1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,748 [MUSIC] 2 00:00:06,748 --> 00:00:10,980 So yeah, it's my pleasure to welcome you to seven steps I 3 00:00:10,980 --> 00:00:14,698 recommend to be in demand in tech with Jae Taylor. 4 00:00:14,698 --> 00:00:18,881 Jae was an office assistant, a young dad, [INAUDIBLE] degree and 5 00:00:18,881 --> 00:00:23,280 still doesn't and had no connections in the tech industry. 6 00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:28,743 And even with the challenges that come with being in minority, black and Korean, 7 00:00:28,743 --> 00:00:33,967 he broke into the tech industry and has succeeded at some of the top companies in 8 00:00:33,967 --> 00:00:39,609 the world, including Microsoft, Expedia, Salesforce, Twitter and built two. 9 00:00:39,609 --> 00:00:44,148 Currently a group product manager for Twitter, Jae is also a founder of 10 00:00:44,148 --> 00:00:49,760 mentorship.io, which is a mentor lead tech education and career support community. 11 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:54,598 And as a hiring manager and mentor, Jae aims to share his story, clear hiring 12 00:00:54,598 --> 00:00:59,673 misconceptions, and attempt to provide a new perspective and path of success. 13 00:00:59,673 --> 00:01:01,388 Take it away Jae. 14 00:01:01,388 --> 00:01:03,768 >> So hopefully you guys can see my presentation the right way. 15 00:01:03,768 --> 00:01:07,190 [LAUGH] Okay, good. 16 00:01:07,190 --> 00:01:08,329 All right, sounds good. 17 00:01:08,329 --> 00:01:12,278 Well, really appreciate you guys spending some time with me. 18 00:01:12,278 --> 00:01:14,144 I think I have a pretty compelling story. 19 00:01:14,144 --> 00:01:17,903 So for those of you that are looking for jobs in tech, 20 00:01:17,903 --> 00:01:20,302 I'm telling you, you can do it. 21 00:01:20,302 --> 00:01:24,727 And I'm one of those examples that regardless of where you are in life, 22 00:01:24,727 --> 00:01:28,639 whatever situations or limitations you think you might have, 23 00:01:28,639 --> 00:01:33,246 you can still absolutely do it and you can achieve any level that you want. 24 00:01:33,246 --> 00:01:38,188 So let's talk about specifically about my story and then some of the things that 25 00:01:38,188 --> 00:01:41,372 I would suggest that you do based on my experience. 26 00:01:41,372 --> 00:01:44,994 All right, so first disclaimer, everything I say, it's just my opinion. 27 00:01:44,994 --> 00:01:49,031 Take it with a grain of salt, I can only speak to what I experienced. 28 00:01:49,031 --> 00:01:53,351 I can't speak to what other people experience, so kinda keep that in mind. 29 00:01:53,351 --> 00:01:54,376 So what you gonna learn? 30 00:01:54,376 --> 00:01:59,053 Why I'm in demand and how you can replicate what I did. 31 00:01:59,053 --> 00:02:02,247 I don't apply for jobs, but I get job offers very, 32 00:02:02,247 --> 00:02:05,981 very regularly from some of the top companies in the world. 33 00:02:05,981 --> 00:02:07,443 And I wanna show you why. 34 00:02:10,250 --> 00:02:12,712 So this is kind of a quick overview. 35 00:02:12,712 --> 00:02:17,393 I'm gonna talk about me, talk about the problem that I wanna help you solve, 36 00:02:17,393 --> 00:02:20,515 why I'm in demand, seven things I want you to do. 37 00:02:20,515 --> 00:02:24,696 And then a quick special invitation and then we'll do a Q&A. 38 00:02:24,696 --> 00:02:26,975 So a little bit about me. 39 00:02:26,975 --> 00:02:30,185 So like Guil brought out, I was an office assistant. 40 00:02:30,185 --> 00:02:33,104 I do not have a bachelor's degree. 41 00:02:35,701 --> 00:02:37,705 Can you guys hear me okay, right? 42 00:02:37,705 --> 00:02:40,192 I hear somebody asking about sound, just wanna check. 43 00:02:40,192 --> 00:02:42,588 Okay, great. 44 00:02:42,588 --> 00:02:44,101 So I was an office assistant. 45 00:02:44,101 --> 00:02:46,164 Again, no degree, no connections. 46 00:02:46,164 --> 00:02:49,412 I'm 100% self taught. 47 00:02:49,412 --> 00:02:51,648 I'm a GPM, right here it says staff, but staff and 48 00:02:51,648 --> 00:02:54,051 actually group product manager is actually the same. 49 00:02:54,051 --> 00:02:58,921 The only difference is whether or not you manage people and I do manage people. 50 00:02:58,921 --> 00:03:00,373 So I'm at Twitter. 51 00:03:00,373 --> 00:03:03,327 I'm also founder of MentorMesh.Io. 52 00:03:03,327 --> 00:03:05,786 That's basically my way to help you. 53 00:03:05,786 --> 00:03:10,476 I'm really passionate about helping people understand their real potential. 54 00:03:10,476 --> 00:03:15,359 When I think about times in my career where I didn't realize that I was 55 00:03:15,359 --> 00:03:20,242 capable of what I am, I wanna help provide the education, support, 56 00:03:20,242 --> 00:03:23,036 and community to help you do what I did. 57 00:03:23,036 --> 00:03:25,813 So like was mentioned, I've been senior at Salesforce, 58 00:03:25,813 --> 00:03:27,635 a director of product at Salesforce. 59 00:03:27,635 --> 00:03:32,357 Senior PM at Microsoft, engineering manager at Expedia, and 60 00:03:32,357 --> 00:03:33,877 now GPM at Twitter. 61 00:03:33,877 --> 00:03:36,631 So let's talk a little bit about my story, and 62 00:03:36,631 --> 00:03:40,033 then I'll kind of explain more why it matters in detail. 63 00:03:40,033 --> 00:03:43,919 So I was actually working for Washington state government. 64 00:03:43,919 --> 00:03:49,576 I was in my mid to mid 20s, late 20s, and I had two daughters. 65 00:03:49,576 --> 00:03:52,889 I just wanted to do more for them. 66 00:03:52,889 --> 00:03:58,733 Today I have four daughters, but back then I was a young dad, two daughters. 67 00:03:58,733 --> 00:04:00,822 Not my first career, just trying to make it. 68 00:04:00,822 --> 00:04:04,254 I was an office assistant, making $12 an hour, working for 69 00:04:04,254 --> 00:04:06,017 Washington state government. 70 00:04:06,017 --> 00:04:09,077 And then when nobody, I was trying to get a better job and 71 00:04:09,077 --> 00:04:11,891 I would try to get into tech and I was self studying. 72 00:04:11,891 --> 00:04:16,116 And then when nobody would hire me, they would block me on bachelor's degree. 73 00:04:16,116 --> 00:04:18,330 They say, well, you don't have a bachelor's degree. 74 00:04:18,330 --> 00:04:23,137 And that bothered me a lot because it was illogical, I could do the job. 75 00:04:23,137 --> 00:04:28,290 I had proven through side projects and things that I've done that 76 00:04:28,290 --> 00:04:34,482 even in my current role as an office assistant, I was looking for things to do. 77 00:04:34,482 --> 00:04:38,028 And I knew I could do the job and it made no sense to me that I would 78 00:04:38,028 --> 00:04:42,138 not be considered simply because I didn't have a bachelor's degree. 79 00:04:42,138 --> 00:04:45,693 So I went and started my own software consulting company. 80 00:04:45,693 --> 00:04:47,230 I barely had any experience. 81 00:04:47,230 --> 00:04:51,146 Again, 100% self taught, but I just created a website, 82 00:04:51,146 --> 00:04:54,251 started posting, and I started doing the work. 83 00:04:54,251 --> 00:04:55,484 I hired myself. 84 00:04:55,484 --> 00:04:58,781 When nobody would hire me, I hired myself. 85 00:04:58,781 --> 00:05:01,888 I ran that consulting company for about six years. 86 00:05:01,888 --> 00:05:06,220 I did a software startup with another founder called VendScreen. 87 00:05:06,220 --> 00:05:10,003 We got 35 million in venture capital funding, it was very successful. 88 00:05:10,003 --> 00:05:13,772 I learned so many lessons by being an entrepreneur. 89 00:05:13,772 --> 00:05:19,512 Now after that, this is when the financial crisis hit back in 2009, 2010. 90 00:05:19,512 --> 00:05:22,354 Housing market was going crazy. 91 00:05:22,354 --> 00:05:24,884 This is my start to lose a lot of business. 92 00:05:24,884 --> 00:05:27,803 And so this is when I went to Expedia. 93 00:05:27,803 --> 00:05:30,778 Now the interesting thing about that is, 94 00:05:30,778 --> 00:05:34,353 when I first applied to Expedia, I got rejected. 95 00:05:34,353 --> 00:05:39,205 So everyone's success story is not a clear, uphill straight path, 96 00:05:39,205 --> 00:05:41,305 there's bumps in this road. 97 00:05:41,305 --> 00:05:44,608 But you got to remember that just because you get rejected, 98 00:05:44,608 --> 00:05:47,464 doesn't mean you're not qualified, not at all. 99 00:05:47,464 --> 00:05:49,623 It's not about your qualifications. 100 00:05:49,623 --> 00:05:52,014 Don't let rejection define you because it doesn't. 101 00:05:52,014 --> 00:05:53,831 The interview process is difficult. 102 00:05:53,831 --> 00:05:58,846 So just because you failed, does not mean you can't do the job. 103 00:05:58,846 --> 00:06:02,091 I can back, I don't know, maybe nine months later, and I applied for 104 00:06:02,091 --> 00:06:02,699 a temporal. 105 00:06:02,699 --> 00:06:03,887 And I was able to get in. 106 00:06:03,887 --> 00:06:06,786 I had that role as a three month contract, but I had a point to prove. 107 00:06:06,786 --> 00:06:08,699 I wanted to prove that I deserved a seat at Expedia. 108 00:06:08,699 --> 00:06:15,003 And so, that three months contract, 109 00:06:15,003 --> 00:06:19,142 I finished in two weeks. 110 00:06:19,142 --> 00:06:22,744 And instead of asking them, what else would you like me to do? 111 00:06:22,744 --> 00:06:25,123 I networked, I built relationships. 112 00:06:25,123 --> 00:06:30,025 I talked to people, and I just started continuing to add value. 113 00:06:30,025 --> 00:06:31,322 I didn't have to ask permission. 114 00:06:31,322 --> 00:06:35,669 I just told them hey, I'm done with this that you originally hired me for, 115 00:06:35,669 --> 00:06:36,774 what else can I do? 116 00:06:36,774 --> 00:06:38,087 Actually, I didn't say that. 117 00:06:38,087 --> 00:06:39,216 I didn't say what else can I do. 118 00:06:39,216 --> 00:06:40,867 Here's what I can do. 119 00:06:40,867 --> 00:06:43,510 And then I started to do all these other projects, right? 120 00:06:44,530 --> 00:06:48,043 As I was doing that, another hiring manager saw me and 121 00:06:48,043 --> 00:06:52,724 said, saw the great work I was doing and offered me a full time role, and 122 00:06:52,724 --> 00:06:55,865 let me actually define my own job description. 123 00:06:55,865 --> 00:06:59,003 They were interested in me, not necessarily me filling a role and 124 00:06:59,003 --> 00:07:02,269 I think that's a very important thing that I'll talk about later. 125 00:07:02,269 --> 00:07:05,965 But having that entrepreneurial attitude, go find the problems, don't wait for 126 00:07:05,965 --> 00:07:06,717 instructions. 127 00:07:06,717 --> 00:07:09,533 Don't wait for somebody to just tell you what to do, 128 00:07:09,533 --> 00:07:11,391 you go find the problems, right? 129 00:07:11,391 --> 00:07:13,444 So I was at Expedia for about three years, and 130 00:07:13,444 --> 00:07:16,698 I built three different engineering organizations while I was there. 