The Transcend Podcast

Transcend UW

Welcome to the Transcend Podcast - the show where we highlight the stories of student founders at UW–Madison, local entrepreneurs across the Midwest, and campus leaders shaping UW into a hub for entrepreneurship. This podcast is presented to you by Transcend UW. We are the nation’s largest student-run pitch competition and we also connect students with the resources and opportunities to create their own ventures. Last year was our 10th annual competition and we were able to award $50K in prize money. Check out our socials to learn more or join our executive team: Transcend UW Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/company/transcenduw Transcend IG: @transcenduw Transcend website: www.transcenduw.com/

  1. Arjay McCandless: How to System-Design Your Career

    May 4

    Arjay McCandless: How to System-Design Your Career

    Arjay McCandless doesn't consider himself an influencer, but the personal brand he built on the side became an unfair advantage that redefined his career. Most software engineers spend their careers chasing the next promotion at Big Tech. Arjay did the opposite. After climbing from SDE1 to SDE2 at Amazon in 18 months, he left the trillion-dollar company to join Maven as a social lead — a role that blurs the lines between engineer, marketer, and GTM operator. Along the way, he built a personal brand of 400K+ followers across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube as ArjayTheDev, teaching system design and AI engineering to the next generation of builders. In this episode, we explore what it really takes to trade the safety of a FAANG career for the freedom of the startup world. We dive into: The College Playbook: Why CS classes alone won't land a top offer, and the four extracurricular moves that actually doThe Social Media Catalyst: Why a personal brand is the highest-leverage move a software engineer can make todayHigh-Velocity Environments: Why Arjay now codes more at a startup than he ever did at FAANGBuilding with Claude Code: Arjay's fully automated video pipeline and his core rule for working with AIAnd more!Learn more about Maven here: https://maven.com/ Follow Arjay McCandless: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arjay-mccandless-9178b4198/ IG/YT: @arjay_the_dev Tik Tok: @arjay_mccandless Maven LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/maven-hq/ Transcend IG: @transcenduw Transcend Website: www.transcenduw.com Transcend UW LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/transcenduw

    59 min

About

Welcome to the Transcend Podcast - the show where we highlight the stories of student founders at UW–Madison, local entrepreneurs across the Midwest, and campus leaders shaping UW into a hub for entrepreneurship. This podcast is presented to you by Transcend UW. We are the nation’s largest student-run pitch competition and we also connect students with the resources and opportunities to create their own ventures. Last year was our 10th annual competition and we were able to award $50K in prize money. Check out our socials to learn more or join our executive team: Transcend UW Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/company/transcenduw Transcend IG: @transcenduw Transcend website: www.transcenduw.com/