Taking Risks: The Next Chapter Begins

In my 20's, I've become quite the risk taker. I dunno, I used to be 'Mr. Safe.' To some extent, much of my life is safe. I've saved money, lived in Suburbia, etc.

A few examples of risks I've taken in my 20's:

• Interning in Washington, D.C., having never lived outside of California
• 'Coming Out' to family, friends and co-workers in full force
  
• Moving to Northern California from Southern California for a temp job, in the hopes of landing a full-hire position
• Beginning a weight-loss journey, having no idea where I'd end up

What I see as my next risk in life started a few weeks back. I was intrigued by a position that caught my eye at YouTube. (FYI - Google owns YouTube.)

I approached some friends, co-workers, ex-managers and my current manager on advice on whether I should pursue the position. I got mixed messages. Some folks thought the position would be taking a step back career-wise. Others thought I would be really good move and it was a good fit to develop my skill-set.

Ultimately, I decided to pursue the opportunity - setting my expectations really low. If anything, I would take the pursuit of the position as an opportunity to learn about internal transfers amongst departments.

The first interview was a video-conference screen with a YouTube director. I passed the screen and moved onto round 2. At this point, I was competing with a few others for the position. Round 2 was a series of 3 interviews - two with Product Managers and one with a Product Specialist. The first two interviews were in San Bruno starting at 9:15am, where YouTube is headquartered. The last one was in Mountain View at 3pm that same day. So there was a lot of driving involved. I also took the YouTube office visit as an opportunity to catch up with my friend Kenji, who's worked in that office for a while. Here is what the day of 9/5/08 looked like:

• Interview 1: Tom R. (9:15am) - I thought I rocked this interview. I was a bit nervous at first. But Tom made me feel really comfy. I thought I was able to articulate myself pretty well, given the fact I woke up early.
• Interview 2: Lane S. (10:00am) - This wasn't really an interview so much as a conversation and Q+A. I worked with Lane in AdWords, so I thought this went well.
• Lunch Break with Kenji (12pm) - Kenji used to be a temp manager in AdWords. He interviewed me way back in December of '05. It feels like forever. Kenji had a daughter recently, so he was sharing some funny stories with me. He definitely calmed me down and made me feel at ease.
• Drive to Mountain View around 1:00pm
• Interview 3: Matt L. (3pm) - Matt is a nice guy but I could tell he the down to business type. Luckily I got to gauge his personality because we had to wait a few minutes before the interview because the people in the conference room we booked went over their time. Honestly, I thought I blew this interview. Matt is a difficult interviewer. He asked a lot of hard product and process questions. He also had a lot of managerial type of questions.

After the 3rd interview I ran into Ben Ling, who recently started to work at Google again (he used to work here previously) after a short stint at Facebook. I was dressed up in a collared shirt and tie when it was like 95 degrees outside. He was like 'What you doing all dressed up?' I was like 'Ohh... I just had an interview.' I told him it was with YouTube. We parted ways after a brief convo and I tried to go find my friend Ty so we could work out. I went inside a building on main campus and funny enough... I ran into Ben again. He was squatting in an office. I found Ty and we worked out around 4:00pm.

I got home around 6:00pm or so to meet my friend Danny at my apartment. We were going to go bowling for Elizabeth and Kyle's goodbye party. After having a fun chat, I decided to open my work email around 7:30pm. I got an email from the director, Tom, stating I got the YouTube position and he needed to know if I could take the position ASAP. He even left me his cell # because it was apparently very urgent. I just about fainted. I thought I had no shot, especially after my last interview with Matt!

I was in a state of total shock and mental numbness for the next few days. To be honest, it still hasn't really hit me. I'm going to really miss my team, of which I spent nearly 3 years with. I'm especially going to miss my cubemates --- Brittany and Elizabeth.

The next few weeks will be that of transition. I'll have to get used to commuting from Sunnyvale to San Bruno (about a 35 minute drive). Thankfully I can take a shuttle from work if I choose not to drive. If I don't like the commute, I'll consider looking into apartments in San Francisco. I'll have to learn a new product, form new relationships, and make sure I foster and keep my current friendships with friends in Mountain View.

Wish me luck with my next life adventure...!

Here's a video what it's like to work at YouTube in San Bruno: