How the show “silicon valley” changed my life
This article gives a brief summary of how watching silicon valley inspired me to leave a promising and comfortable life in Izmir turkey to come re-arrange my life in Nigeria…alright let’s get right to it….
First of all, If you don’t know the show silicon valley, ill give a brief description :
Silicon valley is a comedy show about programmers and tech business execs in silicon valley California. The programmers are trying to create the next big thing and the tech business execs are trying to own/acquire the next big thing.
I have embedded a trailer of season 1 below so you can get the drift.
…Just so you know, there is a shit load of money moving around in silicon valley and that kind of adds spice to the show. Note that unlike most tech movies, relatively every technology used or referenced in silicon valley is accurate. So trust me when i tell you they are not feeding you bullshit.
yh yh yh…how did watching the show silicon valley change my life?
Me Before watching the show (pathetic)
I had just finished my masters degree in Information Technology and i was fairly confused about where my life was headed. I was living in Izmir: a beautiful city in turkey; also known to house the most beautiful Turkish girls.(very true ;) trust me…my eyes have seen .
I was working freelance with Nigerian and Turkish brands only making enough money to pay for my expensive apartment and regular monthly needs. Money was not necessarily my problem because:
- I am not a materialistic person (really all my clothes can fit into a mid size box)
- I could always call home “Nigeria” if i needed money (so my folks are not crazy rich. my parents just do not want me to die).
While living in Izmir, i had no mission or vision for my career, i was writing shitty HTML & CSS scripts together with copied blocks of JavaScript from anywhere i could find them. I had a masters in Information Technology but i could not write any actual programming language… more on this later. I was a mess career wise and worst of all i did not know i was in a mess.
On the 18th of December 2016 my friend Elyon asked me to go watch Silicon valley.
“@Tade, watch Silicon Valley, the series”
Heeding to the message above marked the beginning of what i am becoming.
Whilst watching the show
Just like most shows, at first i was like “what are these guys doing?”. Then it started coming together.
I started learning new stuff; remember every tech stuff they talk about on the show is quite accurate which makes you learn a lot if you are someone like me.
just for show, below is a snippet showing the characters discussing an algorithm that would enable one guy jerk off 800 guys within a space of 10 minutes. Totally accurate!
while watching, i started learning a lot of stuff about the tech world, web development including the business world. Stuff like :
- Startups, term sheets, company valuations
- Business development
- IPOs
- Venture capitals and investment
- Web development processes and web technologies
- Collaboration tools like Git & Github
- Office space design, work force efficiency e.t.c
Every episode introduced me to new things. Sometimes i had to pause and do a mini research on what the dudes were talking about. I was taking so much in and at the same time i was laughing my ass off. I was hooked!
By the time i finished the second season, i wanted in. I wanted to be like these people who spoke languages only a few understood. I wanted to have the power to create a million dollar product while sitting butt naked or shirtless in my room. I wanted to be able to switch jobs easily because of the kinds of skill i possess.
Me after season 2 ( i had an epiphany. Suddenly my life had purpose)
It became so obvious that my career plans were next to bullshit. It became so obvious that i had the potential for a lot more. I was so sure that to be like these seasoned programmers and business development professionals in the show, i had to take a shit load of lessons, do a shit load of research and practice like my life depended on it. I also had to be fast about it because i am not getting any younger and would need to be fully independent soon.
I decided to go back to school, this time a school of my creation. I decided to teach myself everything i need to know to be world class. Obviously the educational institutions had failed me so that was no longer an option. I needed time and resources. I had to focus. I didn’t want any responsibility getting in my way so i left my friends, a promising future and my fine ass Turk girlfriend 😭😭 and then i came back to Nigeria.
2 years + 2 months after coming back to Nigeria (Best decision ever!!!)
It has been about 26 months since i came back home to restructure my career woooooo!!! it has also been a roller-coaster!!!. I have made a ton of mistakes and learnt a lot of lessons (which i most likely will be sharing in the future). I have learnt a lot including:
- Time management is very important if you want to work for yourself.
- Working from home is the shit !!!
- African parents don’t believe you are working until you take a bath and leave the house in the morning
- How to put a price on my time
- Focus on the skills and your repertoire, money will come
- A ton of languages, frameworks, web technologies (seriously the amount of content i have packed in my head in the last year)
- How to say NO! to myself, friends and family
- How to say NO! to money (*sigh not easy at all)
- A whole lot more
In Conclusion
In other to publish this post at the designated time, i left out a lot of details. I do have a lot of regrets; things i wish i had done different.
My message is growth. I urge you to find your shortcomings and do something about them. Watching silicon valley made me discover a big room for improvement and i took it!