If Only I Knew This Shit in College

I knew I wanted to work in tech.

Looking back, that's really all I knew prior to graduating from university and joining the working world. I was invited back to give a talk at my alma mater recently and I wanted to give a talk to my less-than-knowledgeable former self and explain to him what he'll learn in the subsequent years after school.

This is that talk.

Transcript

1. IF ONLY I KNEW THIS SHIT IN COLLEGE !
2. Achieving Your Dreams Zach Holman Senior Web Architect at GitHub, Inc.
3. IF ONLY I KNEW THIS SHIT IN COLLEGE !
4. I WAS A PARTICULARLY
 DUMB STUDENT
5. I AM A
 PARTICULARLY
 DUMB PROFESSIONAL
6. BUT I KNOW SLIGHTLY MORE NOW
7. THIS IS THE TALK
 I WISH MY DUMB STUDENT SELF
 HAD HEARD
8. @holman
9. INFORMATION SYSTEMS, CARNEGIE MELLON 2008 DEVELOPER AT PAC (PALO ALTO) 2008 DEVELOPER AT GITHUB (SAN FRANCISCO) 2010 WASTED YOUR TIME ON THIS TERRIBLE TALK 2014
10. IF ONLY I KNEW !
11. IF ONLY I KNEW STARTUPS WERE FOR ME !
12. I LOVE STARTUPS
13. I WAS ONE SUCCESSFUL INTERVIEW AWAY FROM NEVER BEING AT ONE
14. YOUR WORK HAS IMPACT
15. 13 EMPLOYEES AT ACQUISITION
16. 3500 EMPLOYEES AT ACQUISITION
17. FEW CAN SCARE
 THE HELL OUTTA MANY
18. YOUR WORK IS MORE FUN
19. MORE OF THIS
20. LESS OF THIS
21. MORE OF THIS
22. LESS OF THIS
23. MORE TIME SPENT WORKING DIRECTLY ON PRODUCT
24. YOUR WORK USES COOL TECHNOLOGY
25. WAY EASIER TO USE PYTHON RUBY NOSQL BRAINFUCK NODE.JS
26. YOU ALSO GET TO WEAR MANY HATS
27. YOU’LL BE FILTHY RICH $ € $ $ € € $ € $ €
28. YOU’LL BE FILTHY RICH
29. DO IT FOR LOVE OF PRODUCT
 AND THE SOMEWHAT
 REASONABLE SALARY WITH RESPECT TOWARDS
 SOCIETY AT LARGE
30. 13 EMPLOYEES AT ACQUISITION
31. LUCKYGRAM
32. IT’S A GREAT INDUSTRY, EVEN WITHOUT THE MILLIONS
33. CONSIDER A STARTUP
34. IF ONLY I KNEW FINDING A COMPANY WAS HARD !
35. FINDING THE ONE IS HARD
36. FINDING A GOOD ONE IS HARD TOO
37. PAY ATTENTION TO
 COMPANIES YOU ADMIRE
38. PAY ATTENTION TO
 WHO WORKS THERE
39. DON’T LET BENEFITS BLIND YOU; LOOK AT THE CORE UNIT OF WORK
40. THE INTERVIEW
41. THE INTERVIEW PAC WAS STRUCTURED, TRADITIONAL
42. THE INTERVIEW MUCH MORE INFLUENCED BY MY BACKGROUND
43. THE INTERVIEW GITHUB GOT ME THROWN OUT OF A BAR
44. THE INTERVIEW MUCH MORE INFLUENCED BY ACCOMPLISHMENTS
45. THE INTERVIEW TAILOR ANY INTERVIEW TO THE COMPANY
46. THE INTERVIEW WHAT DO WE LOOK FOR?
47. WE’VE PROBABLY ALREADY SEEN YOUR WORK WHAT DO WE LOOK FOR?
48. TASTE AND CULTURE WHAT DO WE LOOK FOR?
49. T-SHAPED PEOPLE (DEPTH+BREADTH) WHAT DO WE LOOK FOR?
50. IF ONLY I KNEW LEAVING A COMPANY WAS HARD !
51. IT’S HARD TO DITCH PLEASANT COMPANIES
52. IT’S HARD TO DITCH FRIENDS
53. IT’S HARD TO DITCH THE OFFICE
54. IT’S HARD TO DITCH THE CITY
55. IT’S HARD TO DITCH THE INSURANCE
56. IT’S HARD TO DITCH THE SALARY
