{"id":5542,"date":"2013-10-22T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-10-22T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/creator\/?p=2762"},"modified":"2020-03-30T19:12:00","modified_gmt":"2020-03-30T23:12:00","slug":"interview-erik-martin-reddit-real-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/interview-erik-martin-reddit-real-job","title":{"rendered":"I saw behind the curtain, and knew I could never have a \u2018real job\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do What You Love is a new series that showcases the entrepreneurs behind emerging companies. For our second edition, we sat down with Erik Martin<\/a>, the general manager of Reddit<\/a> \u2014 here\u2019s what he shared:<\/p>\n

\"erik-martin-of-reddit-2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Out of college I worked in the music industry<\/b>. From starting a new label to working for a bunch of startups in the first dot com wave. I was also a filmmaker, making documentary films.\u00a0About the time I moved up to New York, I applied to do a documentary on Y Combinator<\/a>. While they said no, I wanted to see where it would go. And when Reddit came out I was super hooked \u2014 it was this great site where every step you took could be a rabbit hole. [Later] they hired me as community manager for $14 an hour, and I consulted on the side so I could do something I loved \u00a0\u2014 that was 5 years ago.<\/p>\n

My dad was sort of a mad scientist \/ entrepreneur<\/b>, and when I was a kid we had 7 people working in our living room. I just thought that was normal. They had this company and they were trying to invent this thing that burned wood more efficiently.\u00a0It was a little like Primer, but in the woods.\u00a0They had a couple different startups \u2014 that wasn’t really what you called it back then.<\/p>\n

I had seen behind the curtain, and knew I could never have a\u00a0 “real job”<\/b> where I was working for a big company. It’s not in my blood. I’ve always been attracted to startups and smaller companies.<\/p>\n

When it comes to engineers, developers and other technical people,\u00a0some of them think they are rational, but nobody’s rational<\/b>.\u00a0My dad’s an engineer and he gave me one of the best pieces of advice about working with engineers that I use all the time.\u00a0We’re all irrational, illogical human beings.<\/p>\n

\"reddit\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For 99% of companies, the biggest impact on the world you’re going to make is the impact you have on the 5 to 8 people working for you<\/b>. That’s the way you’re going to make your mark, unless you’re Google. People forget that.<\/p>\n

You have a chance to make an impact every day, but it’s on the people in your office, and not always the ether of the world out there that everyone talks about.<\/p>\n

\"DWYL-Footer\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Check out Do What You Love #1:\u00a0Once you\u2019re an entrepreneur, it\u2019s hard to go back<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do What You Love is a new series that showcases the entrepreneurs behind emerging companies. For our second edition, we sat down with Erik Martin, the general manager of Reddit \u2014 here\u2019s what he shared: Out of college I worked in the music industry. 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