How I Landed A Job At Snapchat At 18
I worked at Snapchat as an IT Specialist for two years until I resigned for an opportunity to consult for two major companies: Raytheon and NASA. It was an incredible experience to work for a company like Snap, but let me go back and tell you exactly how I landed the gig.
About Me
Before we start, let me tell you a little bit about myself. I am a first generation American born to refugees of the Cambodian Genocide. My parents lived in concentration camps for years, and witnessed the deaths of many of their family members including their parents and siblings. They escaped and came to America, and worked diligently to create “something” from “nothing”. My older brother, Chris, was considered the prodigy of our family because he was academically unmatched. I, on the other hand, was a failure for most of my life. Chris and I went to the same elementary and middle school, so during my parent-teacher conference, my teachers would always compare my failures to Chris’s successes.
I failed so many classes because I was depressed. There was many things that stirred my depression, but the main ones had to do with me being bullied and also the way others viewed me. As one of the very few Asians who grew up in a mostly Hispanic school and neighborhood, I was bullied because I was different from the others. My depression affected my academic grades, which led to my fellow classmates, teachers, and even my family to perceive me as a failure and disappointment which ultimately led to further depression. This continued all the way until the end of high school where I graduated 37th in our class of roughly 80 students. Before we get any deeper, I’m going to tell you here and now that this isn’t another one of those “sob stories”, and I’m not telling you this because I want you to feel bad for me — I’m telling you this story because anything and everything IS POSSIBLE once you start to believe in yourself.
I got my first job at one of the biggest movie theaters in Los Angeles which happened to be where Chris had also previously worked at, and he became one of the most prominent supervisors in the theater’s history. As you could imagine, I was again compared to Chris, but this time I took it upon myself to ensure that I would strive to become better than him. I fueled my depression and turned it into ambition and passion. I eventually became a supervisor and one of the lead projectionists at the movie theater where I built out an entire process on automating and scheduling films at certain times — moving away from the process of having to manually play films.
The Road To Snapchat
The year that I graduated from high school is also the year that Chris graduated from Cal State Los Angeles with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. My brother was my biggest role model, and the prodigy of our family. I, on the other hand, was denied to almost every university because of my academic grades. To my shame, I ended up going to community college, which also became the best decision of my life. Yes, you heard that correctly.
During my first year in community college, I ensured that I would become the best version of myself, and do everything in my power to transfer out as quickly as I could even if it meant that I had to attend multiple colleges to register for all the classes that I needed. I took Winter and Summer, and at some points, took as much as 26 units in a semester at five colleges simultaneously.
I joined this program at Pasadena City College called “LA HI-TECH” which ended up becoming a life changing one. The focus of this program was to help community college students prepare for the future-tech workforce by offering a set of curriculum and tools. LA HI-TECH often brought guest speakers and people who have succeeded in the technology industry to come in and speak to students in the program. It was through this program that I had the opportunity to apply to an internship at Snapchat. Thousands of students from 8 community colleges and 16 high schools applied to the internship through this program. Most were eliminated from the resume screening, but a couple of hundreds still went on to do a mock interview with the Bixel Exchange where only a handful were selected to move on and interview with Snapchat. I passed the mock interview as well as my interview with Snap, and I was one of the four students that were fortunate enough to intern for Snap.
Snap was preparing to IPO, so they were looking for individuals that were ambitious and driven. For me, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I wanted to do everything in my power to make the best of it, so I gave my 120% each day. As an intern, I took ownership of many processes in IT such as New Hire Onboarding, Laptop Imaging, Printer Deployment, and being the main Helpdesk Support Tech on site. My ambition and work ethic ultimately landed me a full-time position to contract as an IT Specialist with Snap for the next year.
After Snap
I left Snap in 2018, and went on to work for companies like Raytheon, NASA, Honey, and PayPal. I pursued my education full-time while working full-time, and eventually transferred to the California State University of Long Beach where I graduated with my B.S. in Management Information Systems at the age of 21. Because I was working and going to school full-time in different parts of LA, I was commuting over 5 hours a day in LA traffic. I lived in North East Los Angeles, worked in Santa Monica, and attended university in Long Beach. I left my house at 5 AM and came back at 12:30 AM everyday, and was only able to average around 3–4 hours of sleep a day.
If you’re wondering how I managed to do all of this — it’s because I found a new sense of motivation. I realized that my parents made sacrifices for me to obtain a better life in America, and there were many that were not fortunate enough to have the opportunity that I had, so I had to make the most of it. I also want a family one day, and I want to ensure that my future children do not have to endure the mental strain and hardships that I, my brother, and my parents had to endure.
It is now 2021, and I am 23 years of age. I am currently the IT Manager at 100 Thieves, an entrepreneur, a business owner, and an investor. If you’re wondering where I had the time to obtain a business background — remember when I drove 5 hours a day in LA traffic? I spent that time listening to podcasts and YouTube videos related to investing in start-ups, stocks, options, forex currency, cryptocurrency, and real estate. My goal is to create generational wealth for my future family, and also play a role in educating, supporting, and motivating the younger generation.
The Power of Networking
“School is BS”. These are the words that are usually uttered by people who dropped out. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people echo these exact words. As an entrepreneur myself, I can tell you that the individuals who state these words are ones who failed at school, and are using principles of entrepreneurship to cover up for their lack of motivation and persistence.
If you’re wondering whether you should go to school, my answer to that is, yes you SHOULD go to school. Whether you’re fresh out of high school, 3 years out of school, or even 20 years out of school, it’s never too late. The networking and connections that you can make from university is limitless. Even if you want to be an entrepreneur, GO to school!!!! Mark Zuckerberg would have never been able to build Facebook if he didn’t meet the Winklevoss twins at Harvard.
I’m an entrepreneur now with a net worth of close to half a million dollars. Because of my resume and the connections that I have made throughout the industry, it’s pretty easy for me to stay employed. However, all of this would not have been possible had I not gotten the opportunity to intern at Snap. It would not have been possible if I never went to community college. It would not have became possible if I didn’t put in the ambition, diligence, passion, and persistence into everything that I did post-high school. I sincerely believe that everything happens for a reason, and my past experiences is what resulted in me becoming the man that I am today. Good things will always come your way if you work hard for them. Be patient and be persistence. Become the best version of yourself, as I did, and you will become unstoppable.