57. IT’S HARD TO DITCH THE PRODUCT
58. LONGEVITY IS GREAT
59. JUST KEEP ASKING QUESTIONS:
60. AM I IMPROVING?
61. IS THIS COMPANY IMPROVING?
62. IS THE COMPANY GOING TO BURN IN A CASHLESS FIRE MERE MONTHS FROM NOW?
63. DO I DREAD THE WORK?
64. SPEND TIME ASSESSING THIS
65. MOVING UP SOMETIMES MEANS MOVING OUT
66. IF ONLY I KNEW HOW TO DEAL WITH HATERS
67. A SWEARING STORY
69. THIS MADE ALL THE WHOLESOME MICROSOFT PEOPLE ANGRY
70. NOVEMBER 3, 2011
71. NOVEMBER 8, 2011
72. NOVEMBER 8, 2011
73. NOVEMBER 9, 2011
74. NOVEMBER 14, 2011
75. Mr. Holman has a lot of growing up to do - JSAVIMBI, HACKER NEWS “
76. I watched his video the other day and the first phrase that came to mind to describe him was, "smug little prick" - GEORGIEPORGIE, HACKER NEWS “
77. Yeah, I just wrote it for the page views. - ONE OF THE BLOGGERS, TO ME, A YEAR LATER “
78. ONCE YOU DO SOMETHING PUBLICLY, IT’S NO LONGER YOURS
79. PEOPLE WILL DISCUSS IT, REMIX IT, MISINTERPRET IT, IMPROVE IT
80. IF YOU REALLY CARE, THEN IGNORE THE HATERS
81. IF YOUR VALUE COMES FROM WHAT PEOPLE ON THE INTERNET THINK, THEN YOU ARE FUCKED
82. SHIPPING THINGS IS GRATIFYING
83. HELPING PEOPLE IS DEEPLY GRATIFYING
84. SO, CREATE.
85. POST SCRIPT: THIS HOT DRAMA WAS THE BEST THING THAT HAPPENED TO ME
86. IF ONLY I KNEW NOT TO JUMP INTO AN UNKNOWN BODY OF WATER WITHOUT FIRST PLANNING A SAFE AND EXPEDIENT EXIT STRATEGY !
88. IF ONLY I KNEW NOT TO BE AN ASSHOLE !
89. - STEVE JOBS “BEING A DICK IS OKAY”
90. JUST BECAUSE CODE IS LOGIC
 DOESN’T MEAN PROBLEMS ARE LOGICAL
91. COMPUTERS DON’T CREATE PROBLEMS;
 PEOPLE DO
92. YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE A DICK TO BUILD GREAT PRODUCT
93. DON’T GIVE FEEDBACK IMMEDIATELY; COOL DOWN FIRST
94. WHINY RANTS ARE INVERSELY PROPORTIONAL TO ACCOMPLISHMENTS
95. YOU WON’T REGRET POSITIVE FEEDBACK
96. IF ONLY I KNEW HOW TO IMPROVE MYSELF !
97. DON’T RELY ON WORK FOR GROWTH
98. BUILD RIDICULOUS SIDE PROJECTS
99. YOU’LL MEET PEOPLE
100. PEOPLE WILL MEET YOU
101. BECOME SMART PATTERNS DUMB EXPERIMENTS

102. IF ONLY I KNEW EVERYONE IS PRETTY AVERAGE !
103. EVERYONE IS A BIT INTIMIDATING
104. THE BEST TAKEAWAY IS THAT MOST HUMANS ARE AVERAGE
105. EVEN THE “BEST” AND “COOLEST” ARE PRETTY DUMB
106. “EVERYTHING AROUND YOU WAS MADE BY PEOPLE THAT WERE NO SMARTER THAN YOU”
107. THIS MAKES ME FEEL SO MUCH BETTER
108. IF ONLY I KNEW HOW THE INDUSTRY WORKED
109. THE TECH INDUSTRY IS WONDERFUL
110. THE TECH INDUSTRY IS HORRIBLE
111. THE TECH INDUSTRY IS SMALL AS FUCK
112. SOMETIMES IT IS ABOUT WHO YOU KNOW
113. PUBLICIZE YOURSELF TWITTER BLOG OPEN SOURCE TALKS
114. QUIT CARING ABOUT TECHNOLOGY
115. DON’T BE AN ASSHOLE
 STUCK AT A COMPANY YOU DON’T LIKE
 WHO JUMPS INTO DEEP RIPTIDES
 WITHOUT LOOKING
116. @HOLMAN