tl;dr: work hard, learn to code and build meaningful professional relationships.

It’s been just over a year and a half since I moved to Silicon Valley. To the outside world it’s the land of The Internets and the place where kids become billionaires (Thanks a lot, Zuck). I’ve been here for a year and a half and, while I’m still as much in love with this place as when I arrived, it is for much different reasons.

Hitting the Ground Running

Fresh out of college, I showed up ready to take the world by storm. With the haze of graduation slowly starting to fade and the everlasting hangover beginning to subside, I felt like I had a purpose in life. This was the place where the ambitious came to see what they were made of and to know what it felt like to be a part of something bigger than themselves.

I’m an idealist, and the notion of having a chance to change the world was enough of a selling point to take me out of the comfort of Los Angeles (In retrospect, all of the recruiting messages worked extremely well on me) and throw me into something completely new. I studied Architecture and Accounting at UCLA and always enjoyed thinking abstractly, making stuff and playing with data: combine that with my unhealthy Tech blog habit and a career in technology made perfect sense.

I started at Yahoo! as a Financial Analyst in August 2010 and hit the ground running. My group’s job was to focus on streamlining 15 years worth of inefficient financial process and, as our SVP told us, to “try to eliminate our own jobs.” This was a harsh reality check and it didn’t take too many Weekly Headcount Reports to realize that everything in a big company comes down to dollars on a line item.

Full Speed Ahead

I quickly realized that Finance wasn’t the right profession for me (I think I had I-Banking/Consulting envy) but I had a serious thirst for the way technology frames our experience of the world. I began to immerse myself in Hackathons and side projects and started to cut my teeth alongside some amazing engineers. The thing they don’t tell you in High School is that Industry is built on engineers. If you don’t make stuff, you are supporting those who do.

I joined Google in early 2011 and felt like the treadmill was put into sprint mode. I was placed on the Google Offers Customer Operations team before our launch and played a pivotal role in defining, designing and implementing our entire social media strategy. I learned that I’m not afraid to work long hours, pitch my vision or challenge convention: these are all fundamental components of what it takes to succeed in any hyper-competitive environment.

What I’ve Learned

While I am the same person as when I arrived in the Valley, my entire world and what I think is important has changed. I used to believe in ideas and now I believe in action. I enjoy spending my free time hacking, reading and learning… passion is what makes people interesting and I feel incredibly lucky to live in a place where everyone is incredibly excited about what they’re working on.

Looking back on the last year of my career, there have been a few monumental shifts that have happened that I wish I had known would be so important earlier in my life:

  • No matter what part of The Internets you’re interested in, learn to code. You don’t need to be an expert, but be able to build something;
  • Find stuff to work on that you enjoy so much, you don’t care how much you work. Trust me, this makes things much more fun;
  • Establish meaningful relationships with people, both personally and professionally. Relationships are the currency of life and without them you’re poor;
  • Meditate and learn to breathe. You will never feel as alive as you do when you’re fully living in the present moment.

My relationship to Silicon Valley has deepened drastically since I got here and I wouldn’t change my experience for anything. I’m not quite sure what will happen next, but where’d the fun be if I did?