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
   !
   

   View Slide

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

   View Slide

3. IF ONLY
   I KNEW THIS SHIT
   IN COLLEGE
   !
   

   View Slide

4. I WAS A
   PARTICULARLY

   DUMB STUDENT
   

   View Slide

5. I AM A

   PARTICULARLY

   DUMB PROFESSIONAL
   

   View Slide

6. BUT I KNOW
   SLIGHTLY MORE NOW
   

   View Slide

7. THIS IS THE TALK

   I WISH MY DUMB
   STUDENT SELF

   HAD HEARD
   

   View Slide

8. @holman
   

   View Slide

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
   

   View Slide

10. IF ONLY I KNEW
    !
    

    View Slide

11. IF ONLY I KNEW
    STARTUPS WERE FOR ME
    !
    

    View Slide

12. I LOVE STARTUPS
    

    View Slide

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

    View Slide

14. YOUR WORK
    HAS IMPACT
    

    View Slide

15. 13 EMPLOYEES AT
    ACQUISITION
    

    View Slide

16. 3500 EMPLOYEES AT
    ACQUISITION
    

    View Slide

17. FEW CAN SCARE

    THE HELL OUTTA MANY
    

    View Slide

18. YOUR WORK
    IS MORE FUN
    

    View Slide

19. MORE OF THIS
    

    View Slide

20. LESS OF THIS
    

    View Slide

21. MORE OF THIS
    

    View Slide

22. LESS OF THIS
    

    View Slide

23. MORE TIME SPENT WORKING
    DIRECTLY ON PRODUCT
    

    View Slide

24. YOUR WORK
    USES COOL TECHNOLOGY
    

    View Slide

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

    View Slide

26. YOU ALSO GET TO
    WEAR MANY HATS
    

    View Slide

27. YOU’LL BE FILTHY RICH $
    €
    $
    $
    €
    €
    $
    €
    $
    €
    

    View Slide

28. YOU’LL BE FILTHY RICH
    

    View Slide

29. DO IT FOR LOVE OF PRODUCT

    AND THE SOMEWHAT

    REASONABLE SALARY
    WITH RESPECT TOWARDS

    SOCIETY AT LARGE
    

    View Slide

30. 13 EMPLOYEES AT
    ACQUISITION
    

    View Slide

31. LUCKYGRAM
    

    View Slide

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

    View Slide

33. CONSIDER A STARTUP
    

    View Slide

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

    View Slide

35. FINDING THE ONE IS HARD
    

    View Slide

36. FINDING A GOOD ONE IS HARD TOO
    

    View Slide

37. PAY ATTENTION TO

    COMPANIES YOU ADMIRE
    

    View Slide

38. PAY ATTENTION TO

    WHO WORKS THERE
    

    View Slide

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

    View Slide

40. THE INTERVIEW
    

    View Slide

41. THE INTERVIEW
    PAC WAS STRUCTURED, TRADITIONAL
    

    View Slide

42. THE INTERVIEW
    MUCH MORE INFLUENCED BY MY BACKGROUND
    

    View Slide

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

    View Slide

44. THE INTERVIEW
    MUCH MORE INFLUENCED BY ACCOMPLISHMENTS
    

    View Slide

45. THE INTERVIEW
    TAILOR ANY INTERVIEW TO THE COMPANY
    

    View Slide

46. THE INTERVIEW WHAT DO WE LOOK FOR?
    

    View Slide

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

    View Slide

48. TASTE AND CULTURE
    WHAT DO WE LOOK FOR?
    

    View Slide

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

    View Slide

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

    View Slide

51. IT’S HARD TO DITCH PLEASANT COMPANIES
    

    View Slide

52. IT’S HARD TO DITCH FRIENDS
    

    View Slide

53. IT’S HARD TO DITCH THE OFFICE
    

    View Slide

54. IT’S HARD TO DITCH THE CITY
    

    View Slide

55. IT’S HARD TO DITCH THE INSURANCE
    

    View Slide

56. IT’S HARD TO DITCH THE SALARY
    

    View Slide

57. IT’S HARD TO DITCH THE PRODUCT
    

    View Slide

58. LONGEVITY IS GREAT
    

    View Slide

