“Carry yourself with the confidence of a mediocre man!”
Can you imagine this as part of your work day, where you can drop in whenever you like to a gaming room with pinball machines and arcade games, an ice cream shop, spa, bike mechanic, and too many café and restaurant options to count! The Facebook campus is impressive, yet sculptures and signs from the original Facebook office remind and connect us to the company’s origins as a tiny startup. So much has happened in such a short period of time: the Facebook family now also includes Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus Rift!
The importance of mentors came up again today at Facebook, as mentors can give you the tough feedback that you’re blinded to. And don’t forget the importance of finding a ‘safe space’ person to talk to too, this can be a teacher, coach, friend, or family member. It reminded us that the people around us have a huge influence on us, which poses the question – how we do surround ourselves with positive influencers?
We then visited Ebay and saw their map of sales in real time. So cool! Our Tech Girls teams received some great feedback from both Facebook and Ebay after they pitched – that “success is never a one stop effort and trying things that don’t quite work out is totally ok. For developing apps and tech, talking to users to understand what they need is critical to solving the problem that they have (not the problem that you want to solve or think they have)”. Another approach is to find people who want what you are thinking to develop, before you develop it!
So what do Facebookers and Ebayers wish they knew when you were younger?
“Be bold. Take risks. If you have a good idea, go for it!”
“Don’t underestimate yourself. Carry yourself with the confidence of a mediocre man!”
“Show interest in the things you like. You can build a career around your hobbies, incorporate a job into your hobby.”
“It’s ok not to have it all figured out. Elevate your voice: you should and do have a seat a table.”
Back to finding our positive influencers, let’s start with thinking about what ‘product features’ you want to add to your life, and who should be on your personal board of directors. Think and ask today!
P.S. Have you met our superhero rally car driver chaperone? Jackie, from our Blue Buddy team at St. Aidans’ has mixed with the British royals and knows her way around cars. You go, Jackie!