Thuan Pham : Passion in Tech
Thuan Pham (CTO — UBER) — Learning and Tech
The Person:
Thuan Pham centers his career around learning. Starting with his first internship following his sophomore year at MIT, Thuan navigated the professional world based on opportunities to learn and problems that intrigued him. This search for knowledge and passion for solving problems led him from his first job at HP to subsequent jobs at Silicon Graphics, internet startups, and finally to his current post as Chief Technology Officer at Uber.
Career Advice:
Find your passion — Find a field or a problem that genuinely fascinates you. If you are passionate about the work you are doing, then work becomes easy and exciting rather than a chore. Additionally, this intrinsic motivation to make an impact in your job leads to applying more time and energy. Intrinsic motivation is the underlying drive that is necessary to reach the top of your field, and often will make you an expert simply as a byproduct of personal interest and passion.
“Find what you love to do. When you find that passion, that purpose, the work becomes easier.”
Always keep learning — In the first ten years or so out of college, it is crucial to keep learning. Join teams where you can develop new skills and tackle new problems, because this allows for constant growth and engagement. This also serves as a great checkpoint to see whether your current job is the right one. If you are no longer learning, or excited by the prospect of new problems when you go into work, it might be time to see whether you can fix that or if it might be better to seek a new opportunity where it is possible to continue learning and growing.
“Where you end up is a culmination of your learning”
Pick the right environment — The first years out of college are incredibly formative in your career. In these early years it is easy to chase the highest salary and assume that passion for the job will follow later. Instead, prioritize the culture of the team and company that you are going to be working with. The people who surround you, both peers and managers, can change your entire professional life and by selecting the best environment it will do the most to build a passion for the job and important skills. If you choose a company based on a strong mission and great culture, it is likely that compensation will follow, either from the company growing or because greater passion leads to greater opportunity.
Growth Opportunities and Crossroads:
Attempt to lay out your entire career — The world is changing rapidly. If you try to lay things out specifically for your entire career you are more than likely going to be wrong about where you end up and what role you will play in the professional world. It is much more effective to be nimble, to figure out the next couple years and develop depth in your career. Once you have that depth, you can start making an impact at your company which is what it takes to rise in an organization.
“If we are a little more astute, we can shape our own luck”
Choose compensation over environment — If a company with a harsh environment offers more generous compensation, it is not worth it. Who you choose to work with matters more than how much you get paid. If there is a company with an environment that will nurture your career, this will pay off far more in the long run in both professional happiness and compensation.
“When you get ready for work, and you look in the mirror, are you excited?”
Opportunities at Uber:
The best option for college students is an internship. Uber is a great company with a vast breadth of technology from core infrastructure to networking and machine learning platforms. This range allows interns to choose a project that is most fascinating to them and thereby begin learning and developing the aforementioned passion for certain fields and problems.
