12,370 km (Slovakia - Hawaii). How I got an internship and a lifetime chance

My success story, like many others, begins with failure

I was 16 when I had a dream to attend high school in California. For a guy from Slovakia (Central Europe), this was a wonderful perspective. I was looking for opportunities, but none of the options aroused my enthusiasm. I could pay about 10 thousand dollars (which exceeds the average annual salary in Slovakia) to the agency, but none of them could give me a guarantee that I would end up in California.

I knew that everything could be done much better, so I created a simple page called “Host Me In California”. With the help of the site, I wanted to find a family ready to provide me with hospitality and accommodate me in my next school year in California. In search of a response, I sent a link to my page to several friends, and by the time I went to the shower, a friend of mine had already passed it to someone else. So the first article about my site was published online. And that was just the beginning.

Another friend of mine made a post about a site on YC Hacker News with the title: "This 16-year-old guy from Eastern Europe has a better promo page than you do." The site quickly gained popularity, then it all started. Paul Graham (Paul Graham) believed that the original name was misleading, and gave the post the name "Host me in California", borrowing it from my page. After that, he wrote a message to my friend: “Do not rename your post!”
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In just one night, my site was viewed by 30 thousand people, put more than 800 likes, and about 300 wrote tweets about it. He attracted immense media attention all over the world, and was told about him by a national television station [Slovakia]. I received many messages from people in California with offers to accept me, and from all this my brains began to explode. I was young and made a lot of mistakes.

Mistake number 1: Of all the suggestions I received, I chose a family from the Bay Area of ​​San Francisco. Husband - entrepreneur, wife - director of a startup. It seemed that they were enthusiastic and glad to receive me next year. We talked about which school I could attend, discussed a lot of things I could learn, how I would go to study every morning ...

And then suddenly they just changed their minds and told me that it would be better for me to come to the USA to study at the university. It was just when it remained only to deal with paperwork, insurance and a visa. And I gave up.

Mistake number 2: I broke the connection with other families, while talking with the one whose proposal seemed to me the best. I realized that it was better not to rush and not to do anything temper, and it would be better to wait for the final agreement and the settlement of all issues. This decision does not completely eliminate the risk, but, nevertheless, this approach now looks more organized, although it would require more effort on my part.

"Shelter me in California." Second round: Internship

Now, when I was 19 years old, I was thinking about how to use the most productively 4 months before the start of my studies at the university. I consulted with a very good friend who is currently working in Los Angeles, and he said to me: “Make an awesome resume. I will send it to several people. ”

I tried to make an awesome resume, and after discussing it with another friend, we came to the conclusion that I need to create a website (because no one else reads CV). I decided not to give up and try again to fulfill my dream. I immediately took up the design of the site. A week later he was ready .

I placed it under my old domain, although this time I did not limit myself to only California, but was open to new experiences in different parts of the world. I again sent a link to my website to YC Hacker News and went to the assembly hall for a rehearsal of some event, hoping that someone would appreciate my efforts and help me.

To my return, the site became popular again! Again a lot of users showed interest. 30 thousand visitors in one day. The active participation of social media. 150 letters with suggestions, compliments and useful information. Even the son of our president (Slovakia - approx. Translator) shared my website and appreciated my approach.



I answered all the letters, asked for payment during the internship and eventually chose 15 great offers from all over the world: Berlin, Boston, San Francisco, Spain, the Netherlands, India, Kuala Lumpur, Italy ... I was so excited about what opportunities are opening up this summer for me that I missed classes to talk on the phone with a guy from New Zealand in the school corridor instead.

Each proposal was remarkable, which made this decision one of the most difficult in my life. Everyone offered a good salary, free accommodation, flights and a lot of extra buns! I was shocked, but I had to think about what I would like to do in the future and what I would like to learn.

Most of all I was surprised by the answers of the companies I refused - until now they were happy for me and offered their help if I change my mind.

After I accepted one of the suggestions, I gathered a small group of my big-headed friends and shared with them the possibilities I had chosen. As a result of this, I was able to help my future university friend be on an internship in Lisbon, Portugal.

I decided to accept an offer from a guy from Hawaii. He is the “famous” (the person who helped me polish this post, insisted on quotes) an Internet entrepreneur who founded several companies, went through Y Combinator , was a leader and investor for many startups, founded several non-profit organizations, and now decided to settle in his hometown in Hawaii. In addition to business success, he had a wonderful family with two adorable children. And this is all in 30 years! For me, he meant more than a summer boss — he was a role model. My goal was to learn the way to go from the initial business idea and the launch of the company to the finished product in the hands of the end user. Therefore, I refused offers with more (two or three times) payment to spend the summer, working alongside this person and finding out how startups work in the United States.

As one wise man said to me:

“It is easy to offer benefits. You can easily offer good salaries, nowadays money is cheap. If this is your goal, then you will have many options. But companies with a true sense of purpose and the will to achieve it, with a real team of professionals who are experienced, committed and still young, are a real rarity. ”

That is why I put training above money.

After the bitter experience of my previous defeat, which happened at the very last moment, I was a little worried, since I still hadn’t talked on the phone with my new leader, and he said that transferring money to pay for the flight would take several days. Waiting for the transfer, I was already beginning to lose hope, but immediately perk up when in the morning I was awakened by the signal of the incoming message informing me that I had received the money.

I booked a ticket, and my dream became a reality.



I planned to spend two days in Silicon Valley to see the main offices of some famous startups and meet interesting people. Then, after the flight, which lasted "only" for 15 hours, I arrived on the island of Hawaii. I live in a small town called Waimea with a population of about 13 thousand people. My apartment is located in the same building as the office where I was provided with a good desktop with a new large display. Now I work hard day and night on designing user behavior scripts and creating a mobile application. And between the long hours of work, I go to heaven in search of adventure.

It was not easy for me to leave all that I had in Slovakia - family, girl and friends - and to start from scratch across the ocean. Just achieve your goals with a passion for learning and the hope that they are worth the effort. My boss has become my good friend. He teaches me all the time how to work with money and understand what is happening. He helps me figure out which solutions make sense and which do not. I am always amazed at the speed with which he can give valuable comments and comments on each stage of product development, look at things from a new perspective, see the most important thing.



He also urges me to quit college and start my own business. Let's see if I will be ready for a similar step in my life at the end of this summer. Even if I do not decide on this, my website Host me in CA brought me several other offers from the most eccentric companies of Prague — the city where I decided to start studying after unsuccessful interviews for admission to the Faculty of Computer Science at the University of Cambridge.

Success is not the most important thing in life, and everything happens for a reason. In any case, I am waiting for another great opportunity to learn something new, and I can not wait to start!