I see so many ideas that could be captivated if I just put my hands on my computer. And so when I look in the future, when I look 25 years ahead, I see myself owning my first company, probably raising another however such million for series B, C, D, whatever, and eventually pioneering an entirely new space for AI technology or all of the above.

Savannah Peterson

>> Make sure I'm your first interview when you launch that company.

Ciara Cade

>> Give me my first angel investor. How about that?

Savannah Peterson

>> Also that. Both with this gal, that's perfect. Oh, that's exciting. I love that. Little founder vibes. I'm confident you'll be doing that. Probably not your first company in 20 years, probably a little sooner than that.

Ciara Cade

>> Oh, most definitely. Thank you.

Savannah Peterson

>> Absolutely. Sydney, what about you? What's your dream job? This is fun. You're right at the beginning of school. This is an exciting moment to pitch this.

Sydney Allen

>> I know. Right. Hold on.

Savannah Peterson

>> Think about your summer internship.

Sydney Allen

>> Something about user experience researcher really appeals to me. I've always been more of a behind the scenes person. So this is definitely a little bit different. But UX researcher, you're going around and you're asking people what they want to see in a user interface. I'm on Ulta all the time. I put lip gloss on right before this. I'm always kind of on things like that, and I'll feel like, "Oh, I wish I could have pressed Fenty a click earlier because it just took me a little bit too long to get there." And so for me, I just feel like that attention to detail is really where I thrive, and I really enjoy making people happy and making me experience a lot more convenient. I think kind of behind the scenes work, like conducting surveys and realizing what users want to see, I think that's just more what appeals to me. So I really want to be user experience researcher.

Savannah Peterson

>> Do you have a good example of your life where your attention to detail has augmented your life or your family adventures? Or are you the one they rely on for certain highly detailed things?

Sydney Allen

>> They're going to need to rely on my mom for sure. Yes. Okay.

Savannah Peterson

>> Shout out to .

Sydney Allen

>> Right, exactly. Like outfit, this is my mom. I mean, I put it together, but I would say I do like doing things with my appearance. So it's just like, I don't know, my lip liner. It's morphy, shade, trendsetter. There's another one that I could have done, but it's just, like, smack. I don't know what shade it is, but it's a bit of a lighter brown. So I'm just thinking of like the... Is it room for me?

Savannah Peterson

>> I don't know.

Sydney Allen

>> But I thought about it, and I was just like, the contrast between my skin tone and the trendsetter is a little bit better.

Savannah Peterson

>> It looks good. And you want heavier contrast on camera. I'll just tell you.

Sydney Allen

>> Exactly, exactly.

Savannah Peterson

>> I'm much camera than I do in just my daily driver life.

Sydney Allen

>> I don't know if y'all can't see my lip liner, that's rough. But I put it on, and I'm just thinking about the difference in how it will look on my skin tone and what's going to actually show up more. And so I feel like when I've done my lip combos, if that's what you want to call it, that little attention to detail in terms of what shade I'm putting on. I have on kind of three different shades right now on my lips, but you can't really see it. But it's all supposed to kind of come out like a mixture of brown and pink. And so it's like those little things like that, it makes a difference. I like it, and hopefully the camera likes it. But yeah, that was an important decision on my way over here, the dark brown or the medium brown lip liner.

Savannah Peterson

>> You do not need to explain this to a woman who spends probably equal time thinking about what she's wearing at a given show versus what she's saying at a given show. So no shame there. And I do love that your attention to detail with your lip liner is what would give you the attention to detail as a user experience, user interface, designer. It's kind of brilliant. Ulta, if you're listening, Sephora, if you're listening, I think we've got you a summer intern. Calvin, what about you? Give me your pitch. You're in the tank.

Calvin Kraus

>> Yeah.

Savannah Peterson

>> Dun, dun, dun, dun. The doors just opens.

