Upwardly Mobile with Albert Qian: Recent Episodes
Albert Qian
Hello and welcome to Upwardly Mobile with Albert Qian! Yes, Silicon Valley is known for having all the answers, but there are just as many questions in the land of innovation; like...how do I navigate this workplace event? What do you say to that interview question? You can do what for a living? And most importantly, what do those monthly numbers really mean anyway? I’m Albert Qian, your host, and the founder of the go-to tech advisory Albert’s List - come along with me as I explore all the angles that define working in Silicon Valley. I promise that my podcast will bring you laughs, honest opinions, and useful insights that you can begin using immediately. Thanks for tuning in, and remember to subscribe so you don’t miss a single episode!
There are many places to job hunt these days, among them Clubhouse, an audio-based app that brings people together. Manny Dueñas is one of those leading the charge, where he hosts weekly rooms featuring FAANG recruiters, mock interviews, networking opportunities, and more. Find out how you can make the most of Clubhouse in this episode and Manny's perspectives on the job hunt.
Product management is a popular career in Silicon Valley and is a role driving the growth of many of the applications you've come to know, including Facebook, Twitter, Google, Uber, Salesforce, and Apple. As a leader of the organization, product managers help ideate, develop, launch, and gather feedback on products.
In this episode, we speak to Brian H.K. Lee, a product manager who seeks to build and ship products that impact people in a profound way in technology, government, and e-commerce settings. Learn what product management is, why it's such an important role, how you can break in—and why product management is like organizing a picnic. Take a listen!
You may have heard about personal branding, but have you untapped its hidden potential? Whether you're a marketer or work in another industry, being able to position yourself as a leader is important—and is something that serial entrepreneur CJ Terral knows.
In this episode of Upwardly Mobile, discover how you can build your personal brand, what elements you need to have a great brand, and how to be memorable towards others. Additionally, dive into the state of marketing and learn what working in a Silicon Valley startup is really like.
You've landed the job. Your new employer has sent you the laptop. Your LinkedIn congratulations are flowing in. But have you really made it?
In short, you haven't. With many companies wanting to make sure they've hired the right talent, new hires are subject to a probationary period—often the first 90 days of the job. During this time, new hires are evaluated on a range of criteria, including collaboration, attitude, and competency.
If you're in your probationary period, this episode is for you. You'll hear how to best navigate this period, the attitude to bring, and what your bosses are looking for.
Show Notes:
Learn more about Nader Mowlaee at https://www.linkedin.com/in/engineeringcareercoach/.
Learn more about Engineer Your Mission at https://www.engineeryourmission.com/.
95% of professionals believe that networking is critical for career success. So how do you make the most of it, even as pandemic protocols make in-person events untenable and many believing that networkers are annoying, salesy people?
We looked to Kamber Parker, founder of The YoProKnow, a company helping young professionals find their footing in the workplace and author of The Young Professional Guide: 7 Smart Career Decisions To Make Now To Maximize Your Young Professional Years. We discuss how to effectively network, build rapport with your connections, and why a hand-written note is the best way to follow up.
Learn more about Kamber Parker at https://www.linkedin.com/in/kamberparker/.
Learn more about The YoProKnow at https://www.yoproknow.com/.
Mental health is a hot topic, and hotter yet due to the pandemic especially with professionals working from home. Couple that in a region where professionals are always feeling FOMO from missing a hot startup or a key connection, and you have a recipe that asks for mindfulness.
This week, we're sitting down with recruiter and life coach Kyle Edquist, who relocated to Silicon Valley from Southern California several years ago where he was a mental health counselor. In this episode, he discusses his experience making the transition, how tech workers can stay present, and mindfulness tips any professional can use.
Connect with Kyle at https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyleedquist/.
Silicon Valley runs because of many different types of professionals, notably project managers. In this episode, we sit down with Stephanie Ngo, a senior project manager for a major social networking company to discuss her career path. Plus, we talk about her side hustle as a foodie content creator, how anyone can get started, and her principles for success.
Social Media Links for Stephanie
YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/StephieNgos
Instagram: www.instagram.com/stephie.ngos.food
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StephieNgosFood/
Tiktok: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMd7C1rVJ/
Email: stephiengosfood@gmail.com
Software engineers, product managers, and data scientists may be king in Silicon Valley, but they are not the only show in town. To bring their innovations to market, they need someone else: content marketers.
Content marketers are the glue of Silicon Valley, translating innovative technology into everyday words that sales can take to market in descriptions that everyday people can understand in the form of videos, blog posts, web copy, datasheets, business briefs, and more.
In this episode, Albert talks about the content marketing profession—a role he has worked in for the past half-decade. He covers its growth, how aspiring writers can break in, what to expect in the interview process, and so much more.
In 2018, Tyler Alm moved to Silicon Valley to pursue the startup and technology dreams he had heard so much about. What sounded like a straight-line path instead became an adventure, compounded further by the COVID-19 pandemic.
3 years later, Alm now lives in Austin—the newest fastest-growing hub of technology jobs and is a rising sales leader in his company. In this episode, he reflects on his journey, shares advice for professionals in similar situations, and looks to the future.
The world is returning to normal and for some professionals, that’s a bad thing. For many, going remote during the pandemic was one of the best things to happen to them as they were able to move out of the cities to areas with cheaper costs of living, time freedom, and more space. As companies in Silicon Valley - notably Amazon, Google, and Apple - ask their employees to return, some are instead opting to resign.
This movement has come to be known as The Great Resignation, where many are considering departing their jobs for greener pastures. In this podcast episode, we sit down with Whitney Cole of WorkWell.io to discuss how professionals can navigate the Great Resignation, from knowing whether to actually quit to negotiating your salary.
