She was Google’s youngest employee at 19
While most 19-year-olds usually start small for their first jobs to get their feet wet, Silicon Valley native Falon Fatemi went straight to the top and started at Google.
In 2005, Fatemi quickly turned her internship into a full-time position as a financial analyst for the company’s global strategic partnerships while also completing her degree on her offhours.
At the time, she was the company’s youngest employee.
Now, at the age of 31, Fatemi, who left the media giant after six years, is looking to create a search giant of her own using artificial intelligence. Her company, Node, launched in 2015 with backers including Mark Cuban, Avalon Ventures and Canaan Partners.
Fatemi still credits Google for instilling in her key lessons for success.
Here are three things she say helped propel her to the top.
1. Find good mentors “One thing I did at Google was spend a lot time meeting with people that I was really inspired by,” she says. “I really wanted to understand their paths to getting where they got. For example, my first boss at Google, I still call him today and he is an adviser to my company.”
2. Do the job you want
“Do the job that you want and go above and beyond the job that you have,” Fatemi says. “I think most people who want a promotion, it is really important that you go above and beyond and really demonstrate that you can do that.”
3. Be proactive
“A lot of what makes someone successful in a company like Google is not just doing what you’re told but thinking about other ideas on how you can benefit the business or benefit your team,” she says. “Some of the best ideas at Google were really from employees who were interested in a particular problem that they thought the company had and wanted to solve it, and it turned into a million-dollar product line.”