The Rounds, Relationships, and Rings of Silicon Valley
I arrived June 15 in the Disneyland of the tech world (San Francisco). Here I was — excited to meet the new class of CODE2040 Fellows and scared of living in this city alone. I knew I was ready for this bold adventure and unknown to what people call this “bubble”. Being a movie lover and having an interest for the blend of fashion, diversity, and Computer Science, I felt a similar connection to Andy Sachs.
Andy Sachs is one of the major characters in a favorite film of mine — The Devil Wears Prada. In the beginning of the film, she has this internal struggle to adapting to the fashion industry and finding that place for herself in life. She’s not extraordinary, but ordinary in that she never gives up and pursues the unachievable. Throughout the first part of the movie, I like to say you see “pre-Andy”. Thus, this image explicitly depicts the feelings she was experiencing as “pre-Andy” — emotions of shock and not knowing what to expect.
It is this what I felt when I took the yellow taxi to San Francisco and started the day off at CODE2040 Orientation. I was shock to see faces with the Twitter names I followed for months and see the powerful connections I could make in thirty seconds of introducing myself. Every conversation was very true, inspiring, and sentimental . I spoke to lead engineers, founders, and venture capitalists of many prominent companies. Truly, I was seeing the ROUNDS of powerful technologists and how they were just ordinary individuals living in the city.
Relationships
Relationships — the state of being connected with someone. It is something I have come to know through my relationships with family and college friends. But, with the CODE2040 family and their powerful network, I rethought and began to kindle relationships more. These past two weeks, I have gone to a list of events and casual Meetups that I would like to expand upon how I formed great relationships:
- How to be an Effective Engineer by CODE2040
- “Always Measure the Internal Needs for Yourself” — Tracy Chou
Our first CODE2040 talk was an intimate experience with the top engineers of the Valley. From entering Pinterest HQ, I knew this was the perfect time to ask Tracy Chou for coffee. I asked two alumna Fellows and Finderati employees, how to best approach important people with this question. My answer is be true to who you are and show that passion for why it would be worthwhile to take their time off their calendar. Eventually, Tracy confirmed with a yes and we chatted over topics from the beginnings of Quora and Pinterest, her life career, diversity in general, current books and apps she recommends, what it means to be a minority in technology, and how to grow from that. Thanks Tracy for being awe inspiring!
- Creating an Inclusive Technology Ecosystem by BuildUP VC
- “Companies have biases by looking at top 10 schools, not all minorities are there!”
One thing I learned about relationships was from the very real Amy Schapiro, Director at CODE2040. “Always take advantage of your network and never be afraid to ask for intros.” Intros can be very powerful and key to your advancement of your career. Indeed, I took this to heart after she mention this to me, and saw how intros can lead you to more open doors. Doors that I did not have without being in the beating mecca of Silicon Valley. Lastly, I enjoyed the diversity talk because it felt inclusive to addressing the problems regarding diversity in technology and how we can go by fixing the problem little by little. I learned about “potential biases” and how smart is the new sexy. It was interesting to see how smart is perceived to be very differently here and it was opening to me, that how detrimentally low the statistics are for Latinos in technology. Diversity leads to more ideas in the workforce and I will continually aspire to always put forth more diversity. On the last note, Amy provided some great tips for taking the bart, since I ended up getting lost in Oakland.
- Latiñas in Computing Dinner and the other Latino (me) by Jennifer Arguello
The following day, I had the wonderful invitation to have dinner with Latiñas attending Google I/O. Just having dinner, you can feel the spirit of the room of the ideas everyone had, did, and achieved in their lifetime. Even more, this dinner was the perfect way to nurture old relationships and find new relationships with my community of Latinas including: Amy Quispe, Ingrid Avendaño, Cassidy Williams, Sarah Esper, Jennifer Arguello, Xiomara Fontanez, and Ana Medina. Each individual is known for their unique talents and it was absolutely amazing to put twitter names to faces. Some of them I call my mentors and I always message when needed. Without these group of gals, I would not have known about CODE2040 or been inspired to do Computer Science. Leaving the dinner, I felt that “Sí se puede” attitude and the sense that everyone is going to making a difference in the tech world as a leader, innovator, or contributor. Never cease to be different you all!
- Findery team by me
The last relationship was the one I have with Findery. A team of 15 extraordinary people that push me everyday and opinions that I come to value for what they show me. My relationship with the whole team is priceless and it felt very satisfying that they care for me and my lifelong goals to break this world. Next on the list, writing an editorial on Huffington Post coming late this month.
Rings
These past two weeks have been rings of connective ness that never in my mind, I thought I would achieve. Here am I — a happy go lucky engineer that has met some of the most distinguished people. A few pointers that I would like to last leave off:
- Be yourself and do not lose that thing that makes you different.
- If you ever need something, ask for an intro, because someone in your network, knows of the person that can help you.
- Take some quality time for yourself and don’t overdue it with tech events.
- Value, kinder, and grow your relationships. Have coffee with those who you have not spoken to for a while.
With this, transform and experience the world around you. If you have accomplished the rounds, relationships, and rings, you will now enter the post Andy Sachs stage.
Leave with mantras and be that new Andy Sachs — a validation of being strong, confident in yourself, and showing some essence of passion— be it fashion, technology, etc. YOU CAN DO IT!
