Arash Saffarnia

4INFO

Career Roadmap

Arash's work combines: Engineering, Technology, and Accomplishing Goals

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Senior Vice President of Engineering

I set the technology goals for my company, and I help motivate my team to meet/exceed those goals.

High School

Bachelor's Degree: Physics, General

Bachelor's Degree: Applied Mathematics, General

My path in life took a while to figure out

1.
I didn't go to an especially prestigious school, so landing an internship was a very big deal.
2.
I was the first person in my class to get a good internship.
3.
I definitely got that internship because I always went after opportunities when they arose.
4.
A few years after I entered the workforce, I decided to start a tech business with my friend.
5.
Developing that company taught me everything about programming and business from the ground up.
6.
I tell everyone that 10 years after you graduate college is a great time to take chances like that.
7.
Shortly afterwards, the dot-com bubble burst; it felt like I'd never find a job again.
8.
That taught me a great lesson: even with the degree and experience, I still wasn't "all that."

Keep following my journey

THE NOISE
Messages from Peers:
You didn't go to a prestigious school; your business won't get funded.
How I responded:
When I was in school, Silicon Valley was definitely more skewed towards funding the websites that were coming out of Ivy League schools. So when my friend and I started our own tech company, people were skeptical about whether we'd succeed. Luckily, there's a much more diverse mix of people in the valley now, and with all of the VC funding, you can definitely succeed without that "pedigree." Just use your friends and family as your sounding boards when things get tough, and don't give up.

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