This trip has taught me many valuable lessons as to what it takes to succeed in today's high-tech, start-up based culture. From the mouths of people who are fully indulged in this culture, who have made livings out of it, and work countless hours a week in it, I got some great advice. If I want to succeed in Silicon Valley, there are some things I need to prioritize. In summary, such things include:
- Fail Fast
- Your major does not determine you future
- Follow Your Passions
- Don't be afraid to take risks
- Think of the customer before anyone else
- Take the advice of others
I enjoyed my trip to the West Coast immensely. I got to visit places I never thought I would ever get to see, meet interesting people who lived in cultures I had read about, and got to form relationships that could build my network significantly in the future.
- Fail Fast
- It is inevitable in life that you will fail, but when you do, rebound quickly. Quickly assess what you did wrong and go right back at it. I could personally use some help in learning how to bounce back from failures. This lesson was explained most clearly int he electric maze exercise at EA.
- Actions: For an accounting exam I did recently, I failed multiple times on the practice quizzes, but I used that as an opportunity to collect data and learn from my mistakes. Ultimately, I got a solid grade on the exam, but not after multiple trials and errors.
- Your major does not determine you future
- So many of the people we met with at these companies are in positions that they never envisioned that they would be in coming out of college. One of the engineers at Tesla was an English major coming out of college, and now is doing something far from that. Ultimately, it all comes down to taking advantage of the opportunities that are in front of you.
- Actions: I am already exploring different fields in which I may be interested in. Recently, I have become increasingly interested with the PR side of things, so I may minor in communications in the future.
- Follow Your Passions
- Do what you want to do in the future, even if that comes at the expense of increased money. Many speakers, from Gary Swart to Kepler, spoke about balancing work and life, for having a proper such balance allows your true passions to flourish.
- Actions: I have zeroed in on the area of Sports/Entertainment Marketing and Management for my future, and am pursuing clubs and internships in those realms.
- Don't be afraid to take risks
- Many companies, like Amazon and Facebook, feel that not taking risks is the biggest risk of them all. In a world where so much is changing, we must change with it, we must grow out of our comfort zone.
- Actions: I have taken this message to heart, and have begun to follow through with this idea. I am running for Executive Board of my fraternity despite previous notions of not running and I have also joined terpAMA in hopes of finding more Marketing-related opportunities.
- Think of the customer before anyone else
- A true core value of Amazon, customer-first thinking is how they operate. The customer is essentially the bottom-line, so satisfying them ought to be above all else.
- Actions: Still working on it
- Take the advice of others
- There are too many areas in business that it is impossible to be the most knowledgeable at every single one in a given room. Surround yourself with people who are not afraid to disagree with you, and results could flourish.
- Actions: I have begun to seek the advice of colleagues and parents and professors when tackling challenges or assignments that I receive. Their input is beneficial to seeing my problems from a wealth of angles.
I enjoyed my trip to the West Coast immensely. I got to visit places I never thought I would ever get to see, meet interesting people who lived in cultures I had read about, and got to form relationships that could build my network significantly in the future.