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If Only I Knew This Shit in College

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.

Zach Holman

March 29, 2013
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Transcript

  1. IF ONLY
    I KNEW THIS SHIT
    IN COLLEGE
    !

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  2. Achieving Your Dreams
    Zach Holman
    Senior Web Architect at GitHub, Inc.

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  3. IF ONLY
    I KNEW THIS SHIT
    IN COLLEGE
    !

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  4. I WAS A
    PARTICULARLY

    DUMB STUDENT

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  5. I AM A

    PARTICULARLY

    DUMB PROFESSIONAL

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  6. BUT I KNOW
    SLIGHTLY MORE NOW

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  7. THIS IS THE TALK

    I WISH MY DUMB
    STUDENT SELF

    HAD HEARD

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  8. @holman

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  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

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  10. IF ONLY I KNEW
    !

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  11. IF ONLY I KNEW
    STARTUPS WERE FOR ME
    !

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  12. I LOVE STARTUPS

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  13. I WAS ONE SUCCESSFUL
    INTERVIEW AWAY FROM
    NEVER BEING AT ONE

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  14. YOUR WORK
    HAS IMPACT

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  15. 13 EMPLOYEES AT
    ACQUISITION

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  16. 3500 EMPLOYEES AT
    ACQUISITION

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  17. FEW CAN SCARE

    THE HELL OUTTA MANY

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  18. YOUR WORK
    IS MORE FUN

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  19. MORE OF THIS

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  20. LESS OF THIS

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  21. MORE OF THIS

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  22. LESS OF THIS

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  23. MORE TIME SPENT WORKING
    DIRECTLY ON PRODUCT

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  24. YOUR WORK
    USES COOL TECHNOLOGY

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  25. WAY EASIER TO USE
    PYTHON RUBY NOSQL
    BRAINFUCK NODE.JS

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  26. YOU ALSO GET TO
    WEAR MANY HATS

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  27. YOU’LL BE FILTHY RICH $

    $
    $


    $

    $

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  28. YOU’LL BE FILTHY RICH

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  29. DO IT FOR LOVE OF PRODUCT

    AND THE SOMEWHAT

    REASONABLE SALARY
    WITH RESPECT TOWARDS

    SOCIETY AT LARGE

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  30. 13 EMPLOYEES AT
    ACQUISITION

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  31. LUCKYGRAM

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  32. IT’S A GREAT INDUSTRY,
    EVEN WITHOUT THE MILLIONS

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  33. CONSIDER A STARTUP

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  34. IF ONLY I KNEW
    FINDING A COMPANY WAS HARD
    !

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  35. FINDING THE ONE IS HARD

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  36. FINDING A GOOD ONE IS HARD TOO

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  37. PAY ATTENTION TO

    COMPANIES YOU ADMIRE

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  38. PAY ATTENTION TO

    WHO WORKS THERE

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  39. DON’T LET BENEFITS BLIND YOU;
    LOOK AT THE CORE UNIT OF WORK

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  40. THE INTERVIEW

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  41. THE INTERVIEW
    PAC WAS STRUCTURED, TRADITIONAL

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  42. THE INTERVIEW
    MUCH MORE INFLUENCED BY MY BACKGROUND

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  43. THE INTERVIEW
    GITHUB GOT ME THROWN OUT OF A BAR

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  44. THE INTERVIEW
    MUCH MORE INFLUENCED BY ACCOMPLISHMENTS

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  45. THE INTERVIEW
    TAILOR ANY INTERVIEW TO THE COMPANY

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  46. THE INTERVIEW WHAT DO WE LOOK FOR?

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  47. WE’VE PROBABLY ALREADY SEEN YOUR WORK
    WHAT DO WE LOOK FOR?

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  48. TASTE AND CULTURE
    WHAT DO WE LOOK FOR?

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  49. T-SHAPED PEOPLE (DEPTH+BREADTH)
    WHAT DO WE LOOK FOR?

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  50. IF ONLY I KNEW
    LEAVING A COMPANY WAS HARD
    !

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  51. IT’S HARD TO DITCH PLEASANT COMPANIES

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  52. IT’S HARD TO DITCH FRIENDS

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  53. IT’S HARD TO DITCH THE OFFICE

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  54. IT’S HARD TO DITCH THE CITY

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  55. IT’S HARD TO DITCH THE INSURANCE

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  56. IT’S HARD TO DITCH THE SALARY

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  57. IT’S HARD TO DITCH THE PRODUCT

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  58. LONGEVITY IS GREAT

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  59. JUST KEEP ASKING QUESTIONS:

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  60. AM I IMPROVING?

