Cornell Tech Library Services Career Research: Technical Roles

The library resources on this page are for anyone seeking a technical role, such as software engineer, data engineer, data scientist/analyst, and more. 

• Get help from our librarians! Our expertise can save you time finding excellent information to support your career research. Email library@tech.cornell.edu.

Here’s a short list of the library resources we most frequently recommend for career research

Career Planning

• Vault – The Vault Guides to Jobs series is ideal for learning about careers and industries. Get information on the work environment, education requirements, a typical day in the life, and career outlook. Use when you are job hunting or looking for a tool to help you manage your career.

Company Profiles

• Capital IQ – Use the company “tear sheet” feature
• Factiva – Download custom company reports with a summary, financials, key developments, new products, and news articles.

Industry Insights 

• IBISWorld – Use when you need either full reports or one-page snapshots on industries in Canada, China, and the United States. Reports include industry performance, outlook, major companies, supply chain, demand drivers, cost structure, barriers to entry, and key statistics. 
• Frost & Sullivan – In-depth market research and strategy reports with European and global coverage of emerging technologies, including B2B spaces and growth opportunities. 
• Technavio – Use Technavio when researching emerging and niche industries such as specialty chemicals, materials, health care, IT, energy, and more. Users can download up to 20 reports a month. 
• Mergent Intellect – Navigate to the First Research reports to learn more about the industries that interest you. The Call Prep and Executive Insights sections are useful to prepare questions for both informationals and interviews.

Company News

• Get articles via Factiva or Nexis Uni (aka LexisNexis). Both contain thousands of full-text newspapers and business periodicals; you may be able to locate articles which quote company officials discussing the firm's finances.

• O'Reilly - O’Reilly has a collection of e-books and videos on computer programming, user manuals, and business and management topics.
• Skillsoft - All active students, faculty, and staff have access to Skillsoft's online learning and books through Cornell's enterprise account. Choose from thousands of courses, books, videos, and other resources to help you stay sharp. The following topics are represented: Analyst Research, Business Skills, Compliance, Desktop Skills, Engineering, Government, IT Skills, Well-being, and Certification. Learn more
• LinkedIn Learning - LinkedIn Learning offers 2,500 detailed courses with over 80,000 high-quality instructional videos on the latest software, creative, and business skills for people at all experience levels. Sign in with Single Sign-On. Use the www.cornell.edu domain if prompted. Learn more

Why do this?

Even if you're aiming for a technical role, you still need to be able to articulate why you want to work for the specific company where you're interviewing. The library can help you with finding the information you need to have a good understanding of the company and the industry overall.

To use your time efficiently, we recommend tackling these two areas first:

• Review the company's website

  • If you're looking at a large publicly-traded company, take a look at their press releases and news section to better understand what they want you to know about the company.  If they are a small startup and have an online presence, pay attention to the information they are sharing with the public.  (If you have a few more minutes - For publicly traded companies, take a look at their quarterly (SEC 10Q) or annual reports (SEC 10K).  For privately held firms, take a look at Pitchbook to learn more, including who is investing and how much).

  • How to quickly find SEC filings 

    Look up the company in Capital IQ. In the navigation menu on the left, go to News, Events & Filings > SEC Filings. 

• Research your industry space:

  • Read an industry profile in IBISWorld, Frost & Sullivan, or Technavio.  First Research Industry Profiles are great because they provide you with Call Prep Questions.  These can be found using Mergent Intellect > First Research.

Did you know you can get books delivered to you at Tech? 

You can request print books from the Cornell University Library catalog by selecting “Request” in the book record. Select “Cornell Tech” for the campus delivery location. When the book arrives, it can be picked up at the Bloomberg Center security desk. Your book may also be returned at the Bloomberg Center security desk. 

• Learn more about book access and delivery. 
• Email library@tech.cornell.edu if you have any questions.