卡尔·古尔盖今年23岁，毕业于纽约大学商学院，专业是计算和数据科学。古尔盖毕业后在Capgemini公司担任了一年的咨询师，后于2018年10月入职谷歌。他来自于新泽西州，目前生活在密歇根州的安阿伯市，在谷歌担任助理客户战略师。

下文为对古尔盖的采访。

助理客户战略师的岗位职责：

我帮助客户在谷歌上打广告建立业务。我的很多工作都是与已经在谷歌打过广告的人和公司合作。我需要和他们联系，建立关系，了解他们的业务目标。然后根据客户告诉我的内容，向他们介绍这些是我认为适合的工具，这些是我们下一步可以采取的动作。有时需要向客户介绍新的广告形式，把他们的广告投放在不同的位置，诸如此类。但总的来说，我的工作是将我们的广告工具和客户的业务目标联系起来，并使其发挥作用。

第一份工作做了一年后离开：

我注意到，在我同期毕业的同学中，很多人在两年内都离开了第一份工作。你在大学里做了很多事情来获得第一份工作，但这份工作并不一定是适合你的。但是在一两年内，你已经可以感觉到可能会有更好的机会。我当时希望从咨询岗位转岗至销售岗位，谷歌恰好在完美的时间向我抛出了橄榄枝。

日常工作：

我早上在7点到7点30分之间上班。每天要按照计划打5到8个电话，这些电话通常在半小时到一个小时之间。剩下的时间我会用来和不同的人联系，获得更多关于最好用工具和最佳实践做法的知识。下班时间在下午5点到6点之间。

工作中最好的事情：

我最喜欢的是与各个不同的行业合作。合作的行业形形色色，非常多样化。一些公司规模更大；他们想做一些非常酷的事情。还有一些公司，你之前甚至没有任何理由对它进行研究。但我认为最酷的部分是挑战。从[问题]中通过自己的思考想出办法，提出既能够让客户满意也可以让自己受益的方案，看着这个方案顺利通过是非常有成就感的。

工作中最艰难的部分：

适应变化。像其他大型科技公司一样，谷歌一直在变化。我只在这里呆了四五个月，但在这段时间里，公司已经改变了我们的主要客户关系管理系统，还调整了一堆工具。我刚刚换了第三次工位。我们本季度从谷歌营销解决方案变成了谷歌客户解决方案。有很多事情一直在变化，你的成功在很大程度上取决于适应变化的能力。

工资

我觉得还行。工资还可以，但真正拿到手的大头是奖金或因为业绩好得到的股权。最终这部分收益会对你的净资产产生更大的影响。而我在这里的时间还不长，还拿不到大量股权。我对现在的情况还算满意，但日后还有机会可以赚得更多。

公司文化：

这里的文化十分重视开放。在默认情况下，每个人的日程都是公开的。这意味着，我能够看到团队里其他成员的日程，看到他们约好了要和某家公司打电话，也许这个电话我可以旁听。或者看到这个人要参加某项培训，如果对我也有用的话，我也可以参加一下。这种做法有利于确保你可以和团队中的每个人以及其他所有人共享你掌握的知识信息。

最喜欢的工作福利：

我真的很喜欢在产品公开发行之前就尝试新产品。我可以测试谷歌地图的新功能和新内容。我很热衷于技术，所以能够看到我们的团队研发什么真的很有意思，哪怕研发内容还没有真正完工。我还喜欢公司提供的免费按摩。

导师：

我有几个导师。这里有一个，芝加哥有一个，西雅图有一个。一个是公司指派的，另外两个是我通过其他项目找到的。其中一位导师在这个岗位至少已经做了几个季度了，所以他的职责是帮助我适应岗位。一位是Black Googler Network的导师，她更多的是帮助我从整体上适应谷歌公司。西雅图的那位导师更多的是为我的整体职业生涯[谷歌之外的]以及我的未来计划提供指导。他们经历过你所经历的一切，能够很快地告诉你应该怎么做，他们的存在对我非常有帮助。

谷歌的层级：

有很多层级。大家都不需要向很多人进行直接报告。我向经理报告，他/她向主管报告，他/她向总经理报告，他/她向谷歌客户解决方案美洲区副总裁报告，他/她向谷歌客户解决方案副总裁报告，他/她向高级副总裁兼首席商务官报告，后者向首席执行官报告。