131 00:07:16,698 --> 00:07:20,430 Built a whole subset of new capabilities they had never had before. 132 00:07:20,430 --> 00:07:23,468 And again, I had never done this before, right? 133 00:07:23,468 --> 00:07:28,140 Originally, they rejected me, but I had a tremendous impact at Expedia. 134 00:07:28,140 --> 00:07:31,624 I was there for about three years and when I felt I kind of outgrew the experiences 135 00:07:31,624 --> 00:07:33,497 there, that's when I went to Microsoft. 136 00:07:33,497 --> 00:07:36,032 I was at Microsoft for about two and a half years. 137 00:07:36,032 --> 00:07:40,578 I was on the Power BI team and I helped build a web engineering team there. 138 00:07:40,578 --> 00:07:44,252 Then at this point, I was having my fourth daughter, 139 00:07:44,252 --> 00:07:48,675 I wanted better work life balance, and so I went to Salesforce. 140 00:07:48,675 --> 00:07:51,055 Salesforce is a great company. 141 00:07:51,055 --> 00:07:55,874 I built a data cataloging and data platform team there, product team. 142 00:07:55,874 --> 00:07:57,811 And then I was there for about two years. 143 00:07:57,811 --> 00:08:00,191 And then now I'm here at Twitter. 144 00:08:00,191 --> 00:08:01,782 I've been at Twitter for 145 00:08:01,782 --> 00:08:06,644 about seven months to build a platform developer experience product team. 146 00:08:06,644 --> 00:08:08,133 So that's my really quick story. 147 00:08:08,133 --> 00:08:11,662 I'm gonna go through the seven things that I want you to do, and 148 00:08:11,662 --> 00:08:14,006 just different ways to think about this. 149 00:08:14,006 --> 00:08:18,532 Cuz I want you to know that so much about success is about your grit. 150 00:08:18,532 --> 00:08:22,104 I got this poster up here, but I'm telling you, 151 00:08:22,104 --> 00:08:26,386 a lot of people think that you gotta be super smart, okay? 152 00:08:26,386 --> 00:08:27,525 In sure, yeah, maybe. 153 00:08:27,525 --> 00:08:30,104 Not really, success is a choice. 154 00:08:30,104 --> 00:08:32,736 Sometimes it's about discipline, persistence, right? 155 00:08:32,736 --> 00:08:34,429 That's what I'm gonna teach you. 156 00:08:34,429 --> 00:08:36,734 So let's talk about seven kind of concrete things. 157 00:08:36,734 --> 00:08:39,682 Now first, let's define the problem. 158 00:08:39,682 --> 00:08:45,892 Before we even define that, let's take a step back here. 159 00:08:45,892 --> 00:08:50,069 And let's talk about what you really want because I think it's different than what 160 00:08:50,069 --> 00:08:50,732 people say. 161 00:08:50,732 --> 00:08:53,595 A lot of people will say, I wanna be a data scientist or 162 00:08:53,595 --> 00:08:55,325 I wanna be a software engineer. 163 00:08:55,325 --> 00:08:59,987 But if you've never had that role, how do you know you're gonna like it? 164 00:08:59,987 --> 00:09:01,904 I think you want something a little bit different. 165 00:09:01,904 --> 00:09:03,552 So let's talk a little bit about that. 166 00:09:03,552 --> 00:09:06,673 Let's talk about my career goals. 167 00:09:06,673 --> 00:09:08,080 I wanna be in demand. 168 00:09:08,080 --> 00:09:10,590 Why? Because I want stability for my family. 169 00:09:10,590 --> 00:09:12,083 I don't wanna worry about getting a job. 170 00:09:12,083 --> 00:09:13,642 I wanna make really good money. 171 00:09:13,642 --> 00:09:15,282 I wanna take my kids to Hawaii. 172 00:09:15,282 --> 00:09:17,127 I wanna take them to Disneyland. 173 00:09:17,127 --> 00:09:20,436 I don't want finance to be a problem. 174 00:09:20,436 --> 00:09:22,230 I want ultimate flexibility. 175 00:09:22,230 --> 00:09:27,328 I wanna work whenever I want, however I want, in whatever domain I want. 176 00:09:27,328 --> 00:09:31,022 I want financial independence so that the where I work doesn't matter. 177 00:09:31,022 --> 00:09:34,510 Now I'm willing to bet that many of you are like me. 178 00:09:34,510 --> 00:09:39,419 Now you might pick data science, you might pick software engineering. 179 00:09:39,419 --> 00:09:41,557 And maybe that is interesting to you. 180 00:09:41,557 --> 00:09:43,132 But at the end of the day, 181 00:09:43,132 --> 00:09:48,033 I'm willing to bet most of you just want a good job that you feel proud to work. 182 00:09:48,033 --> 00:09:49,923 You enjoy what you're doing. 183 00:09:49,923 --> 00:09:53,980 You're recognized and given, you feel a sense of accomplishment. 184 00:09:53,980 --> 00:09:56,854 You can care for your family. 185 00:09:56,854 --> 00:10:00,276 Sometimes it's actually that, and you're actually guessing, and 186 00:10:00,276 --> 00:10:03,461 saying well software engineering It makes good money. 187 00:10:04,490 --> 00:10:07,860 I think working for Google sounds great, right? 188 00:10:07,860 --> 00:10:10,252 And so you pick these domains cuz you're right, 189 00:10:10,252 --> 00:10:14,790 a lot of what I'm talking about, these companies can provide, right? 190 00:10:14,790 --> 00:10:16,610 But I want you to upload with that for a second. 191 00:10:18,240 --> 00:10:22,360 And that's kind of where I come in, where my philosophy comes in. 192 00:10:23,720 --> 00:10:27,250 I believe you can have all of these things because I have all of these things. 193 00:10:27,250 --> 00:10:31,280 You don't have to choose between money and flexibility. 194 00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:35,670 You can see your family, you don't have to work 60, 70 hours a week. 195 00:10:35,670 --> 00:10:42,329 I work a modest 40 hour work week and I have all of these things. 196 00:10:42,329 --> 00:10:43,913 And I wanna show you how I did that. 197 00:10:46,370 --> 00:10:48,259 Now, why be in demand? 198 00:10:48,259 --> 00:10:50,330 Let's talk about that first. 199 00:10:50,330 --> 00:10:53,580 It kind of goes into a lot of what I said, the real goals, right? 200 00:10:53,580 --> 00:10:57,090 Freedom and control, if you don't like what you're doing, do something else. 201 00:10:58,720 --> 00:11:02,046 If you wanna make more money, you want more flexibility in life, 202 00:11:02,046 --> 00:11:05,080 you wanna work part time, all of that stuff it's up to you. 203 00:11:06,290 --> 00:11:09,346 I want you to skip the application process. 204 00:11:09,346 --> 00:11:12,710 People that are in demand don't apply online. 205 00:11:12,710 --> 00:11:16,540 I did not apply online, ever. 206 00:11:18,530 --> 00:11:22,802 I have an incredible salary and it's a lot more than you think. 207 00:11:22,802 --> 00:11:27,023 A lot of people in tech, they think 100,000, 200, 208 00:11:27,023 --> 00:11:31,120 300,000, I make substantially more than that. 209 00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:35,660 And I don't work 80 hour weeks, I work very, very modest weeks. 210 00:11:35,660 --> 00:11:38,030 I can see my kids whenever I want to. 211 00:11:38,030 --> 00:11:39,789 Even before the pandemic, 212 00:11:39,789 --> 00:11:43,615 I was working from home four days a week because I wanted to. 213 00:11:43,615 --> 00:11:46,870 Best pay, work life balance, flexibility. 214 00:11:46,870 --> 00:11:48,990 HIA, have it all. 215 00:11:48,990 --> 00:11:52,567 My career is on autopilot, I do not apply for jobs. 216 00:11:52,567 --> 00:11:55,279 Matter of fact, if you guys follow me on LinkedIn, 217 00:11:55,279 --> 00:11:59,060 I have a major announcement probably, with this week or next week. 218 00:11:59,060 --> 00:12:00,760 It's actually pretty cool. 219 00:12:00,760 --> 00:12:04,975 Financial independence, you do not have to choose and 220 00:12:04,975 --> 00:12:10,150 you don't have to spend years and years earning credentials. 221 00:12:10,150 --> 00:12:13,320 Now they have some value, I'm not gonna say that they don't. 222 00:12:13,320 --> 00:12:14,830 But there are other alternatives. 223 00:12:16,300 --> 00:12:18,832 Okay, so what is the formula? 224 00:12:18,832 --> 00:12:22,680 You guys are like okay, Jay, [LAUGH] how did you do it? 225 00:12:22,680 --> 00:12:24,670 Okay, let's do it. 226 00:12:24,670 --> 00:12:26,650 Seven Steps, I'm gonna be very specific. 227 00:12:26,650 --> 00:12:28,820 So first of all, let's be logical here. 228 00:12:29,890 --> 00:12:32,190 People always say do what you love. 229 00:12:32,190 --> 00:12:36,090 I say that's illogical, okay? 230 00:12:36,090 --> 00:12:41,116 You have to do what's in demand if you wanna be in demand. 231 00:12:41,116 --> 00:12:44,459 Now the reason people say do what you love is because they want you to be happy 232 00:12:44,459 --> 00:12:45,960 in your job, I totally get that. 233 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:50,832 But I would argue that if you play to your strengths and 234 00:12:50,832 --> 00:12:54,760 you're good at your job, you'll also like your job. 235 00:12:56,620 --> 00:13:00,382 But if you do what's in demand you're more likely to be in demand. 236 00:13:00,382 --> 00:13:07,260 Like if you love to bake but everybody has a gluten allergy, you're screwed, right? 237 00:13:07,260 --> 00:13:10,440 Who cares if you know how to I mean? 238 00:13:10,440 --> 00:13:14,080 Yes great, you love to bake but nobody can eat bread. 239 00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:15,950 So you have a problem, okay? 240 00:13:15,950 --> 00:13:20,508 So my thing is play to your strengths and there is a spot for you in tech, 241 00:13:20,508 --> 00:13:22,691 all kinds of personality types. 242 00:13:22,691 --> 00:13:25,810 Tech is synonymous with business, okay? 243 00:13:25,810 --> 00:13:26,720 So there's a place for you. 244 00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:28,550 You just need to know what your strengths are. 245 00:13:28,550 --> 00:13:31,746 Play to your strengths, understand what's happening in the market, 246 00:13:31,746 --> 00:13:32,870 you can be successful. 247 00:13:32,870 --> 00:13:37,544 Now what I will tell you in my experience is that your relationship with your 248 00:13:37,544 --> 00:13:42,080 direct manager contributes to your happiness more than anything else. 249 00:13:42,080 --> 00:13:45,544 You can love your role, but if your relationship with your boss is all screwed 250 00:13:45,544 --> 00:13:47,640 up, I mean, you're not gonna like your job. 251 00:13:48,740 --> 00:13:52,690 So I get it, you wanna be happy, but play to your strengths and do what's in demand. 252 00:13:52,690 --> 00:13:54,840 That to me makes way more sense. 253 00:13:54,840 --> 00:13:58,010 I feel like you'll get way more success that way. 254 00:13:59,480 --> 00:14:02,320 Okay, mindset shift, you've got to think differently. 255 00:14:02,320 --> 00:14:08,680 This is a big one, because you've been told certain things in your life. 256 00:14:10,090 --> 00:14:11,950 And I'm telling you that only some of that is true. 257 00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:19,280 Here's one quick example, mindset is more important than domain expertise. 