Michael Tsai

SanDisk has a beautiful campus with the types of amenities that you come to expect from high-tech companies. From the high-end gym to the top-notch on-site café, work feels less like work and more like a country club.

But the amenities are not why I’ve loved working at SanDisk - it’s the people. One of the most striking things about SanDisk is that everyone is so nice. This is not one of those companies where you feel like a worker drone. From service staff to executives, people are always smiling. You might say it’s the temperate conditions of the Bay Area, but I think it’s the culture and the workplace.

At SanDisk, you will not feel like an intern. While you will be given the opportunity to learn and make mistakes, SanDisk and its managers believes that the best way to learn is by doing. I started right when SanDisk was in the middle of a major acquisition. While I expected to be lost in the shuffle and frenzy of the acquisition, my manager included me in the process as much as humanly possible, stopping just short of bringing me into an executive meeting. Some of the projects I worked on included Reductions-In-Force (which was a maturing experience), corporate onboarding, internal equity and leveling, and crafting and delivering offer letters. I also worked on a solution to SanDisk’s parking and commuter problem which taught me that – at least when you are dealing with a multi-billion dollar company – molehills are actually mountains and seemingly simple things are actually extremely complicated.

You can expect to have a lot of fun here. SanDisk organizes a variety of employee activities throughout the month and in just this month alone, we have already had: A companywide celebration of Bastille Day, Sports Day, Hawaiian Shirt Day, Wine Tastings, and so much more that I can’t even think about. SanDisk even fulfilled a dream of mine by bringing me to a charity event where I got to meet my beloved 49ers!

From the valuable work experience I’ve gained to the people I’ve met, I can’t express how fortunate and thankful I am to have participated in the ILR Credit Internship Program.

- Michael Tsai, BSILR'15