FOLLOWING HIS PASSION
U of A computer dropout turned his app-building skills into role on ground floor of Airbnb, Gordon Kent writes.
Former University of Alberta computer engineering student Andrew Vilcsak took a break from school in 2010 and wound up as one of online lodging giant Airbnb’s first employees.
Vilcsak, 25, grew up in
St. Albert, but has worked for the short-term property rental platform in San Francisco after leaving university following his second year because his courses didn’t have enough real-world applications.
He’s in Edmonton this weekend as the keynote speaker at Saturday’s Student DevCon 2017, a conference designed to help young people improve development skills and prepare for jobs in the technology sector.
The Journal caught up with Vilcsak shortly after he landed Friday.
Once you arrived in San Francisco with a short-term work visa, how did you get a job with Airbnb?
I literally hadn’t arranged anything. I ended up talking to 30 companies … and got 14 offers to work for the summer as an intern. I did all that in two weeks. I had done a bunch of work making iPhone apps … so I had a bunch of experience in this area that nobody else did.
The company now has approximately 3,000 staff, but you were about the 10th person hired. What attracted you to the firm?
They were working out of the co-founders’ living room. As the company had grown, they kicked the roommates out of the threebedroom apartment they were living in.
I didn’t know how to judge a technology company, about the best place to work. I just knew the passion of the people. That’s why I chose Airbnb … People were working 16 to 18 hours a day. There was no work-life balance. It was only work.
Following a three-month internship in which you built their iPhone app, the company — and investors such as actor Ashton Kutcher — said you should stay and drop out of university, which you did, building other apps and leading their mobile team. For the last year, you’ve been in charge of the company’s humanitarian efforts, including the highprofile We Accept ad in February’s Super Bowl seen as a dig at U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration restrictions. What was the message?
It was basically our statement of values for the company. We want to accept people regardless of race or sexual orientation or whatever … You could choose to donate your space to people that needed a place to stay. We specifically aimed it at people who were refugees … Sixteen thousand people (internationally) offered to donate their space.
How has Edmonton’s tech sector changed since you moved away?
In 2010, there was almost no startup community in Edmonton. There weren’t people who shared my interest … I think largely because of (Edmonton Economic Development Corp.’s) Startup Edmonton, there’s a completely different community here now.
If I was in the situation in 2010 today, I think I would have a much easier time finding a company here.
What should students do if they face a decision similar to yours seven years ago?
Nobody was in support of the thing I was doing. It came down to not being afraid to follow your heart.
I didn’t know how to judge a technology company, about the best place to work. I just knew the passion of the people.