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  61. IS THIS COMPANY IMPROVING?

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  62. IS THE COMPANY GOING TO BURN
    IN A CASHLESS FIRE MERE MONTHS
    FROM NOW?

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  63. DO I DREAD THE WORK?

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  64. SPEND TIME ASSESSING THIS

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  65. MOVING UP SOMETIMES
    MEANS MOVING OUT

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  66. IF ONLY I KNEW
    HOW TO DEAL WITH HATERS

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  67. A SWEARING STORY

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  69. THIS MADE ALL THE WHOLESOME
    MICROSOFT PEOPLE ANGRY

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  70. NOVEMBER 3, 2011

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  71. NOVEMBER 8, 2011

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  72. NOVEMBER 8, 2011

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  73. NOVEMBER 9, 2011

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  74. NOVEMBER 14, 2011

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  75. Mr. Holman has a lot
    of growing up to do
    - JSAVIMBI, HACKER NEWS

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  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

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  77. Yeah, I just wrote it for
    the page views.
    - ONE OF THE BLOGGERS, TO ME, A YEAR LATER

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  78. ONCE YOU DO SOMETHING PUBLICLY,
    IT’S NO LONGER YOURS

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  79. PEOPLE WILL DISCUSS IT, REMIX IT,
    MISINTERPRET IT, IMPROVE IT

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  80. IF YOU REALLY CARE, THEN
    IGNORE THE HATERS

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  81. IF YOUR VALUE COMES FROM WHAT PEOPLE
    ON THE INTERNET THINK, THEN
    YOU ARE FUCKED

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  82. SHIPPING THINGS IS GRATIFYING

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  83. HELPING PEOPLE IS DEEPLY GRATIFYING

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  84. SO, CREATE.

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  85. POST SCRIPT: THIS HOT DRAMA WAS
    THE BEST THING THAT HAPPENED TO ME

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  86. IF ONLY I KNEW
    NOT TO JUMP INTO AN UNKNOWN BODY OF WATER WITHOUT FIRST
    PLANNING A SAFE AND EXPEDIENT EXIT STRATEGY
    !

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  88. IF ONLY I KNEW
    NOT TO BE AN ASSHOLE
    !

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  89. - STEVE JOBS
    “BEING A DICK IS OKAY”

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  90. JUST BECAUSE CODE IS LOGIC

    DOESN’T MEAN PROBLEMS ARE LOGICAL

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  91. COMPUTERS DON’T CREATE PROBLEMS;

    PEOPLE DO

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  92. YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE A DICK TO BUILD
    GREAT PRODUCT

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  93. DON’T GIVE FEEDBACK IMMEDIATELY;
    COOL DOWN FIRST

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  94. WHINY RANTS ARE INVERSELY
    PROPORTIONAL TO ACCOMPLISHMENTS

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  95. YOU WON’T REGRET POSITIVE FEEDBACK

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  96. IF ONLY I KNEW
    HOW TO IMPROVE MYSELF
    !

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  97. DON’T RELY ON WORK FOR GROWTH

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  98. BUILD RIDICULOUS SIDE PROJECTS

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  99. YOU’LL MEET PEOPLE

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  100. PEOPLE WILL MEET YOU

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  101. BECOME SMART PATTERNS
    DUMB EXPERIMENTS


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  102. IF ONLY I KNEW
    EVERYONE IS PRETTY AVERAGE
    !

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  103. EVERYONE IS A BIT
    INTIMIDATING

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  104. THE BEST TAKEAWAY IS THAT
    MOST HUMANS ARE AVERAGE

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  105. EVEN THE “BEST” AND “COOLEST”
    ARE PRETTY DUMB

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  106. “EVERYTHING AROUND YOU WAS
    MADE BY PEOPLE THAT WERE
    NO SMARTER THAN YOU”

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  107. THIS MAKES ME FEEL
    SO MUCH BETTER

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  108. IF ONLY I KNEW
    HOW THE INDUSTRY WORKED

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  109. THE TECH INDUSTRY IS WONDERFUL

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  110. THE TECH INDUSTRY IS HORRIBLE

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  111. THE TECH INDUSTRY IS SMALL AS FUCK

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  112. SOMETIMES IT IS ABOUT WHO YOU KNOW

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  113. PUBLICIZE YOURSELF
    TWITTER BLOG OPEN SOURCE TALKS

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  114. QUIT CARING ABOUT TECHNOLOGY

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  115. DON’T BE AN ASSHOLE

    STUCK AT A COMPANY YOU DON’T LIKE

    WHO JUMPS INTO DEEP RIPTIDES

    WITHOUT LOOKING

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  116. @HOLMAN

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