As posted on Wellesley Underground

I started my education at Wellesley College with ambitious plans to be the next Cokie Roberts, or perhaps even Barbara Walters!  At Wellesley we all seemed to mold our careers in the footsteps of a select few famous alumnae and those ended up being my selections.  Despite offering a complete liberal arts education, it often seemed like your (successful and ambitious) career options were depressingly scarce.  Most of my classmates seemed to lean towards Hillary or Madeline and immediately moved to Washington, D.C. soon after graduating.  Me? Right after graduating I was still bent on becoming a renowned journalist and so I uprooted myself and moved to New York City with A Plan.

But, I soon found myself not liking The Plan.  I didn’t like my job as a junior reporter, I didn’t like my work environment, and my extracurriculars didn’t provide adequate distraction.  And so I decided to change course.  A friend (an Olin graduate, interesting enough) referred me and helped me get my first job in tech at a company called HubSpot.  I started as a Support Engineer and helped provide customer phone support on the HubSpot product.  

And while this wasn’t exactly using my Sociology degree, I would say that Wellesley prepared me to adapt to anything thrown my way.  I could tell you that it was my experience serving as Tech Director of WZLY or that the single Computer Science course that I took while at Wellesley was what set me up for success.  But honestly, I think it’s something more nebulous than that.  Because while those things look good on paper, they don’t really do anything for you in an interview.  Instead, I’d stay it was the implicit sense of confidence and the excitement to learn that Wellesley instilled in me from the very beginning.

In fact, that’s the very reason I decided to attend Wellesley in the first place!  As a senior in high school, half of my college applications were to women’s colleges.  As a young woman in central Texas, a lot of my classmates didn’t understand why I would want to go to a single-sex institution.  Male classmates would tease, “You’re going to become a lesbian!” and even some teachers would say, “I just don’t know if the culture is a good fit for you,” or “But what about your boyfriend?”

Deep down, I knew that I was going to a single-sex environment because I wanted a college that would leave a lasting imprint on my identity - a place that would instill a sense of confidence and drive in me that, quite frankly, no co-ed institution seemed to offer.  State schools seemed too “bro-y” to me and the Ivy Leagues were too pretentious.  I wanted the first class institution, but I wanted it to inspire me.  Wellesley did just that.

But I digress.  Wellesley left me with that intangible “something” that helped me nail it in interviews, that gave me the drive to pursue what I thought was important, and to speak up for what was on my mind.  My job at HubSpot allowed me to take all of the drive that Wellesley instilled in me, and take it down a notch in my first entry-level job.  I built myself over again from the ground up, this time learning the ins and outs of a software product.  By the end of my career at HubSpot, I felt that I had added a critical component of practical experience to my repertoire, and a new direction for my career plan.  Truth be told though, I still don’t have a real 5 Year Plan (it’s more like 3 years).

Today, I’m very proud to say that I am I Community Operations Manager at Uber, and I would be remiss if I didn’t thank both Wellesley and HubSpot for that.  I have found myself challenged and working as hard as I possibly can - but I LOVE it and I’m excited each and every day that I go in to work.  I know that I’m having an actionable impact on the world around me, and I enjoy that sense of purpose that my career gives me.

And by the way, let’s ditch the 5 Year Plans.  Who even follows those, anyway?  The beauty of a liberal arts education and especially a liberal arts education at Wellesley is that it empowers you to do WHATEVER YOU WANT.  We shouldn’t graduate and already feel boxed into a career path.  We should graduate and feel inspired to disrupt the world.  The Tech industry in particular is a growing, disruptive way to have an actionable impact on the world around you.  Wellesley alumnae in particular are remarkable candidates for positions in tech because we are excellent communicators, eager to learn, well-rounded in a multitude of topics, deadline-oriented, oh, and we all want to rule (or change) the world.  If that doesn’t incentivize you to consider a career in tech I’ll leave you with this - the tech industry is currently 85% male.  Now let’s get out there and do something about that!

Karin (like “car insurance”) Robinson ‘12 is a Community Operations Manager at Uber and a former Sociology major and radio show host at Wellesley College.  In her free time, she likes eating sandwiches and completing the occasional triathlon.  She’d also like to let you know that Uber is hiring!  For any job opportunities, please contact her at karin@uber.com.