There and Not Back Again
If you’re interested or involved in the tech industry, San Francisco and Silicon Valley are on your radar. Ain’t no question about it. That certainly was the case for me. All the way through my five years at university, I had a foot that was itching to head southwest, across the border, and into the centre of the tech universe.
And now it’s actually happened! I write my first blog post (ever, actually — I’ve never blogged before) from an Airbnb rental in California, about an hour south of San Francisco proper.
I currently haven’t seen a cloud in about 72 hours. Just sayin’.
So, at this point, I’m sure some context about how this came to pass would be helpful. Let’s do this, question and answer style.
Q: Okay, Ishan — what the heck are you doing down there?
I’m working as a Product Analyst for a tech startup called Collective Health. They are an incredibly ambitious, fast-growing organization that has decided to tackle the mess that is health insurance in the United States. Here’s a sweet video that explains why the company was founded.
For context, a Product Analyst role is a stepping stone to becoming a fully fledged Product Manager, an individual who owns the strategy for a particular software product — a kind of mini-CEO. I’ll initially be supporting PMs along various fronts related to software quality, and slowly take on more independent responsibility.
The long and short of their approach is that health insurance in the US is a cluster&$*# for two main reasons. (For some quick reading on how the US system works, specifically for employer-sponsored healthcare coverage, checkthis out.) For one, conventional health insurance companies have rarely been financially incentivized to deliver quality service to their clients, and ultimately ordinary people. They also rely on a hodgepodge of mind-bogglingly archaic technologies, which makes delivering a smooth, modern experience next to impossible.
So, Collective Health is trying to work with all those jagged pieces and build a platform on top of them that can be the data and financial backbone of the industry, and one that ordinary people can interact with in a way that actually satisfies them.
I’m excited to be working with a team of incredibly smart people that all want to fix this. There’s nothing like an environment where people aren’t there just to get paid and go home — they care immensely about the challenge at hand, and want to make an impact.
Q: How long will you be down there?
It’s a good question. Currently I’m in the States on a TN1, which is a temporary visa lasts three years, but can be renewed indefinitely, provided certain conditions about continued ties back to Canada are met. (Keep an eye out for future blogs posts on the whole immigration saga.) It’s impossible to say for sure right now, but I get the feeling that this is a company that I’d want to be part of for a while to come.
That being said, Toronto and the GTA still feels like home, and I do see myself coming back and settling in Canada in the long-term. But who knows for sure! In fact, I even have a bet with a friend about the outcome of this. She’s positive that I’m going to make San Francisco my home. Obviously, I disagree. Tune back in about seventeen years from now when this bet is settled.
Q: So…how about that election down there?
If Donald Trump wins, I think California should build a wall along its borders and make Congress pay for it. Except for the north — Oregon’s all right. That’s all I have to say about that.