With over 700 million users, LinkedIn is a bastion of opportunity. With all of its features, however, how do you make the most of the platform to network with others or find your next job? In this episode, we sit down with Andrea Misir, The Millennial Career Coach and LinkedIn expert, to discuss what job seekers should know and how they can use these features to their advantage.
In an ultra-competitive professional world, your personal brand matters more than ever—and there are more platforms than ever to build that brand upon.
Getting there means creating the right type of content, whether you're leading a discussion on Clubhouse, grabbing attention on TikTok, or writing blog posts on Medium.
In this episode, we speak to Charles Peralo, serial entrepreneur and TikTok content creator extraordinaire who evaluates the personal brands of those he hires, while building his own. You'll learn how to start your own personal brand, the best platform to do it, and how to apply it to your career.
Has your career exhausted you? Do you ever wonder what it’s like to retire before you’re 40? Do you ever see those who have made it rich with real estate, cryptocurrency, blogging, or otherwise, and want to do that too?
Make no mistake: Ever since the whole idea of being a working professional has been around, the entrepreneurial and ambitiously minded have been finding ways to get around it. With the rise of the internet, it’s more accessible than ever with new technologies like Uber, Airbnb, VRBO, and others enabling professionals to get out of the rat race and reclaim their time.
In this episode, we speak with Justin Kusuwomidagdo, a former corporate sales professional turned Airbnb owner-operator who has successfully left the 9-5 world and now considers himself semi-retired. Learn about his journey and tips he has for aspiring escapees.
For some college students, the feeling of dread washes over them as they receive their diplomas this Spring: What are they going to do now—Especially in a pandemic-influenced economy?
Job hunting has always been hard for new graduates, but recent downturns in the past two decades has made it even more difficult as they compete with experienced professionals looking for a break. With social media and new ways of building your personal brand, however, it's a lot easier.
For insight on what new graduates can do, we turned to Grace Ling, a professional UX designer and founder of Design Buddies, a community of 18,000 professionals that she founded in her senior year of college. In this podcast, she shares how she used her personal brand to land a coveted Silicon Valley career as a new graduate while also landing keynotes at conferences—and how aspiring new graduates can do the same.
Show Notes:
Connect with Grace at the following links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/graceling
Instagram (me): https://www.instagram.com/irungracepace/
Instagram (art): https://www.instagram.com/candyleaf_/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/candyleaf_
Portfolio: https://www.grace-ling.com/
Design Buddies: https://discord.gg/designbuddies
Sales is one of those careers that has been glorified by Hollywood, from memorable lines like "always be closing" to the supposed glory displayed in the Wolf of Wall Street.
If that's your only exposure to the industry, then it's nothing but glory. Reality however, is a different story as salespeople around the world grind their way through tough commissions, customer objections, and demanding employers.
In this podcast episode, we speak to Lou Majeed, founder of sales and marketing recruitment firm Basima Tony about his experience working, recruiting, and managing sales professionals. You'll learn about the common misconceptions of the sales career, why you shouldn't listen to so-called influencers in the industry, and how to become the best.
Show notes:
Learn more about Lou and his recruiting firm at https://www.basimatony.com/.
Connect with Lou on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/loumajeed/.
Would you like to travel for work? It's definitely alluring, from racking up travel miles to seeing new destinations—all while building a career—and it's available to you now.
Meet Audrey Lo, a marketing professional who has been traveling for her career since graduation. From being Head of Community at Trip.com to creating her own events experience company, she's been able to travel far, seeing everything from Pyramids of Giza to the towering skyscrapers of Hong Kong.
In this podcast episode, she shares how professionals can travel in their own careers, who they can network with to make this dream come true, and what types of jobs allow for travel. She'll also share tips on how to sightsee, credit cards to use, and her preference between Airbnbs, hotels, and hostels.
Learn more about Audrey and Remote Work Bae, her remote work podcast:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZLIWQ9LcGP6T7-a30vmYHQ
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/audreylo
Oracle and HP Enterprise left for Texas. Your neighbor sold their house. Analysts are predicting the demise of California—yet traffic is still bumper-to-bumper and the supermarket seems crowded. What gives?
In this podcast episode, Albert sits down with Dr. Reilly White, Professor of Economics at the University of New Mexico to separate the hype from reality in what's been dubbed the "Cal-Exodus". He answers whether people are leaving, what this means for the job market, and what the real tipping points will be to send California beyond return.
For more on Dr. Reilly White, click here: http://news.unm.edu/newsmedia/experts/reilly-white
A common misconception about looking for a new job is that the interview is just a conversation, when in reality, it's about crafting the right answers and telling the right stories. In this episode, Albert talks to Cory Hiromoto, a recruiter for a Fortune 500 company in Silicon Valley and career coach—and discovers what you should say, versus what you shouldn't.
Though HR serves an important part of every company, many workers have no idea what the function actually does. Join Kathy Tang, an HR Business Partner in Silicon Valley, where she busts some common misconceptions, explains what a performance improvement plan actually is, and dives into what is actually meant by the phrase "culture-fit".
It's a new year, which means lots of professionals have resolutions that involve their careers. Whether you're looking for a completely new career, want that promotion, or just want to stay put in these volatile times, check out what Find Your Peanut Butter founder Stella Yuen has to say about making sure your changes stick!
Over 18 million Americans are unemployed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. For many, it's a stressful time with an uncertain future. Albert Qian sits down with podcaster ("Technically Drinking") and technical sales professional Vince Vaughan to discuss how to navigate being jobless and how his mindset helps him find peace.