258 00:14:19,280 --> 00:14:24,134 I got a XBox, xCloud principal level product offer from xCloud, 259 00:14:24,134 --> 00:14:28,030 which is their new online game streaming platform. 260 00:14:29,260 --> 00:14:30,320 Now, here's the deal. 261 00:14:30,320 --> 00:14:33,179 I have never done anything professional in gaming and 262 00:14:33,179 --> 00:14:35,410 I have never done anything in streaming. 263 00:14:35,410 --> 00:14:37,726 I don't know anything about it, but 264 00:14:37,726 --> 00:14:41,610 they offered me a principal product role at Microsoft. 265 00:14:41,610 --> 00:14:42,580 Now why would they do that? 266 00:14:42,580 --> 00:14:47,220 You would think that if I wanted that job, I would go study streaming, right? 267 00:14:47,220 --> 00:14:50,290 I'd go study architecture, that's what everyone would do. 268 00:14:50,290 --> 00:14:54,630 I'd study gaming platforms and I don't know none of that. 269 00:14:55,790 --> 00:15:01,299 But they offered me a lead role to help lead a brand new industry and 270 00:15:01,299 --> 00:15:03,310 represent Microsoft. 271 00:15:03,310 --> 00:15:04,170 Why would they do that? 272 00:15:05,180 --> 00:15:06,960 Because here's the thing about tech. 273 00:15:06,960 --> 00:15:08,440 Everything is brand new all the time. 274 00:15:08,440 --> 00:15:09,410 It's changing all the time. 275 00:15:09,410 --> 00:15:11,860 You can't find experts all the time. 276 00:15:11,860 --> 00:15:15,266 So what they're looking for is a proven track record of being able to 277 00:15:15,266 --> 00:15:18,567 take something super ambiguous and turn it into something real. 278 00:15:18,567 --> 00:15:23,197 I've had enough success in my career that they just 279 00:15:23,197 --> 00:15:27,405 trusted that I can do it, that's it, right? 280 00:15:27,405 --> 00:15:29,080 So think about that. 281 00:15:31,030 --> 00:15:33,680 It's not always about domain expertise, okay? 282 00:15:35,440 --> 00:15:37,120 All right, so let's get into some details here. 283 00:15:37,120 --> 00:15:39,560 So step 1, entrepreneurial mindset. 284 00:15:39,560 --> 00:15:43,810 So I told you that I was an entrepreneur when I started, right? 285 00:15:43,810 --> 00:15:45,170 I ran that company for about six years. 286 00:15:45,170 --> 00:15:47,130 Now what does it mean to be an entrepreneur? 287 00:15:47,130 --> 00:15:49,970 Well, you care about value versus looking good. 288 00:15:49,970 --> 00:15:52,873 A lot of people that work for big companies, 289 00:15:52,873 --> 00:15:55,787 they are trained to do what their boss says. 290 00:15:57,753 --> 00:16:02,810 But that's not how you stand out, that's not how you become in demand. 291 00:16:02,810 --> 00:16:06,554 You always serve your customer, you always look for impact, 292 00:16:06,554 --> 00:16:08,500 you always do what makes sense. 293 00:16:10,620 --> 00:16:14,288 So care about the value that you provide not just about looking good to your boss. 294 00:16:14,288 --> 00:16:17,866 And you'd be surprised even now most people still just do what their 295 00:16:17,866 --> 00:16:18,570 boss wants. 296 00:16:20,320 --> 00:16:23,590 Listen, understand the real problem, not just the symptom. 297 00:16:23,590 --> 00:16:27,214 When someone asks you to do something, whether you're an engineer or a product 298 00:16:27,214 --> 00:16:31,012 lead or anything like that, ask yourself why, ask them why, do the research why. 299 00:16:31,012 --> 00:16:35,040 Because they may be quick to give you some solution that doesn't make any sense. 300 00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:39,720 Understand why, that is your benefit, don't just do what you're told. 301 00:16:39,720 --> 00:16:44,200 Understand why, ask good questions, and make sure you're solving the real problem. 302 00:16:46,100 --> 00:16:49,908 So again, most people are told what to do, don't wait to be told what to do, 303 00:16:49,908 --> 00:16:51,970 you go find those problems. 304 00:16:51,970 --> 00:16:55,467 When I was at Expedia, the reason I was so impactful is cuz I didn't wait around for 305 00:16:55,467 --> 00:16:57,540 someone to tell me what to do. 306 00:16:57,540 --> 00:17:00,950 I went around and I talked to people, people will tell you what's wrong. 307 00:17:00,950 --> 00:17:04,795 They'll tell you the pain that they feel, you start seeing common themes, 308 00:17:04,795 --> 00:17:08,598 common problems, you go find those problems, you go fix those problems. 309 00:17:08,598 --> 00:17:13,540 Alleviate people's pain, serve them first, and then they will help you later. 310 00:17:14,650 --> 00:17:18,141 Some big, big key to success is building relationships across the company, 311 00:17:18,141 --> 00:17:21,460 especially if you're in a big matrixed organization. 312 00:17:21,460 --> 00:17:25,760 Take the time, build relationships, help other people. 313 00:17:25,760 --> 00:17:26,820 They will help you later. 314 00:17:28,120 --> 00:17:32,429 That is essentially how I built all of my teams at Expedia is that I found new 315 00:17:32,429 --> 00:17:36,030 problems to fix, I came up with some ways to fix them. 316 00:17:36,030 --> 00:17:39,852 I did quick MVPs and then I asked for funding to do a better version of it and 317 00:17:39,852 --> 00:17:41,810 I got that funding. 318 00:17:41,810 --> 00:17:44,910 So, it's been a huge impact for me. 319 00:17:46,280 --> 00:17:47,400 Go find problems, don't wait. 320 00:17:49,090 --> 00:17:53,250 Step 2, it kind of it kind of implies a little bit with step 1, 321 00:17:53,250 --> 00:17:56,240 like learn to influence without authority. 322 00:17:56,240 --> 00:17:57,240 This is everything. 323 00:17:57,240 --> 00:18:01,096 So software is software, yes, but it is people always. 324 00:18:01,096 --> 00:18:04,330 You don't have to always be an expert. 325 00:18:04,330 --> 00:18:10,180 But if you can get an expert to trust you, they'll come with you on your journey. 326 00:18:10,180 --> 00:18:12,000 And it's better than you being the expert. 327 00:18:13,470 --> 00:18:17,016 So a lot of organizations are super matrixed. 328 00:18:17,016 --> 00:18:20,770 If you work for these big companies like right now I'm in a product management 329 00:18:20,770 --> 00:18:22,870 kind of silo you get in it's not right. 330 00:18:22,870 --> 00:18:28,200 It feels like a silo sometimes but it's this portion of the business, right? 331 00:18:28,200 --> 00:18:34,060 So I'm in product, I own strategy I own vision, I own customer relationships. 332 00:18:34,060 --> 00:18:37,140 But I also need to partner with my engineering counterparts. 333 00:18:37,140 --> 00:18:39,402 I need to partner with design counterparts, 334 00:18:39,402 --> 00:18:43,040 with communications, marketing, legal, all these things, right? 335 00:18:44,390 --> 00:18:46,970 So nobody reports to me. 336 00:18:46,970 --> 00:18:50,030 We all have to come together in order to execute on a project. 337 00:18:51,340 --> 00:18:52,490 But I'm nobody's boss. 338 00:18:53,850 --> 00:18:55,390 And they don't have to listen to me. 339 00:18:55,390 --> 00:19:00,780 They have their own hierarchy and their own structure of authority. 340 00:19:00,780 --> 00:19:02,670 So how do you get people to work together? 341 00:19:02,670 --> 00:19:03,420 They don't have to. 342 00:19:03,420 --> 00:19:05,320 This is the key to everything. 343 00:19:05,320 --> 00:19:08,710 You bring people along with you, you can accomplish anything. 344 00:19:08,710 --> 00:19:10,650 And so the question is, how do you do it? 345 00:19:10,650 --> 00:19:13,215 All these people they have their own roadmaps, you've got your roadmap, 346 00:19:13,215 --> 00:19:15,270 how do you get everyone to work together? 347 00:19:15,270 --> 00:19:17,182 The answer is very simple actually. 348 00:19:17,182 --> 00:19:20,090 Emotional intelligence is the buzzword you might hear. 349 00:19:20,090 --> 00:19:21,960 But the answer is help them first. 350 00:19:24,220 --> 00:19:26,050 You help people first they will help you. 351 00:19:27,410 --> 00:19:31,927 You care about their career, their roadmap, their objectives, first. 352 00:19:31,927 --> 00:19:36,655 You build those relationships, you understand where they're coming from, 353 00:19:36,655 --> 00:19:39,100 understand what keeps them up at night. 354 00:19:39,100 --> 00:19:40,436 Can you help them? 355 00:19:40,436 --> 00:19:43,950 You talk to many people, you connect the dots. 356 00:19:43,950 --> 00:19:46,640 Eric's doing this, Beth is doing something similar, 357 00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:49,706 maybe you guys could work together and do it together? 358 00:19:49,706 --> 00:19:52,908 Can you collaborate across the company, build strong relationships, and 359 00:19:52,908 --> 00:19:54,246 help other people? 360 00:19:54,246 --> 00:19:58,486 You do that first and when it comes to your roadmap, they'll help you. 361 00:19:59,546 --> 00:20:00,536 This is servant leadership. 362 00:20:02,340 --> 00:20:02,900 Beside you. 363 00:20:04,180 --> 00:20:06,650 All right, step three, customer focus. 364 00:20:06,650 --> 00:20:09,380 This kind of goes back to what I was saying earlier, right? 365 00:20:09,380 --> 00:20:14,089 Deliver value to your customer, whoever your end benefactor of your service is, 366 00:20:14,089 --> 00:20:16,493 make sure they're getting their value. 367 00:20:16,493 --> 00:20:17,940 Talk to them, know them. 368 00:20:19,250 --> 00:20:22,331 Yes, you should care about the relationship with your boss, but 369 00:20:22,331 --> 00:20:26,770 if your boss is a good one, they also care very much about their customer. 370 00:20:26,770 --> 00:20:28,930 And if they don't, you might need a new boss. 371 00:20:30,610 --> 00:20:32,999 You can be aggressive without being rude. 372 00:20:32,999 --> 00:20:37,325 I'm a strong believer in showing passion without being a jerk, 373 00:20:37,325 --> 00:20:39,819 you don't have to be a jerk, right? 374 00:20:39,819 --> 00:20:42,160 Build relationships, care about people. 375 00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:48,440 You want them to understand, you make sure they feel heard and understood first. 376 00:20:49,730 --> 00:20:51,150 If you do that, they'll trust you. 377 00:20:52,220 --> 00:20:54,980 They'll actually care about your experience. 378 00:20:56,500 --> 00:20:58,998 Now, I put this little footnote here but I think this is super important, 379 00:20:58,998 --> 00:21:00,790 I kind of mentioned this earlier. 380 00:21:00,790 --> 00:21:02,590 Don't pursue promotions, pursue growth. 381 00:21:04,470 --> 00:21:08,176 A lot of times, people will make decisions because they are trying to get 382 00:21:08,176 --> 00:21:09,590 a promotion, and I get it. 383 00:21:10,840 --> 00:21:16,180 But pursue value, pursue growth, the promotions will come. 384 00:21:16,180 --> 00:21:18,181 And if they don't come, promote yourself. 