
Harnessing Happiness to Build Your Career – Advice from an Uber Product Leader - ca98am79
http://firstround.com/review/harnessing-happiness-to-build-your-career-advice-from-an-uber-product-leader/
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ffumarola
These blog posts about the keys to success from people that made it but fail
to recognize the importance of luck and circumstance are incredibly tired.

e.g. "What follows is a list of the most powerful lessons I’ve learned from my
experience — all of which you can apply right now. [...] Make your own safety
net. “You’ll be fine if it doesn’t work out.” The trick is that feeling this
way is just a choice you make."

"I was 24 when I decided to work in the U.S. I was terrified, but I hustled to
make connections, and now it was time to actually go. Once again, my father
was the one to give me the push I needed, booking a ticket for us to visit the
Bay Area for 10 days — our very first trip to the U.S. for both of us, and
assuring me that even if I didn’t find a job, I’d figure something out."

So, make my own safety net by having my parents pay for a 10 day trip to a
foreign country/job market that I want to work in?

"I know this works because I had to do it. During the 2002 Silicon Valley
downturn, I got laid off. Panic set in. Here I was, now living in the country
illegally, crashing on a friend’s couch in San Francisco, and I had to figure
out what to do to stay in the U.S.. There was no time to wallow or doubt
myself. I had to get out there and start meeting people. I joined a few other
networking organizations and Ryze.com, and networked hard. I made it known I
needed a job and went on many interviews only to get rejected many times, or
rejecting a few offers that just didn’t feel right. Finally, at the 11th hour,
something clicked."

So desperate that you were able to reject offers?

There are some good tips in this article, but it also seems oblivious to the
fact that a lot of the success was born from circumstance and luck.

