Careers in Tech

Are you interested in working in Tech?

Join us as we chat with Arts alumni, about how they turned their Arts degree into a career in Tech.

Being a techie, and an Arts student is not mutually exclusive. Hear from Arts alumni about how they've been able to navigate the tech industry as an Arts degree holder. Collectively, our alumni speakers have worked for the likes of: Blackberry, IBM, Rogers, Point Click Care, Facebook, and many other startup and established tech companies. 

Meet your Arts alumni!

Moderator: Mari-Beth Davis (BA '99 English)

Mari-Beth graduated with a major in English Rhetoric & Professional Writing and a minor in Speech Communication. She has experience working in UWaterloo's Alumni Relations as well as for World Vision, a non-profit organization, as the Marketing Manager. In her current role as a Business Developer, for Co-operative Education & Career at UWaterloo, Mari-Beth generates, develops and converts potential employers into paid, creditable co-op jobs for all programs, and fosters strategic relationships with prospective employers, with current co-op employers and Waterloo alumni to actively bring in new business to Co-operative Education. Mari-Beth also loves connecting and developing meaningful relationships with people in the business world. The passion that she sees for work-integrated learning in everything she does really excites her-as well the passion and excitement about the skills and talents of co-op students.

Shauna-Kay Jones (BA ’12, Legal Studies)

Shauna-Kay Jones is a Technology Founder who works with companies and solopreneurs, to understand their business goals, and to provide the technical solutions needed to meet them. 

After building a technology start-up called Motify to support students on the Autism Spectrum, and working at PointClickCare as a Solution Manager implementing multi-million-dollar technology solutions, she realized that business and technology must work hand in hand to make long lasting and impactful changes. Over the last year, Shauna has worked in the capacity of CTO at Empowered 4x and started a new company call MotifyApps, to provide needed technology services to brick and mortar companies greatly affected by Covid-19. 

Shauna has received honors and distinctions throughout her career including: Ontario Premier Award, Publications in MacLean’s Magazine, Toronto Star, CTV News, MNP Future Leader Award, CAFCE Canada National Award and Brampton’s Top 40 under 40. In addition, Shauna runs Black Girls Who Code Programs and Women in Technology initiatives at Sheridan College. 

Shauna is a graduate from the University of Waterloo and Sheridan College where she graduated in the Faculty of Arts (Waterloo) and as Valedictorian in Software Development and Network Engineering (Sheridan).

Bridget King (BA ’15, Political Science)

Nathan Lee (BA ’02, Political Science)

Nathan has taken a career journey with several different organizations.  Following graduation from the University of Waterloo, he began as an “English as a Second Language (ESL)” teacher in Japan.  After returning home to Canada, he then held positions at BlackBerry (software trainer), the Region of Waterloo (HR system implementation) and Grand River Hospital (Corporate Applications Analyst, IT Manager).  He is now at the University of Waterloo working in the Project Management Office in Information Systems Technology and his role consists of collaborating with different leaders across UW to help renew or acquire new information system technology solutions. 

David Li (BA '14 Economics)

David failed multiple terms in Math during his time at UWaterloo and was lost in figuring out what career to pursue. Since then he’s made many changes in his career and is happy to share what he’s learned along the way.

David is currently a Product Manager at Facebook in Menlo Park California, where he leads a team focused on building Metaverse social experiences in VR. Before joining Facebook, he was a founding Partner at a venture capital firm focused on investing in early-stage tech startups. Prior to that, he was Chief of Staff at Native (sold to Procter & Gamble for $100M) and TinyCo (a16z funded, sold to JamCity) where he led Strategy & BizOps. David started his career in Consulting at McKinsey & Company and Deloitte in Toronto before moving to San Francisco. 

Tyron Telang (BA '13, Political Science)

Tyron Telang is a Toronto-based publishing lawyer at a global professional services and technology firm called Thomson Reuters. If you find Tyron wearing his 'professional hat', he will likely be focused on the creation, analysis, and acquisition of legal commentary content for a $12M portfolio of 75+ print and digital publications. His work feeds topical legal updates to Thomson Reuters' market-leading digital legal research platforms and e-readers that are trusted by thousands of corporate, commercial and IP lawyers, academics and students across Canada. Apart from legal publishing and technology, Tyron's other professional interests include employment law, human capital, marketing strategy, writing, education and mentorship. Tyron earned his Honours BA in Political Science and Business from the University of Waterloo in 2013 and his JD from the Faculty of Law at Lakehead University in 2017. He was called to the bar in Ontario in 2018. Replace Tyron's professional hat with his weekend one and you'll likely find him trying a new restaurant, enjoying drinks on an outdoor patio, hiking, going on road trips with friends, having a Scrabble night with family, or secretly consuming embarrassing amounts of lemon meringue pie when no one is looking.