Calvin Kraus

>> I guess for my part, I have to give a little bit of context. I mean, coming out of the business school, the most typical career paths you hear about the finance, the consulting, and it's kind of insane because a lot of these recruiting timelines are getting pushed up so much. Basically by the end of your freshman year, being a sophomore year, you kind of have to know what you want to do. But I was originally on that career path. I think I had good intentions for why I wanted to do it. I think, again, having a lot of those conversations with people, really thinking about how I think AI is going to change the future and knowing myself as someone that ultimately always wanted to work in a startup, that's where the direction I wanted to go in. And like we mentioned earlier, it's like my whole plan was, okay, maybe I'll do investment banking first, and then I'll go do a startup after. But as a college student, with the pace things are accelerating at right now and with the amount of resources out there, why should I not start learning now? Why should I not take advantage of all that opportunity I have to start getting accustomed to that environment, start really finding what I find important for me, what problems I want to solve, problems I find interesting? So I can't give you maybe an exact job, but I think I would love to work in a startup. I don't have to be the founder. But as long as I find the mission interesting and the problem interesting, and ultimately the product bringing something to the world that I think is important, that's ultimately what I want to be a part of.

Savannah Peterson

>> Love that. You want a sense of purpose.

Calvin Kraus

>> Yeah.

Savannah Peterson

>> Y'all want a sense of purpose. I can tell from all of y'all. I know it's important. Bobby, are you in your dream job?

Bobby Allen

>> I am in a lot of my dream job, but my dream job is changing.

Savannah Peterson

>> Oh, tell us.

Bobby Allen

>> It is, it is.

Savannah Peterson

>> If you feel comfortable. I didn't mean to put you on this one.

Bobby Allen

>> No, I will. I will because I think my dream job before was being Captain America. Now I want to be Nick Fury. I want to set the team up. It's not about what I'm doing with the shield or the acrobatics. I want to set the team up. I want to pour into the next generation of Avengers. That's what I want to do.

Savannah Peterson

>> Beautiful. And you would bring it back to an Avengers Captain America analogy. I mean, I would expect nothing less from you. Okay, last question. Maybe I tend to come up with a little bit based on what you say, but I'm really curious because I suspect some of your peers are going to see this, some students, both at Michigan as well at other universities. Mine was cool too. Shout out to the Huskies. But I would love to know what your advice would be to someone who is just maybe starting on that journey of figuring out where they might want to go to school, what they might want to study, some of the trade-offs. You're all clearly very pleased with your experience at the University of Michigan. So for that cautious person maybe who doesn't see them represented enough in STEM, we're still out here fighting the good fight ladies, but sheesh. But yeah, what would your advice be? Calvin, I'm going to start with you.

Calvin Kraus

>> Yeah. I mean, being the oldest sibling, that's a conversation I've had with both my siblings. My sister's going to Lehigh right now. She's freshman there. My brother's a senior in high school. So being the first one to go down that route and start to understand what college I want to go to, what career route I want to take, that's a conversation that I've been able to have with them as I've learned more and more. I think there's a lot to take in. But I think one of the biggest things you should consider is the people that you're surrounding with. I mean, surely for more technical careers, it is very important to be at strong universities that have strong programs. But ultimately, it's the people that you're around that are really going to dictate your direction and not just what you're learning in the classroom, but really like what you find interesting, what you find meaningful. And ultimately finding people that keep you motivated, people that are also extremely ambitious. I think that's one of the most important things to look for when you're finding your university. And then in terms of career path, I mean, I think it's kind of age-old advice, but just keep exploring. I think again-

Savannah Peterson

>> Stay curious.

Calvin Kraus

>> I mean, yeah, exactly. And it's like, again, with how a lot of traditional recruiting timelines are getting pushed up, kids feel scared and they have to commit to something really quickly. But it's like, at the end of the day, take your time to explore what you want to do, and ultimately that's what's going to help you find what you want to do.

Savannah Peterson

>> I think that's great and nice, Calvin. Sydney, what's your advice?

