After College Lifestyles
Ojus works at Facebook as an online social gaming analyst. Get an inside look into working at Facebook as well as what a gaming analyst's daily job entails. Also, gain a candid look into life in San Francisco and Tour Ojus's apartment!
Overview:
Career: Internet Marketing Analyst
Company Field: Social Networking
Located In: San Francisco Bay Area
Grew Up In: Westfield, New Jersey
Graduated From: Cornell University
Majored In: Operations Research Engineering
Graduated In: 2011
Quick Stats on Being an Internet Social Gaming Analyst
Work Hour Flexibility: High
Quality of Lifestyle Outside of Work: High
Work Stress Level: Medium
Level of Routine Work: Medium
Interaction with Co-Workers: Medium
Pay Level (out of 5): $$$$
Life of a College Grad Online Social Gaming Analyst
I work in Facebook’s growth marketing division focusing on monetization growth. Specifically, I try and make more money for Facebook’s games business. If you go on Facebook and play Candy Crush Saga and pay in the game, we get a cut of that revenue.
Frankly, I wanted to work for a world-class tech company and could not be happier that I came here. The level of talent simply cannot be any higher in any other area because we take them all. Working for Facebook is amazing but the valley is loaded with superstars and the elevation from tech in Boston to tech in Silicon Valley is honestly like moving from college to the pros.
Gaming Analyst's Daily Routine:
7:30 AM Wake Up
8:15 AM Get on the shuttle to work and figure out my daily schedule, check email
9:30 AM Arrive at work and eat breakfast
9:45 AMPrioritize what I want to work on that day, largely data analysis time
12:00 PM Lunch, with someone at work or with friends
1:00 PM Interpret data analysis from earlier and next steps
2:00 PM Meet with a mentor or buddy to chat about what I am working on and advice they have
2:45 PM Take a brea. Ping-pong? Get ice cream at the Sweet Shop? Burrito?
3:00 PM Meetings to hear about team progress, brainstorm product ideas
5:00 PM Basketball at work
6:30 PM Dinner at Facebook
7:00 PM Finalize any work, fire offers on bigger analysis jobs that run overnight
7:30 PM Leave the office, wrap up email or play some games (market research!) on the shuttle home
8:00 PM Get home, either meet someone for a drink in the city or watch sports
10:00 PM Bed time
How To Get Into The Field:
I studied Operations Research Engineering, which focused on applied mathematics and basic computer programming. Being comfortable in a quantitative environment made it easier to become a data analyst, which was my first job at an e-commerce company in Boston called Vistaprint. I found that job through Cornell on-campus recruiting system with the standard procedure of resume submission, on-campus interview and on-site final round. Vistaprint had created a great culture around data analytics and trained everyone to get really good at SQL and think about how to approach a wide set of problems ranging from improving manufacturing quality to executing marketing campaigns.
This data driven mindset is getting thrown around everywhere but it takes time to develop and a good balance of creativity and knowing when data is not telling the whole story. Going from analyzing business cards to analyzing Facebook’s games revenue is a pretty similar skill set so the interview process was difficult but no one ever questioned that the role would be a good fit or that I would be unqualified.
If you like making an impact, working with super smart people, making decisions based on data and live in an area of the country my sister calls “winter optional”, this may be for you.
What Do You Really Do?
My job is to have an impact on the bottom line. That largely means having a really good understanding of the data underlying Facebook games, finding the biggest levers that need improving and working with whoever is necessary, including designers and engineers, to make the key changes that will accelerate monetization growth. So on a daily basis, I am looking at dashboards to watch the key performance indicators or pulling data to determine where the team should focus on or brainstorming ideas for improving user engagement.
Internet marketing is a combination of Project Management, Product Management and Data Analytics. I can do whatever is necessary to grow the business by having a great understanding of the underlying metrics. I identify growth opportunities ranging from small iterative A/B tests to large scale strategy and ruthlessly prioritize what will truly make an impact on the bottom line.
Pros/Cons of Your Job
Here is a list of things I like about my job:
Scope (The level of scope and responsibility I have at such as junior position is amazing.), ability to make an impact, my voice/opinions are heard, the fast-paced environment, and genuine mission and leadership (the mission of Facebook is to make the world more open and connected. Actually focusing on a mission that will make the world a better place is deeply motivating and empowering).
Here are some downsides about my job:
Balance (there is so much fun stuff you could do any given time and it is actually harder for most people to not be working),
Size (with around 5,000 global employees, Facebook is certainly not a start-up if you were looking for one),
Commute (a one hour commute each way if you live in the city. Granted, Facebook has regular shuttles running all over the city that have wifi).
Tour My San Francisco Apartment:
Quick Stats on San Francisco, California
Competition for Housing: High
Housing Cost: High
Population of Young People: High
Nightlife: High
Safety: Medium
Biggest Industries: Technology, Finance
The Life of a College Grad In San Francisco, California
What's it Like to Live Here?
San Francisco is amazing! There are a bunch of different neighborhoods with their own unique qualities and they all seem to have incredible food. People are incredibly well educated and interested in trying new things. I came from Boston, which has a lot of charm and fun people, and this is a standard deviation upgrade. Between the nearly perfect weather, parks galore, day drinking, hiking opportunities, wine country and great job opportunities, it almost does not feel fair that you probably had to spend so much of your life somewhere else.
How Did I End Up Here?
I grew up in Westfield, New Jersey and went to Cornell University and studied Operations Research Engineering (2011). I moved to Boston after graduating for 1.5 years to work at Vistaprint and came to San Francisco (Mission district) in March of 2013 to pursue my dream job at Facebook.
My Set-Up
I currently live in a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment close to a lot of the really fun areas of the Mission being on 18th street but also east of Valencia (which is not ideal). I do have a one hour commute to Facebook each way. I didn't want to live in the South Bay like Menlo Park, CA and Mountain View, CA (that is generally classified as “boring” and “harder to meet people").
Closing Advice
Surround yourself with as smart of people as possible and keep in touch with them. The smarter people bit is obvious but I have too many friends that are surrounded with people at that simply do not care or allow themselves to get stuck in the politics. Make sure to try and find the best people and add some value for them. As Randy Pausch said, “Bring something to the table; it will make you more welcome.”
Keeping in touch is really hard and the sad news is most people are terrible at it. Figure out what works for you ( “Never eat lunch alone” has some good ideas on this) and stick to it because you will meet amazing people in college and I assure you they will fade slowly away unless you consistently reach out to them and keep that relationship alive. Seriously, I need a spreadsheet to keep myself honest on this. If you think of the word networking, you think of a schmoozer handing out business cards at a conference. In fact, it is all about genuine relationships and finding people you care about and who care about you. Networking is 1% meeting people and 99% growing and cultivating relationships.