385 00:21:18,181 --> 00:21:21,060 Don't be afraid to leave the organization that you're with. 386 00:21:23,500 --> 00:21:29,955 Every time I changed positions, I got anywhere from 15 to 30% raise, 387 00:21:29,955 --> 00:21:34,680 which for me ended up being 100k plus, every move. 388 00:21:36,210 --> 00:21:39,657 So between Microsoft, Salesforce, Twitter, and 389 00:21:39,657 --> 00:21:44,594 another fantastic announcement I've got next week, my compensation has 390 00:21:44,594 --> 00:21:50,570 gone up at least $100,000 every single time and I'm being modest. 391 00:21:50,570 --> 00:21:55,122 So the cap in tech is a lot higher than you think. 392 00:21:55,122 --> 00:22:00,130 You can be much more successful than you might realize. 393 00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:02,730 So I'm gonna add that in there. 394 00:22:02,730 --> 00:22:06,190 So and this is not even about money, right, 395 00:22:06,190 --> 00:22:09,980 this is about financial independence. 396 00:22:09,980 --> 00:22:13,981 it trickles down into everything in life, from the decisions you make, 397 00:22:13,981 --> 00:22:16,801 from taking care of your family, to the choices and 398 00:22:16,801 --> 00:22:19,508 flexibility you have in your life, it matters. 399 00:22:21,844 --> 00:22:25,114 All right, everybody can still hear me okay? 400 00:22:25,114 --> 00:22:26,000 Everything's good? 401 00:22:28,520 --> 00:22:32,170 Cool, okay, power brands, man. 402 00:22:32,170 --> 00:22:34,294 Talk about the most overlooked thing you can do. 403 00:22:34,294 --> 00:22:39,957 Your personal brand and your company's brand impact you, 404 00:22:39,957 --> 00:22:43,590 your career more than anything else. 405 00:22:45,700 --> 00:22:48,865 I'm gonna talk a little bit about what this means, but man, I'm telling you, 406 00:22:48,865 --> 00:22:51,210 this is talk about the most overlooked thing. 407 00:22:51,210 --> 00:22:52,950 So first, let's talk about personal brand. 408 00:22:54,380 --> 00:22:59,320 I don't apply for jobs because recruiters and hiring managers find me on LinkedIn. 409 00:22:59,320 --> 00:23:02,130 I haven't applied for job in at least eight years. 410 00:23:02,130 --> 00:23:07,087 My Twitter role, my Microsoft offers, got call for 411 00:23:07,087 --> 00:23:11,369 LinkedIn all the time, Facebook, Google, 412 00:23:11,369 --> 00:23:16,300 Amazon, Netflix, they contact me regularly. 413 00:23:16,300 --> 00:23:20,266 And when a recruiter or hiring manager contacts you from LinkedIn, you're not 414 00:23:20,266 --> 00:23:24,648 applying, they've already, most of the time, already shared your information with 415 00:23:24,648 --> 00:23:29,830 the hiring manager, or they are the hiring manager, and you go straight to interview. 416 00:23:29,830 --> 00:23:31,930 So this is what I mean by not applying online. 417 00:23:31,930 --> 00:23:36,758 I don't apply where 500 other people have already applied hoping that they see my 418 00:23:36,758 --> 00:23:37,930 resume. 419 00:23:37,930 --> 00:23:42,600 They come and get me, and that changes the conversation. 420 00:23:42,600 --> 00:23:43,702 Use LinkedIn. 421 00:23:43,702 --> 00:23:49,130 800 million people are on LinkedIn, only 1% of those people post. 422 00:23:50,460 --> 00:23:55,806 So just by posting anything, you become part of that 1%. 423 00:23:55,806 --> 00:24:00,554 Cuz sometimes it's not about being qualified, many people that apply for 424 00:24:00,554 --> 00:24:03,732 roles you are qualified, you're just not seen. 425 00:24:03,732 --> 00:24:06,320 Nobody knows who you are. 426 00:24:06,320 --> 00:24:10,696 You're 1 of 1,000 qualified candidates, how do you stand out? 427 00:24:10,696 --> 00:24:13,383 LinkedIn is a way that you stand out, 428 00:24:13,383 --> 00:24:17,905 even though only 1% of people post, a lot of people browse. 429 00:24:17,905 --> 00:24:20,801 A lot of the hiring managers, teammates, and 430 00:24:20,801 --> 00:24:24,820 recruiters that you wanna work with are on LinkedIn regularly. 431 00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:30,730 So posts, you don't have to educate people, just share your journey. 432 00:24:30,730 --> 00:24:32,330 Tell them how crappy your day was. 433 00:24:32,330 --> 00:24:35,762 You were coding something and screwed something up, and 434 00:24:35,762 --> 00:24:40,720 you're just dealing with, what will happen is people will resonate with you. 435 00:24:40,720 --> 00:24:43,060 They'll say, you know what, I know what that feels like. 436 00:24:43,060 --> 00:24:45,210 They'll like your posts, they'll follow you. 437 00:24:45,210 --> 00:24:47,279 LinkedIn is not like Facebook, okay? 438 00:24:47,279 --> 00:24:49,480 LinkedIn is your online resume. 439 00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:52,540 Who do you want to see your online resume? 440 00:24:52,540 --> 00:24:55,570 I want everyone to see mine, so connect with everyone. 441 00:24:56,860 --> 00:24:59,220 Make sure you turn your settings on so anyone can follow you. 442 00:24:59,220 --> 00:25:05,390 The more people that see you, the more opportunity you potentially have. 443 00:25:05,390 --> 00:25:07,080 So create a brand on LinkedIn. 444 00:25:09,350 --> 00:25:10,270 [INAUDIBLE] The Xbox offer. 445 00:25:11,700 --> 00:25:15,050 The hiring manager saw me on LinkedIn, he liked my posts. 446 00:25:15,050 --> 00:25:19,869 It's a way to show the hiring world you're more than just a flat resume, 447 00:25:19,869 --> 00:25:21,138 you're a person. 448 00:25:21,138 --> 00:25:24,760 Comment on other people's posts, talk about what you like. 449 00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:28,040 If you see somebody say something that really resonates with you, say that. 450 00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:34,280 You're telling future teammates and colleagues what you're all about. 451 00:25:34,280 --> 00:25:36,480 It's a great way to expand your personal brand. 452 00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:37,250 Now company brand. 453 00:25:37,250 --> 00:25:40,110 This is another thing I think is super overlooked. 454 00:25:40,110 --> 00:25:43,867 Now, working for the right company, 455 00:25:43,867 --> 00:25:47,986 even temporarily can skyrocket career. 456 00:25:47,986 --> 00:25:50,260 Now, I'll tell you why. 457 00:25:50,260 --> 00:25:51,910 Hiring is hard. 458 00:25:53,050 --> 00:25:54,470 The interview process is difficult. 459 00:25:56,260 --> 00:25:59,263 How do you determine somebody's future value? 460 00:25:59,263 --> 00:26:02,680 By asking them a bunch of random questions and putting them on the spot. 461 00:26:03,870 --> 00:26:06,644 Everybody is different as far as how they handle that, 462 00:26:06,644 --> 00:26:08,950 you can't measure future success that way. 463 00:26:08,950 --> 00:26:10,650 Interviewing is hard. 464 00:26:10,650 --> 00:26:12,270 So what do big tech companies do? 465 00:26:13,290 --> 00:26:15,980 They let someone else do the heavy lifting. 466 00:26:15,980 --> 00:26:19,681 And what that means is they hire people from other big tech companies. 467 00:26:19,681 --> 00:26:23,370 Cuz they make the assumption that if this person made it at Microsoft for 468 00:26:23,370 --> 00:26:27,255 a few years, or Salesforce, or Google, they're probably pretty good. 469 00:26:29,377 --> 00:26:32,663 So, I am assuming that Microsoft already did their due diligence, and 470 00:26:32,663 --> 00:26:35,236 Microsoft liked them, and they seem to do pretty well, 471 00:26:35,236 --> 00:26:38,600 they're probably pretty good in my, they'll be be good in my role too. 472 00:26:39,980 --> 00:26:43,330 Big tech companies love to hire from other big tech companies. 473 00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:46,540 So, what does that mean? 474 00:26:46,540 --> 00:26:47,995 So when I worked at Expedia, 475 00:26:47,995 --> 00:26:50,979 that was actually the door that opened up Microsoft to me. 476 00:26:50,979 --> 00:26:55,260 Cuz Microsoft knew about Expedia, Expedia was a brand name, so 477 00:26:55,260 --> 00:26:57,491 Microsoft was giving me a trial. 478 00:26:57,491 --> 00:27:01,120 Like, okay, Expedia is a good company, well, maybe Jay's pretty good. 479 00:27:01,120 --> 00:27:04,030 When I got into Microsoft, all of a sudden, everyone started looking at me. 480 00:27:04,030 --> 00:27:08,823 I started getting hit up by everyone, I'm not even exaggerating, 481 00:27:08,823 --> 00:27:11,777 pretty regularly, especially Amazon. 482 00:27:11,777 --> 00:27:17,481 And so I was getting calls and offers to interview monthly, 483 00:27:17,481 --> 00:27:20,682 still, and it hasn't stopped. 484 00:27:20,682 --> 00:27:22,682 Microsoft opened the door to Salesforce. 485 00:27:22,682 --> 00:27:24,399 Salesforce opened the door to Twitter. 486 00:27:24,399 --> 00:27:27,970 Twitter open the door to any other company. 487 00:27:27,970 --> 00:27:30,659 Once your resume gets the right brands, 488 00:27:30,659 --> 00:27:35,040 everyone just assumes that you must be pretty good. 489 00:27:35,040 --> 00:27:37,105 I'd like to think that I'm decent, but 490 00:27:37,105 --> 00:27:41,730 they assume that all these other companies have already done the heavy lifting. 491 00:27:41,730 --> 00:27:44,818 Jay's been successful in these places, he must be good enough for us. 492 00:27:44,818 --> 00:27:48,435 Now, even if you don't love this, right, you don't love working for 493 00:27:48,435 --> 00:27:51,345 a big tech company, cuz there's pros and cons, right? 494 00:27:52,765 --> 00:27:55,995 It's still worth going for a little while because of this effect. 495 00:27:55,995 --> 00:27:57,773 Cuz as you navigate your career and 496 00:27:57,773 --> 00:28:01,525 you kind of figure out where you really wanna be, you get to be employed. 497 00:28:02,705 --> 00:28:04,975 You get to be in demand. 498 00:28:04,975 --> 00:28:07,290 I never have to worry about getting a job. 499 00:28:07,290 --> 00:28:10,430 I always have at least two or three people that are interested at any given time. 500 00:28:12,910 --> 00:28:15,427 Okay, so and this is also what I mean by autopilot, 501 00:28:15,427 --> 00:28:17,760 I don't worry about my next career move. 502 00:28:17,760 --> 00:28:21,535 I just have to decide where I would like to go. 503 00:28:21,535 --> 00:28:25,904 Okay, step five, learn what matters. 504 00:28:25,904 --> 00:28:29,901 Now again, this goes back to doing what's in demand and 505 00:28:29,901 --> 00:28:34,168 catering to your strengths, what I said earlier, right? 506 00:28:34,168 --> 00:28:36,631 Pay attention, how do you know what companies want? 507 00:28:36,631 --> 00:28:37,736 It's actually a very simple way. 508 00:28:37,736 --> 00:28:39,289 What are they hiring for? 509 00:28:39,289 --> 00:28:40,405 Go look at job posts. 510 00:28:40,405 --> 00:28:42,850 That'll tell you what's in demand right there. 511 00:28:42,850 --> 00:28:45,853 You can also google, I mean, this is the age of the Internet. 512 00:28:45,853 --> 00:28:50,420 Come on, you can find out what's hot in the industry, very, very easy, right? 