A college internship changed Henry Sohn’s life. He’s now helping Berkeley students secure their own.

July 15, 2025
by Alexander Rony

Henry Sohn didn’t know what he wanted to do in college. At first, he was considering medical school, but an eye-opening hospital experience and a serendipitous internship at Apple altered the course of his life. Taking two breaks from UC Berkeley, Sohn ultimately completed his bachelor’s degree in sociology in 1992.

It was a good time to enter the Bay Area’s tech scene. Sohn leveraged his Apple internship into jobs at Intuit, Compaq Computer, and Yahoo! as he built a successful career in technology and investing. He now serves as a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council and supports and volunteers for the Social Sciences Career Readiness Internship Program. 

Sohn spoke with UC Berkeley writer Alexander Rony about how he uses his unexpected path through college to guide his advice for students.

Headshot of a man with short, raised hair and a blue sweater

Henry Sohn

The true value of higher education is that it teaches you how to think and how to learn.
Henry Sohn

Alexander Rony: How has UC Berkeley impacted your life after graduation?

Henry Sohn: There's a substantial network of Cal grads who live in the Bay Area, particularly in tech. Everywhere you go, you meet somebody who went to Cal, and that's always a point of commonality that draws people together and gives people a reason to connect.

Do you have any favorite memories from your time at Cal?

That depends on how much time you have! Some friends of mine started a weekly poker game. Somehow, we ended up playing less poker and doing more talking. That was when my eyes opened up in terms of knowing there's more to life than the hard sciences. I had no prior exposure to liberal arts and the social sciences. That was the start of a long conversation I had with a number of friends that helped me realize there was more that Berkeley had to offer than chemistry, calculus, and physics.

You started college intending to go to medical school, right? Why did you switch to sociology?

Well, yes and no. I was undecided. I chose the medical school path simply because everyone else around me was going to medical school. I come from a traditional Korean American family — my parents are first-generation immigrants — and there was that classic attitude of “You can be a doctor or a lawyer.” So I was a molecular and cell biology major for a couple of years.

Then, in my junior year, I volunteered at San Francisco General Hospital. It was there that I realized I wasn't really drawn to working with patients like that. Being in the hospital with a lot of people who were not well actually spooked me a bit. I knew at that moment I needed to make a change, so I took a semester off from school, recalibrated, and explored different areas I hadn’t permitted myself to previously. I started taking some courses in economics, anthropology, and political economy, and ultimately settled on sociology.

A year passed, and a friend of mine found a listing for an internship at Apple Computer, taking phone calls in their customer assistance center. My first exposure to computers was in the fifth grade where my school had an original Apple II — one with a cassette tape drive! — and I was forever hooked on their products after that. I never imagined that I could ever work for Apple, but I decided to apply. It was a full-time, year-long internship, so I had to withdraw from school again. I ended up going for a year and a half, and they offered me a full-time job in Texas, which I declined. I said I need to go back and get my degree.

A man in black graduation regalia surrounded by his parents in suit jackets
Five college-aged men smile for a photo. Two are wearing graduation robes.

Photos from Sohn's days at Cal

I credit my experience at Cal for shaping my whole mindset in my career and life.
Henry Sohn

You’re now a generous supporter of the Social Sciences Career Readiness Internship Program (SSCRIP). What advice would you give to an incoming student to maximize the value of their time at Berkeley?

Get as much exposure as you can to different disciplines. My daughter goes to school in Ireland, and it's very different in Europe. You need to pick your lane before college and stay in it. There is no undeclared major; there are no self-directed majors, generally. It's a real privilege that in a lot of schools in the US, particularly Berkeley, you can try different things and see if you have an affinity. That's invaluable. You never know when your experience might be helpful.

There are a lot of opportunities for young people to put their careers into their own hands. Obviously, our economy is changing quite a bit, particularly with AI and robotics starting to creep into how we actually work. There's more opportunity to do something on your own than ever before.

You've served as an advisor to AI companies. How do you feel that higher education should react to the current boom in AI technologies?

I see AI as a way to make us more effective and productive. A lot of tech companies are hiring fewer people because some of the work they used to assign to junior engineers can now be done through AI. That doesn't necessarily mean that those folks are never going to be able to find a job; I think what will change is the nature of the job that they do right now.

The true value of higher education is that it teaches you how to think and how to learn. If those are the key skills that higher education can provide students, then, regardless of what technology may do underneath, they'll have the basic tools to be able to leverage these new capabilities. 

What motivated you to join the Dean's Advisory Council for Berkeley Social Sciences?

I'm very grateful for Berkeley. I credit my experience at Cal for shaping my whole mindset in my career and life. I feel it's important to give back in whatever way that I can.

What do you see as the most important work of the Council?

Providing direct feedback from people who are in the workplace, to be a bridge between what's happening on campus and how the students can be best positioned to take advantage of that experience. I'm such a big proponent of SSCRIP because my career got kicked off with an internship I found through Berkeley. Once I had that first job in the tech field, I made relationships, and through those connections, I found my next job, and the next.

Are there any exciting projects or companies from your current work at Morado Venture Partners or E12 Ventures?

Yeah, I just had a Zoom call with a startup that we invested in around five years ago. They are a robotics company called ViaBot. They have an autonomous EV sweeper for parking lots. It's been a long journey for them. When you're dealing with hardware, it's never easy. They have finally hit that part of the curve where they're getting some solid business. They've closed with a number of large companies and are starting to really expand. They have their robots all over Google's campuses, a number of Walmart stores, and more. We're very excited about where they're going. 

Read more: Berkeley Social Sciences launches program to prepare students for meaningful careers

February 13, 2024

It must feel rewarding when you see someone you've mentored or a company you've invested in reach that growth stage.

For sure. It keeps you young. You're kind of in the trenches with them to help them through the challenges. You get to see how some of these new technologies actually work, and when you see them getting deployed and improving companies or people’s lives, that's hugely rewarding.

Do you have any final advice for students they might not hear elsewhere?

Something we probably don’t mention enough in tech or business is that luck has a role as well.

I was at Yahoo! pretty early. I was the third product manager there, and we were always very cognizant of the fact that we happened to be at the right place at the right time with the right name and the right product. 

There's that old adage: Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. I absolutely believe that's true. For young people, the key is to put themselves in positions where they're prepared to take advantage of it when it arrives. 

Support Social Science Students' Careers

If you are an employer who could use talented student interns from UC Berkeley, please reach out to SSCRIP Program Manager Suzanne Allen at suzanne.allen@berkeley.edu. You can also help SSCRIP advance students’ careers by giving to the Social Sciences Student Experience Fund.

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