59. JUST KEEP ASKING QUESTIONS:
    

    View Slide

60. AM I IMPROVING?
    

    View Slide

61. IS THIS COMPANY IMPROVING?
    

    View Slide

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

    View Slide

63. DO I DREAD THE WORK?
    

    View Slide

64. SPEND TIME ASSESSING THIS
    

    View Slide

65. MOVING UP SOMETIMES
    MEANS MOVING OUT
    

    View Slide

66. IF ONLY I KNEW
    HOW TO DEAL WITH HATERS
    

    View Slide

67. A SWEARING STORY
    

    View Slide

68. View Slide

69. THIS MADE ALL THE WHOLESOME
    MICROSOFT PEOPLE ANGRY
    

    View Slide

70. NOVEMBER 3, 2011
    

    View Slide

71. NOVEMBER 8, 2011
    

    View Slide

72. NOVEMBER 8, 2011
    

    View Slide

73. NOVEMBER 9, 2011
    

    View Slide

74. NOVEMBER 14, 2011
    

    View Slide

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

    View Slide

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
    “
    

    View Slide

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

    View Slide

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

    View Slide

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

    View Slide

80. IF YOU REALLY CARE, THEN
    IGNORE THE HATERS
    

    View Slide

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

    View Slide

82. SHIPPING THINGS IS GRATIFYING
    

    View Slide

83. HELPING PEOPLE IS DEEPLY GRATIFYING
    

    View Slide

84. SO, CREATE.
    

    View Slide

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

    View Slide

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

    View Slide

87. View Slide

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

    View Slide

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

    View Slide

90. JUST BECAUSE CODE IS LOGIC

    DOESN’T MEAN PROBLEMS ARE LOGICAL
    

    View Slide

91. COMPUTERS DON’T CREATE PROBLEMS;

    PEOPLE DO
    

    View Slide

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

    View Slide

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

    View Slide

94. WHINY RANTS ARE INVERSELY
    PROPORTIONAL TO ACCOMPLISHMENTS
    

    View Slide

95. YOU WON’T REGRET POSITIVE FEEDBACK
    

    View Slide

96. IF ONLY I KNEW
    HOW TO IMPROVE MYSELF
    !
    

    View Slide

97. DON’T RELY ON WORK FOR GROWTH
    

    View Slide

98. BUILD RIDICULOUS SIDE PROJECTS
    

    View Slide

99. YOU’LL MEET PEOPLE
    

    View Slide

100. PEOPLE WILL MEET YOU
     

     View Slide

101. BECOME SMART PATTERNS
     DUMB EXPERIMENTS

     

     View Slide

102. IF ONLY I KNEW
     EVERYONE IS PRETTY AVERAGE
     !
     

     View Slide

103. EVERYONE IS A BIT
     INTIMIDATING
     

     View Slide

104. THE BEST TAKEAWAY IS THAT
     MOST HUMANS ARE AVERAGE
     

     View Slide

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

     View Slide

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

     View Slide

107. THIS MAKES ME FEEL
     SO MUCH BETTER
     

     View Slide

108. IF ONLY I KNEW
     HOW THE INDUSTRY WORKED
     

     View Slide

109. THE TECH INDUSTRY IS WONDERFUL
     

     View Slide

110. THE TECH INDUSTRY IS HORRIBLE
     

     View Slide

111. THE TECH INDUSTRY IS SMALL AS FUCK
     

     View Slide

112. SOMETIMES IT IS ABOUT WHO YOU KNOW
     

     View Slide

113. PUBLICIZE YOURSELF
     TWITTER BLOG OPEN SOURCE TALKS
     

     View Slide

114. QUIT CARING ABOUT TECHNOLOGY
     

     View Slide

115. DON’T BE AN ASSHOLE

     STUCK AT A COMPANY YOU DON’T LIKE

     WHO JUMPS INTO DEEP RIPTIDES

     WITHOUT LOOKING
     

     View Slide

116. @HOLMAN
     

     View Slide