513 00:28:50,420 --> 00:28:52,080 Find out what's in demand. 514 00:28:52,080 --> 00:28:53,590 Make sure you understand what's happening in the world. 515 00:28:54,730 --> 00:28:58,180 Now, again, brand over role. 516 00:28:59,460 --> 00:29:02,209 What I mean by that is sometimes if you have an opportunity, let's say 517 00:29:02,209 --> 00:29:05,210 to go work for Microsoft, but maybe it's not the role that you really want. 518 00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:08,720 Chances are if you've never done these roles, 519 00:29:08,720 --> 00:29:11,780 you really don't know what you like or you don't like, really, right? 520 00:29:11,780 --> 00:29:14,633 So sometimes, it's okay to get in to a good brand, and 521 00:29:14,633 --> 00:29:17,480 then move around within the company. 522 00:29:17,480 --> 00:29:20,347 I did that at Expedia, Microsoft, and Salesforce. 523 00:29:20,347 --> 00:29:23,983 I got into a job that I was qualified for and I liked the job. 524 00:29:23,983 --> 00:29:26,791 But then eventually as I got to know the company, 525 00:29:26,791 --> 00:29:29,668 got to network, meet people around the company, 526 00:29:29,668 --> 00:29:33,660 I transitioned to another position within the company that I enjoy. 527 00:29:33,660 --> 00:29:37,980 Once you get in, it's actually very easy to move around, talk to people, 528 00:29:37,980 --> 00:29:40,176 network, build relationships, and 529 00:29:40,176 --> 00:29:43,690 go find the job that you really want, or go explore, right? 530 00:29:44,740 --> 00:29:48,050 Go see what you like and what you don't like. 531 00:29:48,050 --> 00:29:50,404 So once you get in, super easy to move around. 532 00:29:50,404 --> 00:29:53,942 If you're not sure, you're intact, and you're not sure what to do, or 533 00:29:53,942 --> 00:29:57,410 you're not sure what to think about as far as direction. 534 00:29:57,410 --> 00:30:01,569 Personally, I would say product and program management are hot. 535 00:30:01,569 --> 00:30:05,836 They require a lot of communication skills, a lot of people collaboration, 536 00:30:05,836 --> 00:30:10,237 marketing, customer service like a lot of transferable skills and program and 537 00:30:10,237 --> 00:30:12,380 product management. 538 00:30:12,380 --> 00:30:15,822 Data is always hot regardless of where you wanna be in the stack, 539 00:30:15,822 --> 00:30:19,967 whether you wanna be a data scientist, data engineer, or product manager, 540 00:30:19,967 --> 00:30:22,170 product analyst, data is everywhere. 541 00:30:22,170 --> 00:30:25,820 So having fundamental knowledge in data is super important. 542 00:30:25,820 --> 00:30:29,270 It is the lifeblood, it is the new oil of business, right? 543 00:30:29,270 --> 00:30:30,850 Data is always awesome. 544 00:30:30,850 --> 00:30:33,504 Cloud technologies is always awesome too. 545 00:30:33,504 --> 00:30:38,833 Cloud computing, GCP, AWS, Azure, Cloud Fundamentals, 546 00:30:38,833 --> 00:30:45,508 every company is on some type of roadmap, a journey in their cloud strategy. 547 00:30:45,508 --> 00:30:49,450 Whether they have their own data centers or they're adopting public cloud services, 548 00:30:49,450 --> 00:30:52,680 like the ones I mentioned, cloud is also awesome to learn. 549 00:30:52,680 --> 00:30:56,497 So if you're not sure, those are some things that I think I would suggest. 550 00:30:56,497 --> 00:30:59,982 And of course, software engineering, software engineering is awesome but 551 00:30:59,982 --> 00:31:01,703 it's not necessarily for everyone. 552 00:31:01,703 --> 00:31:06,800 So remember that you don't have to code, I don't code and I do very well. 553 00:31:06,800 --> 00:31:07,887 I'm a people person. 554 00:31:07,887 --> 00:31:11,420 So if you're a people person, there's room and space for you too. 555 00:31:13,140 --> 00:31:16,678 Relationships are more important than anything. 556 00:31:16,678 --> 00:31:19,297 Build relationships, not only networking but 557 00:31:19,297 --> 00:31:24,035 also when you get a job within the job, network, get to know people, right? 558 00:31:24,035 --> 00:31:25,469 All right. 559 00:31:26,880 --> 00:31:31,260 Step 6, get the right type of experience. 560 00:31:31,260 --> 00:31:35,879 So if you're having trouble landing a job, hire yourself. 561 00:31:35,879 --> 00:31:41,329 Go spend $100 for a business license and go start a business. 562 00:31:43,010 --> 00:31:45,260 That is real, your experience is real. 563 00:31:45,260 --> 00:31:46,500 It is exactly what I did. 564 00:31:46,500 --> 00:31:47,919 I was not qualified. 565 00:31:47,919 --> 00:31:53,320 if I was waiting to be qualified, that's such a subjective term. 566 00:31:53,320 --> 00:31:55,450 All you have to do is no more than the person you're serving. 567 00:31:56,760 --> 00:31:59,120 And many of you probably already do. 568 00:31:59,120 --> 00:32:01,807 It just means that maybe you only serve people, 569 00:32:01,807 --> 00:32:05,314 again with less knowledge than you and that's okay, right? 570 00:32:05,314 --> 00:32:06,380 Hire yourself. 571 00:32:06,380 --> 00:32:08,630 If you wanna be a product manager, go build a product. 572 00:32:10,040 --> 00:32:13,220 If you want to be a software engineer, go build software. 573 00:32:13,220 --> 00:32:17,297 Because the cool thing about that is you're building your experience. 574 00:32:17,297 --> 00:32:21,283 The difference between somebody that's educated versus somebody that's 575 00:32:21,283 --> 00:32:23,150 experienced is your mistakes. 576 00:32:23,150 --> 00:32:23,837 Go fail. 577 00:32:23,837 --> 00:32:25,060 Go learn. 578 00:32:25,060 --> 00:32:26,290 Go screw up. 579 00:32:26,290 --> 00:32:27,640 Go make mistakes. 580 00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:28,500 Try it again. 581 00:32:28,500 --> 00:32:29,830 Struggle through it. 582 00:32:29,830 --> 00:32:32,730 Learn all the ups and downs, that's what experience feels like. 583 00:32:32,730 --> 00:32:33,650 Go do it. 584 00:32:33,650 --> 00:32:38,804 You have no excuse not to build your portfolio right now. 585 00:32:38,804 --> 00:32:42,420 And even on the portfolio aspect, right? 586 00:32:42,420 --> 00:32:45,540 A lot of people will spend a lot of time to building a portfolio. 587 00:32:45,540 --> 00:32:49,140 What's the difference between building a portfolio and running a business? 588 00:32:50,440 --> 00:32:51,970 The difference is a business license. 589 00:32:52,970 --> 00:32:57,845 Yes, go build your project, but build it with the intent of selling something and 590 00:32:57,845 --> 00:33:00,200 go get a business license. 591 00:33:00,200 --> 00:33:03,317 Now it's not a side project, it is a business and 592 00:33:03,317 --> 00:33:06,530 you are the position you designate yourself. 593 00:33:06,530 --> 00:33:09,280 That experience is real, it counts, go do it. 594 00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:12,150 There are no excuses not in today's world. 595 00:33:12,150 --> 00:33:16,457 With cloud computing strategies, you can build auto scaling architectures as a one 596 00:33:16,457 --> 00:33:19,187 person if you understand how to use the technology and 597 00:33:19,187 --> 00:33:21,790 most of that information is free. 598 00:33:21,790 --> 00:33:24,210 Or reasonably priced like Treehouse, right? 599 00:33:24,210 --> 00:33:27,060 Like I learned JavaScript from Treehouse. 600 00:33:27,060 --> 00:33:31,160 There's so much out there, you just have to have the determination to go learn it. 601 00:33:32,440 --> 00:33:33,270 The opportunity is there. 602 00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:36,936 And if nothing else, let's say you just do a bunch of stuff and 603 00:33:36,936 --> 00:33:39,500 it doesn't become anything, that's okay too. 604 00:33:39,500 --> 00:33:42,084 Because the number one in every question that you're gonna get is tell me a time 605 00:33:42,084 --> 00:33:44,600 when you failed and you'll have a lot to talk about. 606 00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:46,500 And that's a good thing. 607 00:33:46,500 --> 00:33:50,650 If you failed, then you won't make those same mistakes when you work for them. 608 00:33:51,760 --> 00:33:54,330 That's an experienced person, it matters. 609 00:33:55,950 --> 00:33:59,436 And like I said, if you're not seeing the progression in your current company, 610 00:33:59,436 --> 00:34:02,000 don't be afraid to look elsewhere. 611 00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:04,630 I told you about my growth, lateral growth is still growth. 612 00:34:05,730 --> 00:34:07,420 Aggressively pursue growth. 613 00:34:08,870 --> 00:34:14,100 Don't look for a 40 year career, work for ten and retire. 614 00:34:14,100 --> 00:34:15,540 And don't retire. 615 00:34:15,540 --> 00:34:18,300 Just be financially independent and do whatever you want. 616 00:34:18,300 --> 00:34:20,597 Don't look for comfort, look for growth. 617 00:34:23,556 --> 00:34:27,675 All right, and then the last part, I hate this, one of these days I'm gonna try to 618 00:34:27,675 --> 00:34:31,890 like disrupt tech, maybe with this but there is a process to the interview. 619 00:34:31,890 --> 00:34:35,020 It isn't a grueling and difficult and frustrating process. 620 00:34:36,190 --> 00:34:38,816 But the good thing is, if you just Google it, 621 00:34:38,816 --> 00:34:42,770 you can find every question ever asked in every typical interview. 622 00:34:42,770 --> 00:34:47,246 I've been a hiring manager for every company that I've mentioned Microsoft, 623 00:34:47,246 --> 00:34:51,500 Salesforce, Twitter, Expedia, we ask the same questions. 624 00:34:51,500 --> 00:34:53,205 Even the answers are researchable, 625 00:34:53,205 --> 00:34:56,070 which is why the whole process I think is a little ridiculous. 626 00:34:56,070 --> 00:35:01,120 If you're a very studious person you can pass this. 627 00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:02,690 So go do the research. 628 00:35:02,690 --> 00:35:06,550 But I would say on top of this is not just do the research, believe it. 629 00:35:07,620 --> 00:35:09,640 Don't just answer a question, right? 630 00:35:09,640 --> 00:35:12,593 Like if you were a product lead the last year, 631 00:35:12,593 --> 00:35:17,350 tell me a time when you took a product from ideation all the way to launch. 632 00:35:18,610 --> 00:35:20,380 Don't like practice your answer. 633 00:35:21,600 --> 00:35:22,787 Go do that. 634 00:35:22,787 --> 00:35:24,570 [LAUGH] Go do it. 635 00:35:24,570 --> 00:35:27,070 Go take a product from ideation to lunch. 636 00:35:27,070 --> 00:35:27,850 What did you do? 637 00:35:27,850 --> 00:35:29,630 Why did you make those choices? 638 00:35:29,630 --> 00:35:30,650 What could you have done? 639 00:35:30,650 --> 00:35:34,270 Can you connect with other product managers on LinkedIn? 