How I Landed A Job As Uber Employee 250 - Part 2

Goooood Morning! 👋

(Read time 9 min 9 sec)

Welcome back!

Let’s land you a career-accelerating tech job faster and with less stress.

I’m writing this from 35,000 ft in the air on my way from NYC to LA. 🏙 ✈️ 🏖

I’m a tech guy, and it took me a good 30 min to figure out how to get the wifi on the plane.

I was about to chuck my laptop across the aisle.

2 comments about flying…

1. Remember when the wifi on the plane was crazy expensive?

   I feel like I paid $90 for wifi once. Anyway, it’s $10 now. I either don’t fly often, or it has gotten dramatically less expensive (both are probably true).

2. The guy next to me has his shoes off.

   Are we team shoes on or shoes off? He’s doing a good job of hiding them under the seat, but… come on, dude!

This is the first non-kids vacation my wife and I have taken in years, so I’m going to shut up and let you start reading so I can get to my palm trees and sunshine.

Read on, my badass brothers and sisters, for the second part of my Uber tale.

In this edition, I’ll share:

• Details about the Uber analytics exercise

• Why I took my shirt off in my Uber interview

• The best birthday present I’ve ever received

We’re just getting to the good part!

👔 Part 2 - New Hustle In A New City: How I Landed A Job As the 250th Employee of Uber

You can read Part 1 of this story in last week’s newsletter but here’s a quick recap…

• I quit my cubicle data entry job in Seattle because I didn’t want my soul to be sucked out of my body at 24 years old. ✌️

• I booked a one-way ticket from Seattle to NYC to live with my girlfriend and her 3 roommates. ☔️ 🛬 🏙

• After 3 months of networking and almost running out of money, I landed a job as a domain name salesman. 🤝

• While they ran my background check a friend I had known since kindergarten connected me to her roommate who worked at Uber. 🤩He offered me a temporary under-the-table cash gig handing out marketing palm cards in the NYC airport taxi lines. 🚕

• After working there for about a week, I asked my connection about full-time roles, and he shared my resume with the recruiter. 📃

• The recruiter reached out, letting me know the next step was an analytics exercise. 💻

Wednesday, May 8th, 2013 - The Uber Analytics Exercise

In her email, the recruiter shared the detailed next steps.

I would need to complete a two-hour timed at-home analytics exercise.

This was a low-level screening process to weed out the “analytically challenged”.

Can this person navigate their way around Excel, and are they able to make real-world assumptions using data?

I had just come off two years doing data entry in a computer system from the 1980’s and three months of no work at all, so my Excell skills could be described as… basic at best.

But, the password to the analytics test was UberChallengeFunTime.

How hard could it be?

After freaking out for the whole day and watching YouTube videos about creating pivot tables, I figured I was as ready as I would be.

I kissed my girlfriend, my roommates wished me luck, and I stepped into the elevator to my chosen analytics exercise battlefield - the apartment building common area.

I’ll never forget the feeling when I opened my laptop and stared at the test login screen.

Heart pumping, hands sweating.

Nervous as hell that my lack of exposure to Excel would prevent me from my dream job.

At 9:07 PM, I entered the password and got to work.

The Test

I had never taken an analytics exercise, so I had no idea what to expect.

Having been in tech for a decade, I know this is pretty commonplace.

The test consisted of

• A set of Excel data showing Uber trip data (trip numbers, driver numbers, length of trip, ETA, trip fares, etc.)

• A set of multiple-choice questions.

• A set of text-based questions.

What the questions involved…

• At what times did Uber have too few drivers?

• At what times did Uber have too many drivers?

• How would you balance the driver hours so you had enough at both times to drive down the arrival times?

I worked furiously for two hours, and at 11:05 pm, two minutes before my time ran out, I submitted the exercise.

I thought my answers made sense and that my hackey combination of brute-force manual calculations and my YouTube pivot table knowledge showed a decently thought-out analysis.

There was nothing I could do now but wait and hope.

Thursday, May 9th, 2013 - The Recruiter Reminder

The analytics test submitted, I reached out to the recruiter to make sure she received it and to ensure we were set for our Monday interview.

JOB HUNT TIP - YOU’RE NOT BEING ANNOYING. YOU’RE BEING RESPONSIBLE

I always talk to job hunters who are worried that they will come off as annoying if they reach out to people.

You’re not being annoying.

You’re being responsible.

Confirmations like the one I sent above show that you’re eager to land the job and prevent you from making a mistake like not knowing it’s a Zoom interview vs a phone interview or that the interview was scheduled for 11:00 AM PT, not ET.

Monday, May 13th - The Phone Screen Interview

I worked at the Uber office, training taxi drivers on using the Uber app and creating their accounts for the rest of the week after submitting my analytics exercise.

The next Monday, I felt more ready than ever for my recruiter phone screen.

I had been working at the company for two weeks.

At this point, I had been speaking with taxi drivers, using the Uber systems, speaking the Uber language, and building relationships with team members.

I contacted the recruiter again to ensure she had my cell number.

At 5 PM, she called for my phone screen.

She asked me questions about…

• My prior work experience

• What I thought about the work I had been doing

• Why I wanted to work at Uber

Standard stuff.

But, at the end of the conversation, she uttered the words forever etched in my brain and the key to any dream job hunt…

JOB HUNT TIP - THE HOLY JOB HUNT TRINITY

You will win your job hunt if you can do these 3 things.

1. Build relationships with people on the team.

2. Provide value that solves their real-time problems.

3. Prepare for every conversation like it’s an interview.

So what did I do next?

I sent another follow-up thank you email, of course!

In the email, you can see I..