Sydney Allen

>> I mean, I would just tell them there's always that potential heartbreak if you go for your dream and it doesn't work out. But I would tell them just to do it, because the first meeting I ever had with my college counselor, I told him that I wanted to go to Michigan. I felt like everything about it was perfect. And he looked at my stats, he looked at my sheet, and he told me it's going to take a hope and a dream. And I remember I went out of that meeting, I called my mom, I was really discouraged about it. I didn't even want to apply. I was like, "What's the point?" Because GPA wise, everything, technically I didn't line up with the student profile of who they would admit with how competitive things are getting. But I'm here now, and I think this is perfect for me. I've had so many people younger than me ask me about it. And I tell them, I'm like, "These were my stats. This is how I got in." And it's like, you look on the internet, that's not what they wanted. That was lower than the numbers. I didn't look like the typical students. I would just tell them, "Whatever you want to do, don't dumb down the dream or make it smaller just because it seems like maybe it wouldn't work out." It's like, see. Because if I had listened to him and I hadn't applied, I would have never had that day where I got the best news of my life, and that just never would have happened. He would have managed to take that dream away from me just from some words.

Savannah Peterson

>> That breaks my heart. That genuinely actually breaks my heart. I would like to have some words with that counselor, and none of those words are appropriate for this podcast. Also, I'm really glad you didn't listen to him, and I think it's really powerful. Hopefully he gets to see this. I think it's really powerful that you're sitting here now because you know you best, and that's what you were just saying with that. You know you best. You got to follow your heart. You're going to be the only one who goes and sits in those classes or goes to that job, or fights with the Avengers, or whatever it might be. And you're the only one who's going to have to go to bed with you every night. And I think about that a lot too. If you're working for a brand or a company that doesn't make you feel right or a project that isn't in line with your values, whatever those might be, it's you who's going to have to deal with that. So you got to be able... Even if it's not the decision everybody else wants you to make, forget it. You need to make the decision that's going to make you get your rest at the end of the day and feel good about yourself. Ciara, what about you?

Ciara Cade

>> I think they both had great incredible points. I think my advice would be to find success outside the classroom, which I attribute most of my... I mean, my resume is full of experiences I've gotten because I decided to find success outside the classroom and not within it, or not so much within it. And then I'm extremely delusional. I think I quite clearly manifested my entire life. I mean, I have pages and pages of, "I will do this, I will be this, I will do this." And so be completely delusional. Walk up to those people who you don't think you can talk to. I've emailed people I had absolutely, I guess, no business emailing. And they've replied back, and it's gotten me some pretty cool perks. But definitely, I mean, be extremely open-minded. College, you're not only paying for classes, you're paying for the networking opportunities that you could gain on top of it. I've benefited so much more from the name University of Michigan than I think I have being inside the classroom at University of Michigan, and that's just the type of network pull that University of Michigan offers. So take advantage of it. I've met my closest friends who have helped me when it come to integrating myself more into the startup industry in San Francisco. Because of the network I took advantage of at University of Michigan, I was able to land in San Francisco and call multiple people up and say, "Hey, tell me around your office. I know you're building a startup." Even I was able to take the this name and go back to Detroit, my hometown, which is cultivating its own humongous startup industry. They're pouring millions into it. But because I go to University of Michigan, I was able to go back and say, "Hey, I'm not just CRK from Detroit. I'm CRK. I'm a computer science student at University of Michigan." And that name has carried me so much weight outside the classroom. So take advantage of the fact that you're a student at the University of Michigan, and quite literally abuse it to as much potential as you can. And then even on top of that, be absolutely delusional. I have gotten so many, I guess, roadblocks in my life where I could have said, "You know what? I'm going to take what they said serious." I mean, even just sharing a sentiment when it comes to even discrimination, I've gotten told that I've only gotten internship opportunities because I was a Black woman in the middle of office hours in front of everyone. It was crazy. And no one knew what to say, but I took that and I was like, "Okay." And I continued doing my work. I could either let that affect me, or I could just continue what I was doing. And I know I'm going to succeed because at the end of the day, I'm the final executor. I know that what I do matter, and that's it. So yeah, be delusional and choose success outside the classroom.