640 00:35:34,270 --> 00:35:37,661 Ask for coffee chats, don't ask for favors, ask for coffee chats, 641 00:35:37,661 --> 00:35:39,360 get some advice from them. 642 00:35:39,360 --> 00:35:40,440 What did they do? 643 00:35:40,440 --> 00:35:44,015 Go build your product so that when you do have that interview question you're 644 00:35:44,015 --> 00:35:45,454 talking all from experience. 645 00:35:45,454 --> 00:35:49,210 You're not answering a question because you researched it online. 646 00:35:49,210 --> 00:35:52,460 You can talk from experience, this is what you did do. 647 00:35:52,460 --> 00:35:56,060 This is what you would do differently, right? 648 00:35:56,060 --> 00:36:00,050 So, understand what that process is, it's not hard to find online. 649 00:36:01,520 --> 00:36:05,770 All right, so here's my special invitation and request. 650 00:36:05,770 --> 00:36:09,690 So please join the MentorMesh.io community. 651 00:36:09,690 --> 00:36:14,194 We've got 1,300 people just like you learning, self-paced, 652 00:36:14,194 --> 00:36:16,390 doing work, connecting. 653 00:36:16,390 --> 00:36:20,270 If you're a product manager and you need software engineers, they're there. 654 00:36:20,270 --> 00:36:21,820 Go build something together. 655 00:36:21,820 --> 00:36:24,022 If you're a software engineer but you want something to build, 656 00:36:24,022 --> 00:36:25,850 there's product managers there. 657 00:36:25,850 --> 00:36:29,320 Come find us, come chat with us, it's all free, come check it out. 658 00:36:29,320 --> 00:36:32,510 If you learned anything on this, remember I told you to post on LinkedIn. 659 00:36:32,510 --> 00:36:35,200 A lot of people are like, I don't even know what to post. 660 00:36:35,200 --> 00:36:38,190 Well, if you learned anything just post about that. 661 00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:40,870 Just post, tag me in there. 662 00:36:40,870 --> 00:36:43,844 Say, hey, I was listening to Jae's talk, he said this, 663 00:36:43,844 --> 00:36:47,690 this really resonated with me, I just wanted to share. 664 00:36:47,690 --> 00:36:48,764 Why do you do that? 665 00:36:48,764 --> 00:36:51,450 To be seen, simply to be seen. 666 00:36:51,450 --> 00:36:54,490 If somebody else can benefit from something you learned, share. 667 00:36:54,490 --> 00:36:56,520 That's what LinkedIn should be for. 668 00:36:56,520 --> 00:37:00,610 Share knowledge, help each other grow, let's up level together, right? 669 00:37:00,610 --> 00:37:01,890 And start posting regularly. 670 00:37:01,890 --> 00:37:05,325 Just talk about what's going on in your business journey, your career journey, 671 00:37:05,325 --> 00:37:07,970 things that you're learning, just share. 672 00:37:07,970 --> 00:37:11,340 If you share, people will care. 673 00:37:11,340 --> 00:37:15,389 They'll care about you, they'll pay attention to you, they'll like your posts. 674 00:37:15,389 --> 00:37:18,754 If you post to me, I will, excuse me, if you tagged me, 675 00:37:18,754 --> 00:37:22,924 I'll comment on your posts, which means my followers will see you. 676 00:37:22,924 --> 00:37:25,160 They will also start to notice who you are as well, right? 677 00:37:25,160 --> 00:37:28,960 Over time, if you're consistent people will start to follow you. 678 00:37:28,960 --> 00:37:33,220 Within MentorMesh I've worked with many people, and they've gained thousands of 679 00:37:33,220 --> 00:37:36,460 followers within a few months because of what I'm suggesting. 680 00:37:37,560 --> 00:37:41,820 I also run accelerator programs for those of you that wanna go a little bit faster. 681 00:37:41,820 --> 00:37:45,180 I do a lot more one on one mentorship, a lot more training. 682 00:37:45,180 --> 00:37:48,720 You guys are welcome to check that out, MentorMesh.io. 683 00:37:48,720 --> 00:37:53,720 But #mentormesh, tag me, I'll comment, I'll help you on that journey. 684 00:37:53,720 --> 00:37:58,640 People that know me I give a lot of time, this is my passion. 685 00:37:58,640 --> 00:38:00,220 I want you guys to succeed. 686 00:38:02,520 --> 00:38:05,120 Okay, we are at Q&A. 687 00:38:05,120 --> 00:38:12,134 I am gonna stop sharing my screen so you guys can see my cool Grit poster. 688 00:38:12,134 --> 00:38:17,700 Okay, looks like there's a Q&A section, so let me see what I can answer for you guys. 689 00:38:17,700 --> 00:38:19,840 I don't know how long the session is. 690 00:38:19,840 --> 00:38:21,070 I think I have at least five minutes. 691 00:38:23,950 --> 00:38:29,740 Okay, so first question, any tips moving from a small to a large company? 692 00:38:29,740 --> 00:38:32,760 So what I did was I took a contract role. 693 00:38:32,760 --> 00:38:39,563 So number one thing I think you should do is work on your personal brand. 694 00:38:39,563 --> 00:38:45,280 Your LinkedIn profile is your resume, it is how people find you. 695 00:38:46,850 --> 00:38:49,160 It's more important than your resume. 696 00:38:49,160 --> 00:38:51,190 So keep your LinkedIn profile updated. 697 00:38:51,190 --> 00:38:53,856 Your top three skills all your searchable because remember, 698 00:38:53,856 --> 00:38:55,750 recruiters are searching for you. 699 00:38:55,750 --> 00:38:59,480 So make sure your keywords relate to the type of job that you want, okay? 700 00:38:59,480 --> 00:39:04,379 Get your LinkedIn profile updated, people will start finding you. 701 00:39:04,379 --> 00:39:07,859 Now the number one way to get to a big company in my opinion, my experience, 702 00:39:07,859 --> 00:39:10,634 is to take a contract role if you have the ability to do that. 703 00:39:10,634 --> 00:39:13,500 Take a three-month contract, six-month contract. 704 00:39:13,500 --> 00:39:14,610 Why is that awesome? 705 00:39:14,610 --> 00:39:17,099 Because you get to work for these big tech companies, 706 00:39:17,099 --> 00:39:20,874 the bar is super low because they're just trying to hire somebody fast, right? 707 00:39:20,874 --> 00:39:23,400 It's way easier than going through the normal route. 708 00:39:23,400 --> 00:39:27,666 But it's like a try it before you buy it, go in there kick butts, 709 00:39:27,666 --> 00:39:31,760 there's a large opportunity for you to be hired on. 710 00:39:31,760 --> 00:39:33,100 That's how I got my first gig. 711 00:39:33,100 --> 00:39:35,879 I know many, many people have gone that way too. 712 00:39:35,879 --> 00:39:39,228 You get to network, meet people, show them your worth. 713 00:39:39,228 --> 00:39:42,310 They have the ability to hire you. 714 00:39:42,310 --> 00:39:45,860 And a lot of these companies it's not about money. 715 00:39:45,860 --> 00:39:47,900 Do they have money? 716 00:39:47,900 --> 00:39:48,890 Of course they have money. 717 00:39:48,890 --> 00:39:51,900 These are millions and billion dollar company. 718 00:39:51,900 --> 00:39:53,900 They need to make you a priority though. 719 00:39:53,900 --> 00:39:58,090 How do you show your value so that they are willing to find money for you? 720 00:39:59,732 --> 00:40:03,096 Alright, let's see here what I got. 721 00:40:06,046 --> 00:40:08,780 Talk about what skills you have that earn you the most money. 722 00:40:10,600 --> 00:40:12,967 My people, skills, it's not my tech skills. 723 00:40:12,967 --> 00:40:15,334 And you know what's interesting about that? 724 00:40:15,334 --> 00:40:17,970 I'm in a very technical domain. 725 00:40:17,970 --> 00:40:21,770 I'm a platform developer experience, which means I need to work with engineers. 726 00:40:21,770 --> 00:40:23,720 My customers are the most technical audience. 727 00:40:24,870 --> 00:40:28,060 My job is to make their life easier. 728 00:40:28,060 --> 00:40:31,210 Yet that's not where my value is. 729 00:40:31,210 --> 00:40:36,014 My value is listening, understanding their problems, taking that information and 730 00:40:36,014 --> 00:40:39,400 sharing it with the people that can make the impact. 731 00:40:39,400 --> 00:40:42,512 Getting collaboration across the company, being empathetic. 732 00:40:42,512 --> 00:40:45,310 Drawing collaboration and correlation between teams, 733 00:40:45,310 --> 00:40:47,460 getting them to work together. 734 00:40:47,460 --> 00:40:49,260 That is everything. 735 00:40:49,260 --> 00:40:51,770 Even as a software engineer, you might think, well, 736 00:40:51,770 --> 00:40:53,340 I need to be a fantastic coder? 737 00:40:53,340 --> 00:40:54,440 Sure, I agree with you. 738 00:40:54,440 --> 00:40:57,640 If that's what you do for a living, you should be pretty good. 739 00:40:57,640 --> 00:41:00,710 But imagine instead of just doing what you're told, you started asking why. 740 00:41:02,290 --> 00:41:04,740 And you started building relationships. 741 00:41:04,740 --> 00:41:08,159 And not only were you building fantastic software, you knew the business. 742 00:41:08,159 --> 00:41:10,618 You knew the people that were requesting the change and 743 00:41:10,618 --> 00:41:12,620 you helped understand the problem. 744 00:41:12,620 --> 00:41:16,200 So that when they asked for something unknowingly that made no sense, 745 00:41:16,200 --> 00:41:20,154 you asked them intelligent questions to get them to make the right decision. 746 00:41:20,154 --> 00:41:25,730 Or actually worked with them, collaboratively, right? 747 00:41:25,730 --> 00:41:27,300 How much more valuable you are. 748 00:41:27,300 --> 00:41:30,750 If you ever plan on being senior or principal, that is what you do. 749 00:41:30,750 --> 00:41:32,090 Your job is not to take orders. 750 00:41:32,090 --> 00:41:35,080 Your job is to ask questions and make sure we're doing the right thing. 751 00:41:35,080 --> 00:41:35,940 Start that now. 752 00:41:35,940 --> 00:41:37,743 That's people [INAUDIBLE]. 753 00:41:37,743 --> 00:41:42,126 All right, when starting on tech without previous experience, 754 00:41:42,126 --> 00:41:45,720 how did you get past the online application process? 755 00:41:46,830 --> 00:41:48,790 I didn't apply online, I started my own company. 756 00:41:50,570 --> 00:41:54,177 So, if you don't have your first tech job and you're looking for 757 00:41:54,177 --> 00:41:57,860 your first tech job, start a company, go get a business license. 758 00:41:59,060 --> 00:42:00,146 What do you wanna be dig-scientist? 759 00:42:00,146 --> 00:42:02,206 Go start a dig-science company. 760 00:42:02,206 --> 00:42:03,392 Good start building models. 761 00:42:03,392 --> 00:42:07,810 Try to people to do free work for, maybe. 762 00:42:07,810 --> 00:42:10,122 Cuz this is about experience, and 763 00:42:10,122 --> 00:42:14,200 then you are now founder of your own data analytics company. 764 00:42:17,370 --> 00:42:18,960 It is that simple. 765 00:42:18,960 --> 00:42:22,035 And as you do more work, maybe there's a tool you wanna build, 766 00:42:22,035 --> 00:42:25,360 go find engineers that wanna build it with you. 767 00:42:25,360 --> 00:42:28,170 Be one of the engineers that built it, right? 768 00:42:28,170 --> 00:42:29,167 As you do that work, 769 00:42:29,167 --> 00:42:33,490 your experience level starts to go up because you're gaining experience. 