My first job after college sucked.
It was senior year, and I was desperate for a salary.
I bought a suit, printed a stack of resumes, and walked to the student union for the annual career fair. It felt like trick-or-treating for college students. Students walking booth to booth in "job candidate" costumes, collecting different flavors of business cards.
I was playing a character, but what other option was there?
Eventually, a corporate consulting company gave me an offer. That job sucked.
I would drive to the office at 8am and sit on Webex for two hours while my manager called on the 25-person outsourced development team for updates.
It was corporate hell, and I quit after six months.
The day after I quit, I woke up with a new feeling, something I've only experienced a couple of times in my life, the feeling of complete freedom. No standups, no classes, no obligations. For the first time in my life, I was free to explore my interests.
My roommate had an Oculus Quest. At night we'd try out different tech demos. Silly things like walking virtual tightropes or defusing digital bombs. But I was hooked. It was the future, and I wanted to be a part of it.
After hours of YouTube videos, I could build my own virtual reality apps. It was exciting, the ability to build a virtual universe. I started showing up at hackathons pitching ideas like VR for video conferencing, and I often won.
Eventually, my savings ran out and I moved back home to live with my parents in Boston. But I was still fully immersed in building virtual worlds, so the idea of moving in with my parents really didn't bother me.
It was Tuesday. I spent the morning out at the Boston University library putting the final touches on this VR periodic table to share with my high school chemistry teacher. It let students shrink to the size of a molecule and look around. There was a VR meetup in an hour, so I packed up, grabbed the stack of demo HoloLens, and took the T to Central Square.
I buzzed myself into the startup incubator carrying Microsoft's HoloLens, pre-loaded with demo apps. The smell of pizza and soda hit me immediately when I walked in. I caught up with my friends and took a seat. The talk that night was about using VR to help veterans with PTSD by playing out memories in a safe way.
After the talk, I grabbed another slice of pizza and walked over to the demo area. I was giving demos of Microsoft's new augmented reality headset. It was a cool device that lets you place virtual objects in a 3D scene. It felt like seeing the future through a postage stamp.
I'd given 30 demos, but each one was fun. I enjoyed seeing people's eyes light up when a digital solar system appeared on the table in front of them.
A guy in a nice button-up shirt and slacks walked up. He was slightly overdressed, but just as excited to try out the device. I walked him through the demo. He stared at the Earth, inspecting clouds and oceans from the comfort of a conference room.
He put down the headset and started peppering me with questions about how to build something like this. The answers just spilled out of my mouth. I didn't have to think. After months of working on projects I found interesting, I had an endless well of information to draw from.
He mentioned working at a company that was using augmented reality for manufacturing and service companies. Then he dropped off a business card: "If you want a job, we might have something for you."
I said sure, picked up the business card, and went back to giving demos.
Two weeks later, I had an offer as a product manager building an augmented reality authoring platform. It was a dream come true.
The company was working on really interesting problems. Things at a scale I couldn’t even imagine. Like: how do you author augmented reality service instructions for thousands of configurations of snowmobiles? Or capture work instructions using a headset to train new employees?
The company had a closet filled with the latest VR headsets. It was my job to manage the inventory. As a perk, I could take the devices home and load up the latest VR game. One day I forgot an expensive headset on the subway during the commute home. But that's a story for another day.
Ever since that career fair, every job has sucked less. They've felt more natural, less stiff, more authentic to things I find interesting with people I like working with.
I've found the ultimate career hack: hanging out with people who are working on interesting things. One day an opportunity might present itself.
It's not as obvious as going to the career fair. But do you really want a job from a career fair?