Turning Professional Uncertainty into Action: The Anthony DiPrinzio Professional Development Workshop
September 29, 2026
How do you walk into a major professional event when you do not know who to talk to, what to say, or how to make the experience count?
That question was at the center of the Anthony DiPrinzio Professional Development Workshop, held September 29 at the Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology (SCET).
Led by Gorick Ng—first-generation Harvard graduate, former Harvard career advisor, Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Unspoken Rules, and creator of How to Say It®—the session gave Berkeley students practical tools for navigating conferences, networking conversations, recruiting, and the early-career transition.
Meeting students where they are
The students in the room arrived with different goals, but many shared a common challenge: professional opportunities can be difficult to navigate when the rules are not written down. In the participant poll, 68% of respondents said they were looking for an internship or job, while 32% were exploring startup-building.
Their pre-workshop concerns were equally concrete. Students asked how to approach people, how to start a conversation with a company, how to stand out, how to know what to say and do, and how to network while remaining genuine. Others worried about feeling like an outsider at a large technology event or about requirements such as GPA. These questions gave the workshop a clear starting point: replace ambiguity with a set of repeatable practices.
Making the invisible work visible
A central idea in Ng’s session was that career success depends on more than the visible tasks students tend to associate with job searching. Resumes, interviews, and applications matter, but so do the less visible activities that happen around them: research, relationship-building, volunteering to help, and following up.
Ng encouraged students to think less about “networking” as a transaction and more about relationship-building. The session framed professional connections as a ladder: learn about people, understand where there is mutual value, contribute where you can, and continue the relationship over time.
A practical playbook for professional conversations
The workshop then translated those ideas into concrete structures students could use immediately.
This particular workshop was aimed at SCET students who were last semester’s leading teams showcased at SCET’s biannual pitch competition and showcase, Collider Cup. As part of their prize, they will be attending TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco on October 13-15, and the aim of this workshop was to help them prepare and make the best out of this event and future opportunities to build relationships.
But Ng’s advice can be utilized for many situations where relationship-building is important. For example, for a career-fair conversation, Ng outlined a five-minute flow built around preparation, a concise introduction, a focused exchange, a clear discussion of next steps, and follow-up. Students practiced thinking through what about an organization interested them, what roles might fit, and how to ask informed questions.
Another major theme was how students present their experiences. Rather than staying inside an internal story about what they have or have not done, Ng encouraged students to build an external narrative that makes the relevance of their experience clear to the person in front of them. The presentation included a framework for translating prior experiences into commonalities, skills, processes, or strengths that may be valuable to a new team or role.
That message came through strongly in the participant feedback. Students described takeaways such as “you have value too—you just have to showcase it,” learning how to reach out and follow up, and recognizing that the application process starts before the online application. One respondent wrote that there is “a lot of invisible work” that can help lead to an interview or a referral, while also requiring preparation for what to say in the first interaction.
Made possible by the Anthony DiPrinzio Entrepreneurship Endowment
The workshop was made possible by the Anthony DiPrinzio Entrepreneurship Endowment. Anthony DiPrinzio, a 2019 Berkeley graduate in Political Economy, was deeply connected to both Blockchain at Berkeley and SCET. He served as Head of Consulting and Partnerships and later Co-President of Blockchain at Berkeley, and he was remembered by peers as a mentor, community-builder, and someone who consistently helped others take their next step. The endowment continues that spirit by creating opportunities for Berkeley students to build skills, confidence, relationships, and a sense of purpose.
The professional development workshop is one expression of that legacy: a room full of students asking honest questions about how to enter professional spaces, followed by a set of tools they can carry into the next conference, conversation, application, and opportunity.
September 29, 2026
How do you walk into a major professional event when you do not know who to talk to, what to say, or how to make the experience count?
That question was at the center of the Anthony DiPrinzio Professional Development Workshop, held September 29 at the Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology (SCET).
Led by Gorick Ng—first-generation Harvard graduate, former Harvard career advisor, Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Unspoken Rules, and creator of How to Say It®—the session gave Berkeley students practical tools for navigating conferences, networking conversations, recruiting, and the early-career transition.
Meeting students where they are
The students in the room arrived with different goals, but many shared a common challenge: professional opportunities can be difficult to navigate when the rules are not written down. In the participant poll, 68% of respondents said they were looking for an internship or job, while 32% were exploring startup-building.
Their pre-workshop concerns were equally concrete. Students asked how to approach people, how to start a conversation with a company, how to stand out, how to know what to say and do, and how to network while remaining genuine. Others worried about feeling like an outsider at a large technology event or about requirements such as GPA. These questions gave the workshop a clear starting point: replace ambiguity with a set of repeatable practices.
Making the invisible work visible
A central idea in Ng’s session was that career success depends on more than the visible tasks students tend to associate with job searching. Resumes, interviews, and applications matter, but so do the less visible activities that happen around them: research, relationship-building, volunteering to help, and following up.
Ng encouraged students to think less about “networking” as a transaction and more about relationship-building. The session framed professional connections as a ladder: learn about people, understand where there is mutual value, contribute where you can, and continue the relationship over time.
A practical playbook for professional conversations
The workshop then translated those ideas into concrete structures students could use immediately.
This particular workshop was aimed at SCET students who were last semester’s leading teams showcased at SCET’s biannual pitch competition and showcase, Collider Cup. As part of their prize, they will be attending TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco on October 13-15, and the aim of this workshop was to help them prepare and make the best out of this event and future opportunities to build relationships.
But Ng’s advice can be utilized for many situations where relationship-building is important. For example, for a career-fair conversation, Ng outlined a five-minute flow built around preparation, a concise introduction, a focused exchange, a clear discussion of next steps, and follow-up. Students practiced thinking through what about an organization interested them, what roles might fit, and how to ask informed questions.
Another major theme was how students present their experiences. Rather than staying inside an internal story about what they have or have not done, Ng encouraged students to build an external narrative that makes the relevance of their experience clear to the person in front of them. The presentation included a framework for translating prior experiences into commonalities, skills, processes, or strengths that may be valuable to a new team or role.
That message came through strongly in the participant feedback. Students described takeaways such as “you have value too—you just have to showcase it,” learning how to reach out and follow up, and recognizing that the application process starts before the online application. One respondent wrote that there is “a lot of invisible work” that can help lead to an interview or a referral, while also requiring preparation for what to say in the first interaction.
Made possible by the Anthony DiPrinzio Entrepreneurship Endowment
The workshop was made possible by the Anthony DiPrinzio Entrepreneurship Endowment. Anthony DiPrinzio, a 2019 Berkeley graduate in Political Economy, was deeply connected to both Blockchain at Berkeley and SCET. He served as Head of Consulting and Partnerships and later Co-President of Blockchain at Berkeley, and he was remembered by peers as a mentor, community-builder, and someone who consistently helped others take their next step. The endowment continues that spirit by creating opportunities for Berkeley students to build skills, confidence, relationships, and a sense of purpose.
The professional development workshop is one expression of that legacy: a room full of students asking honest questions about how to enter professional spaces, followed by a set of tools they can carry into the next conference, conversation, application, and opportunity.