Michal Šimon: “Silicon Valley is completely different than I expected. It’s actually better”
In 2016, fresh out of school, Michal Šimon traveled to San Francisco. He had no job and didn’t know anyone there. But now, this shooting star is coming back to the Valley to continue his work at Dil Mil, a startup developing a dating app for South Asians, and he talked to StarLift about how he scored the job and how America changed his life.
Last year, you made the bold move and went to Silicon Valley on your own. What was your motivation?
At that time, I was finishing the university, and I was working for some tech companies in Ostrava, but I didn’t have a steady job, so I was in quite a good position. I’ve always been passionate about technology, but I realized one day that I’d read more and more about the stories behind the technology rather that the industry itself. So, I decided to push myself and discover what’s going on in Silicon Valley in person.
What was your plan?
I didn’t have much of a plan, although it wasn’t a momentary decision. I’d been thinking about it for more than a year. The university was my biggest commitment, but as soon as I passed the final exam, I bought the flight ticket and set out to San Francisco. Then, it all went pretty fast!
How did you prepare for the journey?
I read a lot of tips and listened to people who had gone through the same experience. Twitter is the perfect place for it: I followed Daniel Franc and Filip Hráček — at that time, they were still with Google in Prague — Myriam Joire, Misko Hevery, and Jakub Nešetřil among others. Everybody has to find their favorites. And of course, I read a lot of news and trends on websites such as The Next Web and Product Hunt. But most of the time I spent preparing my portfolio, I kinda cut myself out of other stuff.
What was in the portfolio?
It focused on the projects I had worked on before, especially on the things I’d done for Raynet and Fakturoid, and I also included some personal stuff such as a website about Windows 10 Mobile platform.
The most important item, however, was a presentation of the project I participated in during a hackathon just a few days after I arrived in San Francisco. It was a very simple Pokédex web app with one single button. Its purpose was to search the Pokémon database by voice commands. A user would ask, “How tall is Pikachu?” and the app would do some analysis and return, “Pikachu is this and that tall.” Back then, the whole Pokémon Go thing was very popular, so I thought it would be good to exploit it a little bit.
But I guess your first steps after landing weren’t into a hackathon. Where did you find an apartment?
Well, my situation was quite complicated. I had the accommodation and the internship figured out, but just a few days before my flight, everything went wrong. Suddenly, I had no flat and no job. Luckily, I found the Czech & Slovak in San Francisco group on Facebook, and this great guy Adam Šimek read my post and offered that I can stay in his flat for a while to resolve the whole situation.
So how did you find a job eventually?
I dropped a lot of pins in Google Maps and realized all the startups are in one place. It’s a tiny area. So I just went from door to door and asked them if they needed someone like me. I’d probably sent them an email beforehand, so when I introduced myself, they were like, “Oh, you’re the guy who sent us the email! We’re sorry we haven’t responded yet, but it’s cool you’re here. Do you have a few minutes to talk?”
It was just a simple email about me, my achievements, and the projects I was working on at that moment. But don’t visualize a CV, it was rather a personal story.
In general, what do you think one needs to find a job in Silicon Valley?
I’d say the most important factor is how much you’re willing to step outside of your comfort zone. Also, you should have at least a faint idea of what you’re looking for, what values the startup you want to work for should represent. Having preferences is good. At one moment, I felt there were too many companies and too many opportunities, but the day only has twenty-four hours, so I had to concentrate and take up only the interviews that were relevant to me.
What were your preferences?
I was trying to find something close to my interests in technology, which are web services, cloud infrastructure, machine learning, and data analysis. My second priority was that I wanted to work for an open-minded company. Whether the startup has what I call “corporate borders” or not is always hard to tell from an office interview, but I wanted to work with people who pull on the same rope, share ideas, problems, and go out together after work — we play volleyball at Dil Mil, for instance.
Can you tell us a bit more about the company?
Dil Mil is a South Asian matchmaking app. We focus on helping South Asians find love all over the world. Primarily, I work on DevOps, but just like in any other startup, everybody gets to do everything eventually, so apart from back end programming, I also care about our servers and their scaling since our user base is steadily growing.
I got this job when I went to San Francisco for the first time. I could spend there only three months because of my visa situation, which, I’d say, is still the biggest challenge for anyone who wants to work in the US. But even the three months were a great opportunity to find out what Silicon Valley means.
So what does it mean?
Honestly, the Valley is completely different from how I imagined it. I was very surprised because everybody talks about Silicon Valley in terms of technology, and yes, many cool companies are developing very cool projects and services. But very soon I realized that this is not the primary focus of most startups there. The fundamental idea of Silicon Valley is to do business the right way.
I’m happy to say that the reality of Silicon Valley is much better than the illusion it creates.
Being in Silicon Valley is, in my opinion, rewarding in the sense that you can network and discuss your concepts with the best in the industry. Most people there are just as passionate about new technologies and ideas as you are, and they are eager to make the world a better place — at least a bit, even though it may sound like a cliché.
You mention networking, which, to many, is quite a mysterious part of the “startup life.” How do people network in the Valley?
There are many networking events taking place in Silicon Valley every day. Some of them are general, some of them are rather specific, focused on one technology or one issue. Very soon, I found out that you must choose an event and completely dedicate yourself to it. It’s not possible to do multiple events during one evening.
I like the idea of going to a networking session, listen to someone’s short talk, then discuss the topic with different people, and later segue into other subjects. This way, you can see which people are interested in which conversations, which I think is the biggest challenge of networking. I learned that most of the time, I talked to wrong people. And it’s only natural because you have to speak to the wrong people to realize who are the right people for you.
I’d say that especially in the Czech Republic, many guests who attend local networking events make the mistake of being stuck with three or four people the whole night and don’t talk to anybody else.
Was there something you didn’t expect to encounter in the Valley, something you weren’t prepared for at all?
I’d say Silicon Valley is very different from the rest of the United States. The concentration of foreigners is so high there that it’s sometimes quite hard to imagine a “typical American.” Thanks to this diversity, the knowledge of English from the internet, music, or movies is simply not enough! One day, I was in the office, and one of my colleagues came in and said: “Yo, yo, wassup?” I didn’t know what to reply because I had never heard such type of conversation, it was something I lacked. These little pieces of spoken English and different accents can create a huge gap between you and the rest of the society.
Is there anything you regret regarding your Silicon Valley experience?
My biggest mistake was that I didn’t talk to enough different people about my ideas. I didn’t get the inspiration I needed. Yes, I have a job in the Valley now, and I’ve got many opportunities, so I can’t complain, but I think I could have done better if I’d listened to more people.
On the other hand, what has been your biggest achievement?
Well, I got the job, which is cool, but the biggest success for me, personally, was that I found out that I can rely on myself in critical situations. Not all things go always as planned, and I think it’s crucial for everyone to realize this inner strength. After all, who is the best person to realize your dreams? You! And when is the right time to do what you wanna do? Now! So don’t hesitate.
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