居住状况：

我有一个最近从密歇根[大学]毕业的室友。我们住的是一间两居室的公寓，位于市中心。我每月支付800美元，但我觉得相对于我住的地方而言，这个价格还是比较便宜的。[我周围]很多人要付1200到1500美元。安阿伯的租金整体而言比较贵。

在新城市交友：

公司的人真的很友好，我们经常一起逛。除此之外，就只是出去走走，参加不同的活动，听说有什么活动就去参加，就是表现友好一些，多参与社交。

谷歌的搬家津贴：

搬家对我而言就是一个行李箱的事。所以我真的不需要太多帮助。我最后把我的搬家津贴都取出来了。公司提出要帮我找个住处，但我自己找到了。

在家工作：

在销售团队中，我们把本月的第一个和第三个星期五定为Flex Fridays，也就是说当天你可以选择在任何地方工作。在这个方面，一些经理更宽松，一些经理更严格。

毕业后的职业规划：

在不断变化。我一开始想当精算师。后来我想进入教育领域作一名管理者，这就是我曾经在学校工作以及参与Teach for America项目的原因。但后来我意识到我没有那么喜欢和小孩在一起。后来我对市场营销更感兴趣，之后我又对市场营销失去了兴趣，想做产品管理。但我又想留在技术领域。我想找到处于商业和科技交界处的工作。即使现在我做的是销售，我仍然觉得我的工作位于合作企业和人工智能的交界点。所以我看到了自己会在一家科技公司发展，但担任什么角色发生了变化。

冒名顶替综合症：

我选择无视它。每走一步，总有一些理由让你怀疑自己。我学到的一件事是，你之所以处在你现在的位置，总是有原因的。

下步计划：

谷歌非常好，没有任何理由离开。任何你想要拥有的好工作这里肯定都有，而且这有很多资源。这是一家很适合工作的公司。说到下步计划，还非常不明了。我可以继续从事销售，但可以去公司的其他部门，也可以在公司的某个产品领域（如YouTube）从事技术要求更高的岗位。大多数我这个岗位的人都会做一到三年再换岗。

长期目标：

我想继续做我现在正在做的事情，也就是待在商业和技术的边界。自动化确实改变了很多行业。我觉得很多工作都会消失。眼下，其中一件有价值的工作是能够吸收利用非常复杂的东西，让它适用于其他人，成为对其他人有价值的东西。

给18岁的自己的建议：

你不必一定要走传统的道路。只要一直采取正确的步骤前进就可以。在前进的路上学习有价值的技能。然后找到能够引导你前行的方向。（财富中文网）

译者：Agatha

Karl Gourgue is a 23-year-old graduate of New York University’s business school with concentrations in computing and data science. Gourgue was a consultant for a year at Capgemini after graduation, and was recruited by Google in October 2018. He hails from New Jersey and now lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan for his job as an associate account strategist at Google.

Here’s what Gourgue has to say about…

What an associate account strategist does:

I help people advertise on Google to build their businesses. A lot of my job is being assigned to work with an account—people and companies that already advertise with us. You make contact with them, build a relationship, get a sense of their business goals. And then being able to say, based on what you’re telling me, these are the tools that I think are appropriate, these are the next steps that we can take. Sometimes it means introducing them to new forms of advertising, putting their ads in different places, things like that. But in general, it’s just tying our advertising tools to the business goals, and making it work.

On leaving his first job after a year:

One thing that I’ve noticed in a lot of people that I graduated with is a lot of people leave their first job within two years. You do a lot in college to get that first job and then it doesn’t always end up being right. But within a year or two, you can already sense that there could be better opportunities. I was looking to transition into more of a sales role from consulting, and Google happened to reach out at the perfect time.

His daily grind:

I get in between 7:00 a.m and 7:30 a.m. Then I have five to eight scheduled calls a day, which are half an hour to an hour long. The rest of the day would be reaching out to people and getting more educated on the best tools and practices. Then I leave between 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.

The best thing about his job:

My favorite thing is working with a variety of different businesses. It’s extremely, extremely varied. Some companies are on a bigger scale; they’re poised to do some really cool things. Then there are other companies you’ve had no reason to ever even research. But I think the cool part is the challenge. Thinking your way out of [a problem] and coming up with something that makes sense for them and makes sense for you, and just being able to see that through is very satisfying.