770 00:42:33,490 --> 00:42:35,140 You put it on your resume. 771 00:42:35,140 --> 00:42:37,729 That is what you are. 772 00:42:37,729 --> 00:42:41,662 Again, even in my early days recruiters would find me on LinkedIn. 773 00:42:41,662 --> 00:42:45,186 So, care about your personal brand, care about how you show up online. 774 00:42:45,186 --> 00:42:46,508 They will come to you. 775 00:42:46,508 --> 00:42:50,500 There are so many jobs there. 776 00:42:50,500 --> 00:42:55,130 At Twitter, I'm gonna hire two to ten people, just pre-empts. 777 00:42:55,130 --> 00:42:59,500 The organization that I support, is gonna hire like 30 to 50 engineers. 778 00:42:59,500 --> 00:43:01,989 Twitter is an example of a company that's gonna double in size in 779 00:43:01,989 --> 00:43:03,420 the next two years. 780 00:43:03,420 --> 00:43:05,890 There are so many jobs out there. 781 00:43:05,890 --> 00:43:09,630 I agree that maybe your first one can be your most difficult one. 782 00:43:09,630 --> 00:43:14,644 Totally get that, but this is why I suggest starting your own company, 783 00:43:14,644 --> 00:43:19,924 work with other people, gain experience and they'll start calling you. 784 00:43:19,924 --> 00:43:23,940 All right, let's see whatever, any book recommendations? 785 00:43:25,850 --> 00:43:29,140 If you're into product management, which is obviously my domain. 786 00:43:30,320 --> 00:43:34,520 Insight, by Marty Kagan, is really good. 787 00:43:35,910 --> 00:43:40,717 Measure What Matters, is another book that talks about OKRs, which is a kind of 788 00:43:40,717 --> 00:43:45,398 a measuring, kind of strategic system that you use in a lot of big companies. 789 00:43:45,398 --> 00:43:50,192 So, OKRs, so, Measure What Matters, is that book. 790 00:43:50,192 --> 00:43:54,020 Marty Kagan's Inspires, excuse me, I may have said Insight. 791 00:43:55,190 --> 00:44:01,158 Those are kind of the, and then Crucial Conversations, is another book. 792 00:44:01,158 --> 00:44:05,273 When you're talking about dealing with conflict and 793 00:44:05,273 --> 00:44:09,948 talking to people and being empathetic, really good book. 794 00:44:09,948 --> 00:44:16,580 How much or hard did you have to work per week when you first began, hire yourself? 795 00:44:16,580 --> 00:44:20,405 I was burning it, both ends of the candle, not gonna lie to you. 796 00:44:20,405 --> 00:44:22,318 When I was working that job, 797 00:44:22,318 --> 00:44:27,099 I was doing it at night while I was having my state job until I got to a place 798 00:44:27,099 --> 00:44:32,159 where I was making enough money that I could comfortably quit my state job. 799 00:44:32,159 --> 00:44:35,190 But there was a period where I was burning it at both ends of the candle. 800 00:44:36,300 --> 00:44:41,438 But yeah, you wanna progress fast, you got to put the work in. 801 00:44:41,438 --> 00:44:47,530 It is worth it cuz I got here, and now I don't have to do that. 802 00:44:47,530 --> 00:44:49,892 And I've been here for a while, actually. 803 00:44:49,892 --> 00:44:53,198 I did that before Expedia, but once I got to Expedia, 804 00:44:53,198 --> 00:44:57,410 I could work a regular work week and I have ultimate flexibility. 805 00:44:57,410 --> 00:44:59,270 So, totally worth it. 806 00:44:59,270 --> 00:45:01,557 Very, very doable, you just gotta put the work in. 807 00:45:01,557 --> 00:45:03,711 Let's see. 808 00:45:07,106 --> 00:45:11,350 What kind of soft skills do you recommend is required to carry as a product manager? 809 00:45:12,410 --> 00:45:15,897 So, I mentioned a lot about interpersonal stuff, right, like talking to people, 810 00:45:15,897 --> 00:45:17,740 communication, right, empathy. 811 00:45:17,740 --> 00:45:19,210 It's super important. 812 00:45:19,210 --> 00:45:20,550 But ask good questions. 813 00:45:20,550 --> 00:45:23,634 That's good, not only for product management, but everyone, 814 00:45:23,634 --> 00:45:24,930 do your research, right? 815 00:45:24,930 --> 00:45:27,240 Don't ask blind questions where it sounds like you're just being lazy, 816 00:45:27,240 --> 00:45:28,630 because you don't want to do the research. 817 00:45:28,630 --> 00:45:29,300 That's not what I mean. 818 00:45:29,300 --> 00:45:30,820 That's just being lazy. 819 00:45:30,820 --> 00:45:31,790 Go do the research. 820 00:45:31,790 --> 00:45:35,830 know as much as you can, ask intelligent questions. 821 00:45:35,830 --> 00:45:42,080 Ask insightful questions and don't be afraid to ask, why are we doing this? 822 00:45:42,080 --> 00:45:43,132 That's your value. 823 00:45:43,132 --> 00:45:46,580 There's a lot of people that can just do what they're told. 824 00:45:47,660 --> 00:45:53,998 But if you can ask questions that provoke thinking, that's a huge value. 825 00:45:56,612 --> 00:45:57,638 All right. 826 00:45:57,638 --> 00:46:01,016 Let me see what other questions. 827 00:46:01,016 --> 00:46:01,516 Lets see. 828 00:46:07,610 --> 00:46:09,180 Why is experience so important? 829 00:46:11,770 --> 00:46:14,450 I think in general, so think of it this way. 830 00:46:14,450 --> 00:46:15,165 As an employer, 831 00:46:15,165 --> 00:46:19,250 I wanna pay you a whole lot of money, especially if you're in tech, right? 832 00:46:19,250 --> 00:46:21,112 I just want some assurances, 833 00:46:21,112 --> 00:46:25,940 something that makes me trust that you can do this job well, anything. 834 00:46:25,940 --> 00:46:32,600 That's what all this stuff is, bachelor's degrees, MBAs, experience certifications. 835 00:46:32,600 --> 00:46:34,673 We're trying to build a case to trust you, 836 00:46:34,673 --> 00:46:39,030 can I trust this person that when I hire them, they're going to do a good job? 837 00:46:39,030 --> 00:46:42,951 Because once I hire them, there's all these laws, depending on the countries 838 00:46:42,951 --> 00:46:46,800 that you're in, I might be stuck with you for a little while, right? 839 00:46:46,800 --> 00:46:50,570 So as the employers, just give me a reason to trust you, right? 840 00:46:50,570 --> 00:46:52,084 So, experience is one of those factors. 841 00:46:52,084 --> 00:46:55,796 If I can talk to the mistakes that I've made, if I can talk to times when I've 842 00:46:55,796 --> 00:46:59,872 done things and I can give you examples, that helps earn trust with your employer. 843 00:46:59,872 --> 00:47:03,785 They're like, okay, this person has done this before, so 844 00:47:03,785 --> 00:47:05,790 they can probably do it for me. 845 00:47:07,530 --> 00:47:11,560 But at the same time, experience just means, go out and do it. 846 00:47:11,560 --> 00:47:14,400 Don't think that that means go like you have to have worked for a big company. 847 00:47:14,400 --> 00:47:17,390 I think Mark Zuckerberg obviously proved that you don't even need that kind of 848 00:47:17,390 --> 00:47:18,260 experience, right? 849 00:47:18,260 --> 00:47:19,730 He built Facebook, he had no experience. 850 00:47:22,020 --> 00:47:29,160 All right, let's see Okay, 851 00:47:29,160 --> 00:47:32,341 when starting out in tech industry without previous experience, 852 00:47:32,341 --> 00:47:33,940 how does one get past the online? 853 00:47:33,940 --> 00:47:36,824 Okay, I think I answered that already. 854 00:47:36,824 --> 00:47:41,240 Okay, do you have any insight on how to get past the no experience barrier and 855 00:47:41,240 --> 00:47:43,799 lack of entry level or Junior depositions? 856 00:47:43,799 --> 00:47:46,135 Having a hard time bridging from boot camp. 857 00:47:46,135 --> 00:47:47,059 Man, I tell you. 858 00:47:47,059 --> 00:47:51,582 [LAUGH] So, if you come to my community, mention Nester 859 00:47:51,582 --> 00:47:55,878 you're gonna see a lot of boot camp grads for the same reason. 860 00:47:55,878 --> 00:47:57,830 Because it's hard, man it's hard. 861 00:47:57,830 --> 00:47:58,799 This is what I'm telling you, 862 00:47:58,799 --> 00:48:00,790 that the number one thing you can do is start your own business. 863 00:48:00,790 --> 00:48:04,160 It's what I did, it's what I can speak to, its what worked for me. 864 00:48:05,220 --> 00:48:08,270 A lot of companies will hesitate hiring you. 865 00:48:08,270 --> 00:48:10,973 Now, what I will tell you is that every role that I have, 866 00:48:10,973 --> 00:48:14,040 if you follow me on LinkedIn, I'm gonna try to help with this. 867 00:48:15,180 --> 00:48:18,532 Because there are millions of mid-level jobs and senior jobs, 868 00:48:18,532 --> 00:48:20,340 just not enough entry level jobs. 869 00:48:21,350 --> 00:48:24,707 And I'm gonna try my best as I continue to grow in my career, 870 00:48:24,707 --> 00:48:26,533 to open opportunities for you. 871 00:48:26,533 --> 00:48:29,765 There's apprenticeship programs, there's internship programs. 872 00:48:29,765 --> 00:48:33,370 Apprenticeship is great because it's you don't have to be an intern. 873 00:48:33,370 --> 00:48:37,403 It's basically a try before you buy kinda deal where you work for a company for 874 00:48:37,403 --> 00:48:40,768 like a year and they have the option of hiring you at the end of it. 875 00:48:40,768 --> 00:48:43,276 I'm gonna personally try to do a lot of them, 876 00:48:43,276 --> 00:48:46,317 those types of programs for every company that I work. 877 00:48:46,317 --> 00:48:47,928 So, I'm gonna try to help there. 878 00:48:47,928 --> 00:48:52,000 But my number one suggestion, you gotta go do the work. 879 00:48:52,000 --> 00:48:53,727 Just go start a company. 880 00:48:53,727 --> 00:48:58,260 [COUGH] Stop thinking you have to create Facebook or Instagram. 881 00:48:59,680 --> 00:49:02,310 Just go do anything, that experience counts. 882 00:49:02,310 --> 00:49:05,610 You do that for a while, try to make some money. 883 00:49:06,620 --> 00:49:10,691 It counts and it'll help you bridge that gap between no experience and 884 00:49:10,691 --> 00:49:14,450 your first entry level job that wants two years. 885 00:49:14,450 --> 00:49:18,290 But what I will say is that, this is a career decision. 886 00:49:18,290 --> 00:49:23,321 If anybody tells you, learn coding in three months and get a job, okay? 887 00:49:23,321 --> 00:49:27,965 Sometimes that happens, usually it's because they know somebody, but for 888 00:49:27,965 --> 00:49:32,048 the most of us, it's hard work, it's consistency, it's grit. 889 00:49:32,048 --> 00:49:33,401 You gotta keep going. 890 00:49:33,401 --> 00:49:37,503 But once you hit that first barrier and you're able to kinda get past it, 891 00:49:37,503 --> 00:49:38,587 totally worth it. 892 00:49:38,587 --> 00:49:43,910 Job opportunities start to open up because again, that mid level area, is full. 893 00:49:43,910 --> 00:49:45,695 We need so many people. 894 00:49:45,695 --> 00:49:48,450 But yeah, that's my suggestion. 895 00:49:48,450 --> 00:49:50,680 Take contract jobs, right? 896 00:49:50,680 --> 00:49:56,540 Keep your LinkedIn profile updated, take contract jobs, start your own company. 