Success Sans Ego
by Miki Saxon
What is the secret to getting ahead?
According to Mike Curtis it’s pretty simple.
“Look for opportunities, and shed your ego.”
Curtis should know.
After high school, he was working in a coffee shop when a company called iAtlas Corporation opened across the street.
He pestered his way into an internship that included acting as receptionist and answering the phones.
When Alta Vista (the original search engine) acquired it he chose to move to California instead of starting college.
After a stint at AOL and another company he landed at Yahoo where he was lead engineer for Yahoo Mail, with a team of 200 and a 2-window office.
The reason he left offers yet more sage advice.
“Make sure that one day whatever company you join is working as hard for you as you are for it.”
He went from an executive position at Yahoo to Facebook’s bootcamp sitting next to interns and new grads, hence his advice to drop the ego.
Now he’s a VP at Airbnb.
Quite a career path for a guy who skipped college before it was fashionable and worked his way up.
Flickr image credit: Celine Nadeau
