For many college students, landing an internship at a major technology company is a goal for later in their academic careers. For Alfred University sophomore Patrick Zablon, that opportunity came after just his first year.
Alfred University sophomore Patrick Zablon ’29 at the Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, WA, where he completed a 12-week internship in the company’s Explore program over the summer.
Zablon, a double major in computer science and electrical engineering from Musoma, Tanzania, spent 12 weeks this summer as an Explorer intern at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, WA. His internship ran from May 18 through Aug. 7 and gave him the opportunity to work across both software engineering and product management.
His path to Microsoft, however, began before he ever arrived at Alfred.
While still in Tanzania, Zablon saw LinkedIn posts from first- and second-year students landing internships at companies such as NVIDIA, Meta, Google, and Deloitte. Seeing students from schools outside the traditional recruiting pipelines changed his perception of what was possible.
“I started researching and discovered programs catered to freshmen and sophomores, such as Microsoft Explore, NVIDIA Ignite, Meta University, Google STEP, and Duolingo Thrive,” Zablon said.
He began teaching himself programming, improving his resume, preparing for technical interviews, and reaching out to people on LinkedIn for advice. By the time he arrived at Alfred, he had already begun applying for internships.
That preparation eventually led him to Microsoft Explore, a program designed to expose students to both engineering and product management. Zablon worked in a three-person group, spending the first four weeks focused on understanding a problem, designing a solution, and writing specifications before moving into eight weeks of implementation.
Working with a team in M365 Core, Zablon helped design and implement an agentic AI solution aimed at improving an internal onboarding process. According to Zablon, the project reduced a process that previously took about three weeks to less than 15 minutes.
Beyond the technical experience, Zablon said one of his biggest lessons from the summer was much simpler: stay curious.
“Coming in, it was easy to feel like I had to know everything from the start,” he said. “But through guidance and mentorship from my manager, product management mentor, and software engineering mentor, I realized that it’s okay to say, ‘I don’t know.’”
Alfred University sophomore Patrick Zablon ’29 (sitting, second from right) at the Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, WA. Patrick is shown here with fellow interns in Microsoft’s Explore program, held for 12 weeks over the summer.
Zablon credits his first year at Alfred with helping prepare him for the experience. He pointed to classes with associate professors of mathematics and computer science, Dr. Harpreet Bedi and Dr. Garegin Grigoryan, as well as his work with Alfred University’s Information Technology Services, where he gained experience with tools including Microsoft Azure and IT ticketing systems.
He also credits the people around him. Friends Albert and Johnson became part of the recruiting process through late-night study sessions, LeetCode practice, and interview preparation in Myers Hall during winter break.
That sense of community is something Zablon is now working to extend to other students through ColorStack, an organization focused on helping underrepresented students pursue computer science degrees and technical careers.
After joining ColorStack himself and receiving mentorship, resume reviews, mock interviews, and access to career opportunities, Zablon founded a chapter at Alfred. “I’m a firm believer that talent is equally distributed, but opportunity is not,” he said.
At Alfred, Zablon hopes to continue growing the ColorStack chapter, developing relationships with companies, and bringing more career opportunities to students while completing his double major. He also hopes to continue gaining experience at major technology companies during future summers.
Long term, his goals reach beyond his own career.
“I want to use those experiences to make a difference in people’s lives, empower others, and give back to my country,” Zablon said.
Story by Andrii Maltsev ’27