897 00:49:56,540 --> 00:49:57,840 You want help and advice on that? 898 00:49:57,840 --> 00:49:59,321 Come join Mentor Master IO. 899 00:49:59,321 --> 00:50:00,980 I talk a lot about what I did. 900 00:50:02,270 --> 00:50:05,413 I can't really talk about other ways, because I don't know those other ways. 901 00:50:05,413 --> 00:50:06,250 These are my ways. 902 00:50:06,250 --> 00:50:07,710 This is what worked for me. 903 00:50:07,710 --> 00:50:10,700 But what I can say is that I have passed most people in tech. 904 00:50:11,810 --> 00:50:14,580 And I've gotten to a level that most people never see. 905 00:50:14,580 --> 00:50:16,610 And these are the things that worked for me. 906 00:50:16,610 --> 00:50:19,020 And I was an office assistant and it was not my first job. 907 00:50:19,020 --> 00:50:23,331 I was in my late 20s when I really started kicking butt in tech. 908 00:50:23,331 --> 00:50:24,610 So it wasn't my first job. 909 00:50:24,610 --> 00:50:27,814 I wasn't a fresh college grad, second career. 910 00:50:32,646 --> 00:50:37,700 Okay, so I don't know how much time I have. 911 00:50:37,700 --> 00:50:39,790 Maybe I have like five minutes or eight minutes. 912 00:50:40,850 --> 00:50:42,105 I don't know if this was 45 minutes. 913 00:50:42,105 --> 00:50:46,436 [LAUGH] >> Hey Dave, yeah, 914 00:50:46,436 --> 00:50:50,745 you can go ahead and answer a couple more questions if you see some coming in. 915 00:50:50,745 --> 00:50:54,600 >> Okay, all right, I will do that. 916 00:50:54,600 --> 00:50:59,640 What was the hardest struggle in your career and how do you overcome it? 917 00:50:59,640 --> 00:51:04,338 So I think that keep in mind the path that I am 918 00:51:04,338 --> 00:51:09,707 talking about, it takes a lot of perseverance. 919 00:51:09,707 --> 00:51:17,720 There's always gonna be people that oppose you, haters if you will, always. 920 00:51:17,720 --> 00:51:21,410 Every job there's gonna be people like who is this guy? 921 00:51:21,410 --> 00:51:23,260 This girl is not qualified. 922 00:51:23,260 --> 00:51:24,740 Why are they even here? 923 00:51:24,740 --> 00:51:32,365 Yeah, but that's what happens when you act above average, 924 00:51:32,365 --> 00:51:36,560 average people don't like you. 925 00:51:38,080 --> 00:51:39,100 That's just the way that it is. 926 00:51:40,430 --> 00:51:45,150 But what do you do when you experienced that type of opposition, right? 927 00:51:45,150 --> 00:51:47,476 Does imposter syndrome set in? 928 00:51:47,476 --> 00:51:48,260 Yeah, it might. 929 00:51:49,780 --> 00:51:52,260 I experience that still sometimes. 930 00:51:52,260 --> 00:51:53,740 Imposter syndrome means growth. 931 00:51:53,740 --> 00:51:55,326 So remember that if you feel uncomfortable, 932 00:51:55,326 --> 00:51:56,960 it means that you're growing. 933 00:51:56,960 --> 00:51:58,670 Growth is uncomfortable. 934 00:51:58,670 --> 00:52:01,443 If you're comfortable, it means you're not growing and 935 00:52:01,443 --> 00:52:03,890 those type of people get laid off. 936 00:52:03,890 --> 00:52:08,160 Those type of companies go out of business, right? 937 00:52:08,160 --> 00:52:10,760 So there's always gonna be people that hate you. 938 00:52:10,760 --> 00:52:16,640 You may doubt yourself, but what do you do when that happens? 939 00:52:16,640 --> 00:52:17,290 Cuz it will happen. 940 00:52:19,520 --> 00:52:24,830 Do you identify what makes you feel insecure and take steps to feel better? 941 00:52:24,830 --> 00:52:27,242 Do you go forward anyway? 942 00:52:27,242 --> 00:52:30,165 Are you no longer afraid to fail? 943 00:52:30,165 --> 00:52:34,830 Are you okay and accept the fact that failure is growth, but you go anyway? 944 00:52:37,060 --> 00:52:38,222 What do you do? 945 00:52:38,222 --> 00:52:40,107 That's, I think, one of the biggest things. 946 00:52:40,107 --> 00:52:42,843 When things get difficult do you say, 947 00:52:42,843 --> 00:52:48,430 I'm never gonna get a job cuz are there even any job, like don't do that. 948 00:52:48,430 --> 00:52:50,439 I get it, we all feel that way. 949 00:52:50,439 --> 00:52:53,530 But what I'll tell you is it's a fantastic industry. 950 00:52:53,530 --> 00:52:56,479 There are millions of jobs and yes you can fit. 951 00:52:56,479 --> 00:53:00,787 But you have to make the choice that when times get difficult, cuz they will, 952 00:53:00,787 --> 00:53:02,060 what are you gonna do? 953 00:53:02,060 --> 00:53:05,830 If you feel insecure about your technical expertise, go get technical. 954 00:53:05,830 --> 00:53:10,510 Go build relationships, go network, go fill that void. 955 00:53:10,510 --> 00:53:13,687 If somebody says that you're not qualified, do you just accept that? 956 00:53:16,411 --> 00:53:22,121 I'll tell you, I've worked for some of the most top companies in the world. 957 00:53:22,121 --> 00:53:25,647 They're not all like rocket scientists in there, not even close. 958 00:53:25,647 --> 00:53:28,551 They're all regular people. 959 00:53:28,551 --> 00:53:34,780 If you out work them, you will be successful. 960 00:53:34,780 --> 00:53:36,760 Maybe some people get these jobs because they are brilliant. 961 00:53:36,760 --> 00:53:41,250 They're definitely a handful of folks that are here because 962 00:53:41,250 --> 00:53:44,868 they're brilliant, but most people are lazy. 963 00:53:44,868 --> 00:53:46,642 Maybe you feel like you're not brilliant. 964 00:53:46,642 --> 00:53:47,967 I can never figure, yes you can. 965 00:53:47,967 --> 00:53:49,830 First off, yes you can. 966 00:53:49,830 --> 00:53:55,723 And second off, outwork them, outwork them. 967 00:53:55,723 --> 00:53:59,429 Put the work in, do the research, the information is free for you or 968 00:53:59,429 --> 00:54:00,280 really cheap. 969 00:54:01,520 --> 00:54:05,950 Go commit yourself, say this is a priority for you. 970 00:54:05,950 --> 00:54:07,670 And no matter what, stay consistent. 971 00:54:09,550 --> 00:54:12,933 That is the hardest struggle, I think, especially in the tech industry, 972 00:54:12,933 --> 00:54:16,479 I think it's easy to get frustrated because certain things aren't explained 973 00:54:16,479 --> 00:54:17,340 really well. 974 00:54:17,340 --> 00:54:18,730 And so you have to kind of motivate yourself. 975 00:54:19,770 --> 00:54:21,670 But this is one of the reasons why I created Metternich. 976 00:54:23,440 --> 00:54:26,066 Sometimes when you have really difficult times like that you need 977 00:54:26,066 --> 00:54:26,930 community support. 978 00:54:26,930 --> 00:54:31,900 You need people to tell you, remind you that you can do it, right? 979 00:54:31,900 --> 00:54:36,391 You need people to ask questions, to bounce ideas off of. 980 00:54:36,391 --> 00:54:37,260 That's what we have. 981 00:54:38,330 --> 00:54:40,480 So definitely encourage you to check that out. 982 00:54:42,916 --> 00:54:45,627 Let's see, I think I got time maybe for one more question. 983 00:54:53,848 --> 00:54:57,024 Working along people with degrees, do they give you a hard time or 984 00:54:57,024 --> 00:54:59,690 make you feel that you aren't right for the job? 985 00:54:59,690 --> 00:55:00,800 Well, here's the interesting thing. 986 00:55:01,900 --> 00:55:02,640 They never ask. 987 00:55:03,670 --> 00:55:08,433 Most people actually just assume that I have a bachelor's degree. 988 00:55:08,433 --> 00:55:10,760 And if it ever comes up, they are a little shocked. 989 00:55:10,760 --> 00:55:14,366 But think about this though. 990 00:55:14,366 --> 00:55:16,772 I think it says something about a person. 991 00:55:20,998 --> 00:55:25,230 Think of it this way, no matter what you do in your career, you have to build it. 992 00:55:25,230 --> 00:55:27,800 Whether you have a degree or not, you have to build it. 993 00:55:27,800 --> 00:55:31,087 Let's say you're building a house, let's say, 994 00:55:31,087 --> 00:55:33,930 I don't think this is a perfect analogy. 995 00:55:33,930 --> 00:55:34,770 So just bear with me. 996 00:55:34,770 --> 00:55:37,019 Let's say having a degree, credentials, 997 00:55:37,019 --> 00:55:40,502 all those things are like having power tools when you build a house. 998 00:55:40,502 --> 00:55:42,619 It's still pretty impressive to build that house, but 999 00:55:42,619 --> 00:55:45,080 what if I told you I built the same house and I had no power tools? 1000 00:55:45,080 --> 00:55:47,060 I used a regular hammer. 1001 00:55:47,060 --> 00:55:49,790 And I actually had to screw in every single nail. 1002 00:55:51,010 --> 00:55:51,870 But I built the same house. 1003 00:55:54,620 --> 00:55:59,060 Do you look at me and say why didn't you get a power tool? 1004 00:55:59,060 --> 00:55:59,670 You might say that. 1005 00:56:00,830 --> 00:56:04,320 And I'd give you my reasons, I couldn't make it to the store. 1006 00:56:04,320 --> 00:56:05,898 I don't know, I didn't have money maybe. 1007 00:56:05,898 --> 00:56:08,812 But aren't you a little bit more impressed though? 1008 00:56:08,812 --> 00:56:12,356 And you kinda look at my forearms, you're like, dang, that dude must have, 1009 00:56:12,356 --> 00:56:14,090 cuz he was, right? 1010 00:56:14,090 --> 00:56:20,760 So to me, I wear it kind of like a badge of pride. 1011 00:56:20,760 --> 00:56:21,296 I get it, 1012 00:56:21,296 --> 00:56:26,240 there are a lot of things you can do that will make your transition easier. 1013 00:56:26,240 --> 00:56:28,080 I am not suggesting the easiest way. 1014 00:56:29,110 --> 00:56:33,610 I am suggesting that if you put the work in, regardless of what credentials you 1015 00:56:33,610 --> 00:56:38,060 have, number one, it's not the most important thing to build your career. 1016 00:56:39,200 --> 00:56:40,820 But you just have to make a choice. 1017 00:56:40,820 --> 00:56:41,980 There's power in choice. 1018 00:56:43,130 --> 00:56:46,190 Power and persistence, right? 1019 00:56:46,190 --> 00:56:47,170 That's kind of my message. 1020 00:56:47,170 --> 00:56:50,202 It doesn't matter if you have a degree or not, depending on the company you work 1021 00:56:50,202 --> 00:56:53,430 for, it may or may not matter, but the top companies in the world don't require it. 1022 00:56:53,430 --> 00:56:54,080 And why is that? 1023 00:56:54,080 --> 00:56:56,680 Because at the end of the day, they just need skilled people. 1024 00:56:56,680 --> 00:56:59,440 They need to be able to trust that you're gonna do a job, do a good job. 1025 00:56:59,440 --> 00:57:03,926 There's a lot of ways to figure that out, right? 1026 00:57:03,926 --> 00:57:07,435 But my main message is aggressively pursue growth. 1027 00:57:07,435 --> 00:57:08,610 Success is a choice. 1028 00:57:09,990 --> 00:57:13,536 I gave you the seven steps, love to share more with you. 1029 00:57:13,536 --> 00:57:16,640 But I think that's all my questions, most of them anyway. 1030 00:57:16,640 --> 00:57:21,544 If you have more, feel free to hit me up on LinkedIn, follow me on LinkedIn. 1031 00:57:21,544 --> 00:57:24,285 Love to talk to you there or come join the community. 1032 00:57:24,285 --> 00:57:26,450 But yeah, really, really happy to talk with you folks today.