Alumni Spotlight: Vinnie Priore
By Vinnie Priore
Hi everyone! My name is Vincent Priore, SU class of 2020, a member of the Beta Class. I am from Westchester, New York, and I am currently working for BNY Mellon in Pittsburgh for Operations as part of their Operations Campus Analyst program. I received my offer the week before I left campus for good back in March 2020. At the time, I was slated to start work in June, but due to COVID-19, that start date was pushed to August and it has been entirely virtual. I actually found this job through the iSchool Career Fair and had gotten an interview within 1-2 weeks of meeting the recruiter.
So far work has been manageable, pretty stress-free, and everyone is understanding the shortcomings of virtual work. Of course, I do miss out on the pros of human interaction and being introduced in person as a new hire, but I feel my company has done an exceptional job in accommodating the work from home experience. I’ve learned from my experience that if you simulate a work environment at home, you will perform better or on par with what you would have produced in the office.
Managing your distractions is a key to this, that being said have I perfected this? Not exactly, but as I said earlier, everyone is very understanding. For example, my attire for work every day is workout gear, because I am expected to appear on video chat very infrequently and even when I do, nobody else is dressed up. Of course, this is just in my case; however, even my roommate who works for another company is in a similar situation. For the time being it looks like the earliest I'll be in the office is Spring 2021.
Although COVID-19 has been horrible and has drastically affected the lives of people across the globe, I try to take some positives from it. For starters, I did get a full summer home which is something I didn’t expect at all accepting a job in Pittsburgh. For now, I also have the freedom to work from anywhere, as I write this I am home in Westchester. As much as I wanted to move on start my life in Pittsburgh, the luxury of being able to remote in from home and spend valuable time with friends and family is something I won’t take for granted.
For the current KTP seniors, I hope you guys are doing well and rooting for you to get a real spring semester. For all other members past, present, and future I wish you all the best and if anyone ever has questions for me about anything definitely feel free to reach out. Hopefully one day, I can be a solid KTP alumni connection.