Steven Gerstner
VP, Technology
Centersky
Irvine, CA USA
“People that are rude or mean shouldn't be your focus. People that look out for you and help you are the ones to stick with.”
Milestones
My road in life took a while to figure out.
Graduated high school
Went to music school in Hollywood.
Left Hollywood—don't recommend living up there at 18.
Friend helped me get a temp job at a real estate investment company.
A department manager liked my work ethic and offered me a full time job. I took it.
After some time, that department was over-staffed and down sizing—two other departments want me to work for them. I began splitting time between those two, one being technology.
Moved form that company to another.
Started current business with same technology job boss.
Keep following my journey
Education
High School
Irvine High School
Irvine High School
Certification/License
Certified Administrator
Salesforce
Certified Administrator
Salesforce
Career
VP, Technology
Customized SalesForce software solutions for financial service industry.
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Technology
Business
Accomplishing Goals
Day to Day
I work remotely at home and get calls from time to time. Most of my work simply consists of just programming as well as non-code UI / UX modifications to improve the daily lives of users.
Advice for Getting Started
Here's the first step for everyone
I recommend pursuing a degree, but there's a plethora of options to improve at programming outside of college that pursuing this career without college is very doable.
Recommended Education
My career is not related to what I studied. I'd recommend this path instead:
Bachelor
Business or Technology related course of study
Business or Technology related course of study
Hurdles
The Noise I Shed
From Peers:
"Since I didn't go to school for this, my path was all on-the-job training. Fortunately, that was all with great leadership, so anything I ever received was constructive criticism and guidance."
Challenges I Overcame
Career Change
Q&A
Did you always know you wanted to do programming?
Asked by Aidan at Roadtrip NationNo. I was originally in an art program and started to realize that it wasn't really working out for me, so I instead tried programming. Overtime I guess things just managed to work out.
Do you like your job?
Asked by Aidan at Roadtrip NationYes. It's entirely remote, has good pay, and considering I've been working here for about 16 years, I've never really had points were I genuinely hated my job.
Did you ever second guess you career choice?
Asked by Aidan at Roadtrip NationYes. Again, I originally wasn't even planning on doing anything programming or technology related but as time went on, I began to grow an interest in programming, and I luckily landed a job at a very successful company.
What are your recommendations for getting into programming jobs?
Asked by Aidan at Roadtrip NationDefinitely try and get a college degree of some sort in it. I think majoring in a programming in college could definitely make it easier than it was on me.
How does it work at your job? Do you work remotely or go into an office?
Asked by Aidan at Roadtrip NationWe do have an office. But I typically get calls from time to time and work entirely remotely, even before covid happened I was still working remotely. Although, some days can be a little more stressful than others.
Interviewed By
Aidan
at Roadtrip Nation
