The Best Career Advice, Uber Alles

Catch me now as I fall into what might be a trap: praising and linking to internet content marketing. I have to though, because the blog is so relevant for tech workers and has had a dramatic influence on my life.

That link is to the best career advice I’ve ever received which is from the Wealthfront blog in a post titled How Do I Choose Where To Work? It features a quote that I often share with young designers:

“You get more credit than you deserve for being part of a successful company, and less credit than you deserve for being part of an unsuccessful company.”

When I joined Uber, this specific quote encouraged me to step away from my stalled startup, move across the country, and put the freedom of self employment behind me. Making the switch enabled me to start solving big problems that I never would have touched in my previous design life: revolutionizing urban transportation, empowering people to have flexible jobs and even curbing traffic and ultimately pollution with products like Uberpool.

Take steps back to understand the usefulness of what you’re putting into your brain. If you know a post, book or stream isn’t bringing benefit to you, move on decisively. It gives you space to do more important things, but also to be able to dive in on the content that can change your life.

Now, maybe I owe it Wealthfront to finally start using their product.

Interested in designing at Uber? Contact me directly to chat about opportunities on our world class design team.