Savannah Peterson

>> Yeah. And I will say, man, I would like to have some words with that professor as well.

Ciara Cade

>> It was a student.

Savannah Peterson

>> Oh, student.

Ciara Cade

>> Yeah.

Savannah Peterson

>> Even worse. I don't even know, honestly.

Ciara Cade

>> Yeah, I know. It's okay. Their LinkedIn doesn't look like mine though. I check.

Savannah Peterson

>> Well, that literally what I was just about to say was victory is the sweetest revenge.

Ciara Cade

>> Almost definitely.

Savannah Peterson

>> Success is the sweetest revenge.

Ciara Cade

>> Yes.

Savannah Peterson

>> And on the moments of my career that have been the most magnanimous, of course I celebrated them. But there's always that piece of you that remembers those moments and-

Ciara Cade

>> Most definitely.

Savannah Peterson

>> It's always kind of like, "What are you up to today?" But your day wasn't quite what mine was. We all make choices.

Ciara Cade

>> Right.

Savannah Peterson

>> I wish you well. Have fun down there. This has been super special. I really appreciate you all taking the time. My last question is for you, Bobby.

Bobby Allen

>> Uh-oh.

Savannah Peterson

>> I could not have a father-daughter sitting on this panel and not bring it up now. Sydney earned her way here. She is not here because you're her dad. And just like she earned her way to the University of Michigan. That is not what I am implying. But my very important concluding question for you, how proud are you of your daughter seeing her up here today with us?

Bobby Allen

>> I'm incredibly proud. I'm super proud of you, Sydney. I'm proud of you, Calvin. I'm proud of you, Ciara. I've known Calvin for a while since you were in, what, kindergarten?

Calvin Kraus

>> Yeah, I think so.

Bobby Allen

>> Ciara just met you, but so impressed with your background. Sydney's the one who put you on my radar. And I guess what I would say to you all as Sydney's dad, but as a dad, we want to see you all go further than us. We want you to build on our successes and learn from our mistakes. For some of us, for the first time in our lives, our children are the first legitimate example where you want someone to build on your shoulders. And so you all go for the moon, shoot for your dreams, ask for what you need from us in terms of how we can support you, and just keep killing it. But I'm so proud of you. My baby girl, Sydney, aka Bubba. That's what we call her. And again, Calvin Ciara, super proud of you all. Thank you all for being on this program, and for just sharing with the world, how you're going to impact the world. You all are going to be world changers. So thank you for sharing some of that with us.

Savannah Peterson

>> I see a little mist in your eyes. Somebody cutting onions.

Bobby Allen

>> I'm okay. No eye sweat. I'm good, I'm good. I'm a super proud dad though.

Savannah Peterson

>> No, no. It's great. And I'm proud of y'all, and we all just met. So please keep doing what you're doing. Keep finding the good fight. Don't hesitate to leverage Google, or Bobby, or me, or any of us in the working world. We're here to help, and we learn just as much from you as you learn from us, if not even more than that. And Bobby, thank you. This is our concluding episode of 12. Really-

Bobby Allen

>> Nice one....

Savannah Peterson

>> exciting episodes, baby. When I called, DM'd you on Twitter 18 months ago and said we should do something interesting and different, I don't know that I could have predicted that we would be sitting here at your alma mater with your daughter and some other brilliant students from Michigan, having such a wonderful conversation. Y'all dropped some knowledge in there and some knowledge that everybody of every age is going to appreciate, and hopefully our series does that across the board. So thank you.

Bobby Allen

>> Agreed. And come back for Season 2.

Savannah Peterson

>> Yeah, holler. We got renewed, y'all. This ain't the end. Thank you all for tuning in to our fantastic and very educational, inspiring, and unique series with the Google Cloud team, Passport to Containers. Signing off for the last episode of Season 1, Episode 12. My name's Savannah Peterson. You're watching TheCube, the leading source for enterprise tech news.