GHP #42 - Breaking Into Startups, Career Karma, & Helping One Billion People with Ruben Harris!

Episode 42 is with Ruben Harris, Co-Founder & CEO of Career Karma!

Career Karma is the easiest way to find a job training program online, matching people with the right coding bootcamp and supporting them throughout their careers. With over 150,000 members, 9,000 bootcamps and trade schools, Career Karma is on a mission to help 1 billion people.

Ruben is a Bay Area transplant from Atlanta, Georgia who switched from investment banking to tech after writing a viral blog post called Breaking Into Startups about how he moved to San Francisco without a job and landed a position 3 weeks later. Due to popular demand, he then co-founded the Breaking Into Startups Podcast to demystify the process and went on to build Career Karma with Artur and Timur Meyster.

We talk to Ruben about his journey through professional and personal development. He details the Y Combinator experience, how to build a community, and explains the importance of mastering your own psychology. This was an insight-packed conversation that we hope you enjoy!

Timestamps
 2:20 - Life-long learning & the future of education
 7:50 - Limiting mindsets in minority/oppressed communities
11:05 - Importance of Mentorship
15:13 - Ruben’s career journey from school, to investment banking, to tech
21:00 - How to build a community: Blue zones, “Moai”, and positivity
28:17 - Parties in Atlanta & Celebrity Marketing
31:35 - The future of Career Karma
34:00 - The Y Combinator Experience
40:51 - Lessons from Y Combinator
46:38 - How to build a strategic vision
51:30 - Self-Confidence & Imposter Syndrome
57:10 - Lightning Round