Over the years several students and young, ambitious people have asked me how to break into tech. Everyone has a different path so I'm curious to learn how others landed their first job in this field. Excluding many tech-related side projects in my youth (selling electronics on eBay, modding Xbox's, building websites, etc.), my first real career in tech was an unpaid social media intern at a gaming startup called InstantAction during my senior year at the University of Oregon. I discovered the opportunity through a marketing club I was a part of and was fortunate to land the role. I was such a noob but learned so much. That led to a full-time job after I graduated where I eventually was promoted into product management. The key learning for me was the importance of getting real-world experience asap (ideally before or during college) and building good relationships (by doing great work) with your teammates. At InstantAction I met Andy Yang who eventually recruited me to join another startup in San Francisco. My life changed after that.
Hi makers! I often hear generalizations like "engineers are introverted" and "salespeople are extroverted", but in my experience working in tech I've always found great examples to challenge that. In the latest episode of "Product Hunt Radio" for example, Drift's CTO Elias Torres talked about being an extrovert and how he loves spending time across every department including customer success. Are you an extrovert, introvert or ambivert (a bit of both) and do you think that impacts the type of job you've chosen to do?
