Chris Reilly
Tesla
Sparks, NV USA
"Be driven and self-motivated, but also have that lens of curiosity. If you’re incredibly driven and you’re constantly asking those questions, then you’re going to learn faster than others, make a difference faster, and end up doing more."
Career Roadmap
Chris's work combines: Business, Education, and Working with Others
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Advice for getting started
Instead of thinking about where you need to apply or what choices you need to make to get to a certain point, think about your values and how you want to spend your time. If I went back in time and looked at where I am now, this isn’t a course that I could have easily charted. Life is about building your story and having unique experiences that will end up defining where you go next. If I had known that, I probably would have worried less about planning out my road when I was younger.
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Business/Commerce, General
University of Southern California
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life took a while to figure out
1.
My family moved around a lot while I was growing up—being the new kid multiple times helped train me to be comfortable adapting to new environments.
2.
Before college, I worked in retail at the Apple store, which led to a finance internship a few years later.
3.
I got my bachelor's degree in business, knowing early on that I wanted to start my career somewhere in finance and then move into program management and development.
4.
After graduating, I started my career as a financial analyst in a rotational program, where I'd learn a different area of Apple every three months—I was most interested in retail merchandising.
5.
While working for Apple, I lived in China for a few years and saw the effects of pollution first-hand, which got me thinking about accelerating our transition to sustainable energy.
6.
When I came back, I worked as a program manager, handling programs from ideation to life—the position gave me the experience and skill set needed to take on a new role in workforce development.
7.
I’ve always been really passionate about Tesla’s mission, watching the future of transportation and energy before I even started with the company full-time.
8.
Moving from San Francisco to northern Nevada for the role, I now work as the workforce development and education lead at Tesla, facilitating partnerships with our local educational institutions.
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Myself:
I need to have things charted out in order to get to where I want to be.
How I responded:
Instead of thinking about where you need to apply or what choices you need to make to get to a certain point, think about your values and how you want to spend your time. If I went back in time and looked at where I am now, this isn’t a course that I could have easily charted. Life is about building your story and having unique experiences that will end up defining where you go next. If I had known that, I probably would have worried less about planning out my road when I was younger.
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
My family moved around a lot when I was growing up, so I had to overcome the uncomfortable feeling of being the new kid in school multiple times. The experience helped me learn how to adapt to new environments.
Because my family moved a lot, I had to start over in different schools with different curricula. It meant I had to put in effort to catch up and get back to the level I'd be at had I not changed schools.