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
See more careers and stories that connect to your interests.
Take Roadmap Quiz
Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Advice for getting started
Surround yourself with people who can motivate, advise, guide, and support you. You'll lean on that support system multiple times throughout your life, from school to career.
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.