My path to a dream job at Uber

Written by Katie Tanimasa, Localization Program Manager

It’s easy to think of our career paths as if we are walking up a steady incline, each step just above the last, but career growth is more akin to a climbing wall than to a ladder. There are lots of different paths to take and ways to get there, and—as anyone who has actually been on a rock climbing wall can tell you—sometimes you have to take a step down and reevaluate your path. 

I know from personal experience, joining Uber in late 2018 and moving around internally in roles that continued to expand my scope, opportunities, and growth. Throughout my time here, whenever opportunities have arisen to step into the next role, I’ve been hesitant (hello imposter syndrome!), but always decided to jump at the opportunity instead of letting fear of failing or not being good enough keep me stagnant. 

My journey at Uber is a story of growth, chance, and optimism. And it all starts with taking a role I never even applied for.

An unexpected path to Uber

By 2018, I had been working on the vendor side in the Translation and Localization industry and was looking to make the jump to the tech world. “What is localization?”, you might ask. It involves adapting a product or content for a specific locale or market, which helps companies grow their global presence. This happens to fit perfectly with Uber’s Cultural Norm of building globally, acting locally, so I was attracted to the idea of joining Uber’s Localization team to help build on that global mindset.

After failing to get the full-time roles I applied for, I was contacted by a Recruiter who said I was a great candidate for a position in the Localization department as an external consultant. But it was a Project Coordinator role. I confided in the Recruiter that I was nervous about taking a position with a title I felt I had outgrown. I had been working as a Project Manager for a number of years, and felt I was ready to step into a more senior role from there. Assured it was a great opportunity and the first step towards learning how localization worked in the tech industry, I accepted—deciding that in order to grow in this new space, I needed to take a lateral step and head in a new direction.

I now know this move set me up for success in my next two roles at Uber. I was able to touch all aspects of the localization process end-to-end, learn the inner workings of our tools, and work with stakeholders I otherwise never would—from Engineers to Product Managers, sub-teams to vendor partners. Since the coordinator role is not specific to any one program, I got a taste of all our programs and lines of business, something very few can say. The experience gave me a solid foundation in the localization world at Uber and in tech and made me feel confident that I had the knowledge and experience to jump head-on into a Program Manager role.

Overcoming imposter syndrome 

Halfway through 2019, the role of Localization Program Manager for Community Operations became available. In order to temporarily backfill the role while looking for a permanent replacement, I was asked if I would take on the day-to-day responsibilities of the role alongside another Program Manager. I said yes and started learning what it meant to be in the role that I had applied for and not gotten months before. I knew this is what I wanted to do. 

I had only been at Uber for 7 months at this point, and because I was an external consultant and in a coordinator role, I was nervous about trying to convince the team that I was right for the role. I knew I could do it, but imposter syndrome was trying to convince me otherwise. I fought past those feelings of inadequacy. I got the interview and was converted to a full-time employee in August of that year. 

Whenever a chance presents itself to you to take on more responsibilities and learn new things in your career, don’t be afraid to say yes. It’s easy to feel like you don’t have the time, skills, or knowledge, but you will learn so much from it and it will lead you in important new directions. Had I not said yes when asked to help out temporarily, I wouldn’t have had the chance to show that I could handle the role full-time. 

Adding another new role; this time as a parent 

My first year as a full-time employee at Uber in my new role presented some interesting challenges. When I was officially hired in August 2019, I was almost 6 months pregnant. Luckily, I had been working on the program alongside another Program Manager since June, so I wasn’t completely new, but suddenly it was officially my program to run on my own. I had a number of important improvements that I had just started, and I wanted to keep that momentum going. That meant I had three months to get these initiatives moving in the right direction, hire and train a backfill for my maternity leave, and get everything squared away so she would be able to keep the ball rolling while I was gone. 

When I returned from four glorious months of leave with my son (thanks to Uber for the awesome leave benefits!), it was April 2020. Uber offices (and most of the country) were now in lockdown due to COVID-19 and I was returning to work virtually. Suddenly I had to figure out how to juggle working from home as a new parent with an infant. My husband was still going into the office at the time, and I took a lot of meetings with a sleeping baby on my lap and did my best to look presentable on Zoom calls even though I was only sleeping in 2-hour blocks at night.

That brings us to today. It’s been a year since I returned to work after leave and since we all tried our best to figure out how to juggle parenthood and WFH (and a myriad of other difficulties brought on by 2020). I’m still learning and trying to figure that out each day. I was exhausted and stressed out, unsure how I could possibly succeed in my career, let alone drive any sort of growth in this climate. I was just trying to make it through the day and work through the brain fog (hi mommy brain!) and was not focused on taking another step forward in my career when my manager approached me about taking on a new role. Once again, I was scared to say yes (our old friend imposter syndrome struck again), but I knew I wanted to take on this new challenge, so I said yes. 

Living my dream

2.5 years after saying yes to a role I was unsure about, and being presented with countless other opportunities to explore, I now have my dream role as the Program Manager for Rider Mobility Localization. Uber has grown significantly over the years, and I am managing the localization of all our Rider-facing products and services for users all over the world. It’s amazing to think that in less than 3 years I have found myself in this position, and I continue pinching myself every day.

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