• Reference the work I’m doing for the company

• Show my interest in working hard

• Ensure there’s no additional information she needs

• Provide optimism about my analytics exercise

• Confirm that she will reach out to me at the end of the week

It was the week of my birthday and I was happy as hell with how things went so my girlfriend and I headed to the Mariners vs. Yankees game.

Thursday, May 16th, 2013 - The Final Interview

As a final step in the process, the recruiter scheduled me to interview with the New York City Uber General Manager.

I had spent time in the office and knew who he was, but we hadn’t spoken.

At the time of the interview, I walked over to the conference room in the corner of the office, walked in, and closed the door behind me.

Across the small white Ikea table, the GM sat leaning back in an office chair in an Uber t-shirt, jeans, and tennis shoes.

The conversation wasn’t long.

Or at least it didn’t seem long.

I had prepared all of my stories about my prior work and the work I had been doing at Uber, reviewed all of the company data I had access to, and reviewed Ramit Sethi’s job hunter video playlist.

I remember the GM asking me pretty standard questions…

• What did you do before?

• What have you been doing at the company since?

• What do you like about doing the work you have been doing here?

• Is that type of work you’re willing to do?

Then he took a deep breath and said…

I hadn’t prepared for this question at all.

My mind raced.

What would I teach?

Well…

I was wearing a blue button-down shirt…

And I had ironed my shirt that morning…

So in the middle of the interview.

Button by button.

I took off my shirt.

Before you get all upset that I stripped in my interview and it was my pasty white tummy that landed the job, hold your horses…I had an undershirt on.

After finishing my ironing instruction, the GM laughed.

“I usually get Goldman Sachs bankers in here teaching me how to trade derivatives. That was pretty refreshing.”

I had done it!

I had done something memorable in the interview that set me apart from other candidates he had spoken to.

JOB HUNT TIP - BE MEMORABLE

The last thing any interviewer wants to do is interview “just another” candidate, so set yourself apart.

Ask them unique insightful questions about their background, do something that catches their eye, be willing to put yourself out there.

You don’t need to take your shirt off, but make sure they remember who you are.

Friday, May, 17th, 2013 - THE BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT

I had taken the day off from onboarding taxi drivers to celebrate my birthday with my new NYC friends by going to EDC New York, a 3-day electronic music festival.

At the pre-party, everyone was dressed in neon, the music blasted, and the drinks flowed.

I was wearing a bright orange Uber tank top the company had been giving out as promotional swag.

Repping the brand!

Then I felt my pocket buzz.

I pulled out my phone, and the hiring manager’s name appeared.

“Uh oh!” I panicked.

Had I forgotten to do something when signing up drivers the day before?

He had said it was ok that I didn’t come in that day, had he forgotten?

I stepped into the hallway away from the party and answered the phone.

“Kyle?” Andrew said on the other line.

“Hey Andrew! What’s up?” I replied.

I re-entered the party and shouted at my girlfriend and friends, “I got the job!”

You honestly can’t script a better ending to the job hunt journey than that.

In the middle of the party, I typed out an email to the recruiter for the domain name sales company, thanking her but declining the offer.

JOB HUNT TIP - BE POLITE

Make sure you are polite and kind in every interaction you have.

Even if you don’t get the job or you turn a job down, you want people to walk away as your champions.

Monday, May 20th, 2013 - An Official Uber Offer

Exhausted from the weekend of dancing to pumping electronic beats, I headed back to the Uber office.

I hadn’t been dreaming.

The recruiter called me to confirm the offer numbers, and at the end of the day, my official offer letter was in my inbox.

I would be making double what I was making in my cubicle data entry job, and I didn’t know it, but the stock options grant they provided would be worth millions.

My life had been changed forever.

An Important Note - It’s not really about the money

While years later, my financial outcome from landing this role would be life-changing, at the time, the money wasn’t what I was thinking about.

I loved the product.

I was solving interesting problems.

I loved the people who worked there.

The work came easy because it felt fun.

When I was at work, putting in 110% felt effortless.

That’s what you want to shoot for in your job hunt.

When doing the research, networking, building relationships, and creating value, feel fun… you know you’re on the right path.

I want to hear from you!

What are you struggling with?

What’s an area that you’re excited about and you want me to dig into?

What company or leader do you want to learn more about?

Email your question to [email protected] or idea and you’ll likely find a complete breakdown in a future edition of the newsletter.

There you have it, the fairy tale ending to the life-changing job hunt that landed me a role at Uber.

And don’t forget the job hunt tips…

1. You’re not being annoying by reaching out to confirm or ask questions about process details. You’re being responsible.

2. Relationship building, value creation, and conversation preparation are the job hunt holy trinity. Do those well, and the recruiter will say, “The team loves you. It’s clear you can do the job. It’s a no-brainer to move you onto the final round.”

3. Be memorable in your interviews. You can do that by being enthusiastic, researching, providing value, and asking good questions. Or if you’re like me… just take your shirt off.

4. Be polite in every interaction you have. You want every person who interacts with you to be your champion.

5. It’s not all about the money. In reality, if you make it about the skills, experiences, network, and teachers… the money will come.

Now go out there and create the ending to your own fairy tale job hunt! 🧚‍♂️

Let’s become Career Champions together 🏆

Kyle

P.S. Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

#1: Free Job Hunt Strategy Call: Request a free job hunt strategy call with me to get closer to landing your next career-accelerating tech role. On our call, I’ll walk through your vision and how to make it a reality, cover the obstacles standing in your way, and help determine the best next step for you to take based on your short-term and long-term goals. Schedule a free call today!

#2: Want to get serious about accelerating your career in tech? Discover the small selective group program for ambitious professionals looking to land their next career-accelerating tech role in less than 90 days.

#3: Follow me on LinkedIn for more job hunt systems, productivity tools, and networking templates.

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