Did I just get lucky at Red Ventures?
My first job out of college was a comfortable, secure, government job with unbeatable name recognition: I was a software developer working for a government contractor. My client was NASA.
The work was exciting, but the job was slow and bureaucratic. It also didn’t pay much. And a year and a half into the role, I realized something: The job was good on paper, but it lacked the growth opportunities I was looking for. I had security, but at the expense of career development.
I started looking for another job and came across an opening for a developer at a little startup in Charlotte, N.C., called Red Ventures. Twelve years later, that company — a portfolio of digital businesses — grew from 25 employees to 3,000. I had become its CTO.
When I tell that story, people often ask me, Was it all a matter of luck?
My short answer is, yes.
I didn’t have any insider knowledge or divine premonitions that drove my interest in Red Ventures. I got lucky. The company I joined grew like crazy. As a result, I grew with it.
But it’s also not that simple.
While some luck is completely out of our control — like the country or family we’re born into — some of it is. We can choose to take risks throughout our lives and our careers. We can choose to do something other than the status quo.
And that opens the door for luck.
It’s true that I’m the beneficiary of some of that uncontrollable luck. I was born to supportive parents and was raised in an economically and politically stable country, which laid the groundwork for a good education and the development of lofty career goals.
But I also opted to take risks. When it came time for me to go to college, I decided to move to the United States, where I knew I’d find more opportunities. And I did. I got the chance to work with NASA. It was safe and secure. My dad hoped I’d never leave.
When I did, my risk paid off yet again, with a job at Red Ventures.
Getting any job is all about luck, when you think about it. I mean, what were the odds that I’d see the job posting at Red Ventures, that I’d apply and then that I’d actually get it? What were the odds the company would grow as rapidly as it did? And what were the odds its leaders would entrust me with unique opportunities early on, without an MBA or a decade in business to back me up?
But the thing about luck is, you’ve got to recognize the opportunity — and then you’ve got to take full advantage.
So I worked, really hard. I learned, as fast as I could. And when new opportunities came around, I took them, even when I wasn’t sure I was the best person for the job.
Twelve years later, I had jumped from technology to operations and back to technology again. I was the CTO of a highly successful organization, and it would have been very easy to stay.
And yet, here I am, putting myself in the path of luck once again.
I left Red Ventures over a year ago, and I don’t know what’s next. But I knew if I stayed put, I’d never find out.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Abhishek (AJ) Ratani is an Entreprenuer, World Traveler and the former CTO and President of RV Technology at Charlotte-based Red Ventures. AJ recently traveled the world with his wife and then 2-year old covering 6 continents and 31 countries in 8.5 months. Follow their travels via their family travel blog. AJ’s other passions range from playing with the latest technology including blockchain, to being an investor in great ideas, finding ways to help other entrepreneurs succeed and being a voice for inclusion and diversity in the workplace.