The hardest part of his job:

Adapting to change. Like other big tech companies, Google changes all the time. I’ve only been here four or five months, but in that time they’ve already changed our main customer relationship management system and moved a bunch of our tools around. And I just moved my desk for the third time. We went from Google Marketing Solutions to Google Customer Solutions this quarter. It’s a lot of different things changing all the time, and a lot of your success is based on your ability to roll with it.

His salary:

I’m comfortable. The salary is fine, but the real money is made via the bonuses, or the equity that you get as a result of your performance. That has a much bigger effect on your net worth at the end of the day. And I haven’t been here long enough to receive big equity. I’m comfortable where I am, but there’s potential to make a lot more down the line.

Workplace culture:

There’s a big culture of openness. Everybody’s calendar is public by default. That means being able to look at my teammates’ calendars and see they have a scheduled call with a certain company, maybe I can go sit in. Or this other person is going to this training, maybe it would be good for me to go to it as well. It helps make sure that the knowledge that you have is shared by everyone on your team and everyone else.

His favorite work perks:

I really like being able to try things before they’re released to the public. I get to test out new features on Google Maps and stuff. I’m big into tech, so it’s always really fun to be able to see what our teams are working on, even when like they’re not working fully yet. And I love the free massages.

His mentors:

I have several. I have one in this office, one in Chicago, and one in Seattle. One is company imposed, two I sought out through other programs. One has been in this role for at least a few quarters, that’s there to help adjust to the role itself. One is a Black Googler Network mentor, and she’s more about adjusting to Google overall. And the one in Seattle is more about my career overall [outside of Google] and what steps I want to take in the future. Being able to go to someone who’s seen it all before, who can just like really quickly tell you what to do is pretty helpful.

Google’s hierarchy:

There are a lot of levels. Nobody’s supposed to have that many direct reports. So I report to a manager, who reports to a director, who reports to a managing director, who reports to the vice president of the Americas of Google Customer Solutions, who reports to the vice president of Google Customer Solutions, who reports to the senior vice president and chief business officer, who reports to the CEO.

His living situation:

I have one roommate who graduated from Michigan [University] recently. It’s a two bedroom apartment, downtown-ish. I pay $800 a month, but I think for where I live it’s kind of cheap. A lot of people [around me] pay like $1,200 to $1,500. Ann Arbor’s kind of expensive overall.

Making friends in a new city:

People at work are really friendly and into hanging out. Outside of that, it’s just been getting out, going to different events, hearing about things and going to them, just being friendly and social.

Relocation on Google’s dime:

Relocation to me was like one suitcase. So I didn’t really need a lot of help. I ended up cashing out my relocation stipend. And they offered to help me find a place but I found it on my own.

Working from home:

On the sales team, we have first and third Fridays of the month as Flex Fridays, so you can work from anywhere. Some managers are more lenient about it, some managers are stricter.

Where he saw himself after college:

It changed constantly. I wanted to be an actuary. Then I wanted to go into education to become a superintendent, which is why I was working at schools and why I did Teach for America. But then I realized I didn’t really like working with kids that much. Then I was more interested in marketing in general, and then I fell out of marketing and wanted to do product management. From product management, I wanted to stay in the tech realm. I wanted to find something that was more like on the border between business and tech. Even now in a sales role, I still feel like I’m just kind of sitting on the border between businesses that I work with and all this artificial intelligence. So I saw myself at a tech company but what role I would take changed.

Impostor Syndrome:

I ignore it. Every step of the way, there are always reasons to doubt yourself. One thing I’ve learned is you’re where you are for a reason.

What’s next:

Google is really good because there’s no reason to leave. Any good job that you might want is definitely available here and there’s a lot of resources. It’s just a good company to work at. In terms of where next, it’s still incredibly unclear. I could stay in sales but go to a different part of the company, or go into a more tech-focused role on one of our specific products like YouTube. Most people stay in my role for one to three years before moving on.

His long-term goals:

I want to continue doing what I’m doing now, which is to sit on the border of business and technology. Automation has really transformed a lot of industries. I feel like a lot of jobs are going away. One of the valuable things right now is being able to take what is like incredibly complex and make it applicable and valuable to other people.

Advice to his 18-year-old self:

You don’t have to take the traditional path. It’s okay to like just keep taking steps forward as is appropriate. Pick up valuable skills along the way. Then figure out where that leads you.