Chapter Six

My alarm clock rang– 5:30 AM. Four days prior, I had lost the second summer intern challenge. The prize this time? A whole day shadowing Salazar. I wasn’t ready for this one; it was no test of being observant, but rather of real skill.

The day started like any other day: I reported to the Dreamatorium and began my morning routine. Only a half hour into the day, all of the interns were paged and told to report to the breakroom. There Salazar was waiting for us. He explained that it was time for the second intern challenge. For this challenge, each intern was assigned six different tasks to be completed by the end of the day. It was simple enough: the first one to finish all six tasks got to spend the entire next day with Salazar.

The trick to the tasks, was that they were all composed of the daily tasks performed by other interns. For example, any intern assigned to the Dreamatorium, had to test for any short circuits (which there were) and rewire a patient’s headset back to the monitor board.

I was first assigned to the structural mechanics lab. My job was to test different mass loads on a cantilever beam and to calculate the strain in the steel. I laughed– basic statics. I was sure I was going to win yet another challenge. I flew through the mechanics lab and made my way to the chemistry lab. One of the hardest parts about the challenge wasn’t simply completing all of the tasks, but just the difficulty in navigating around the building was exhausting enough. The Cube of Atlas Laboratories was so colossal in size that I spent a half an hour alone just trying to find the chemistry department.

I eventually found it– two stories below ground which required a key swipe for access. I tracked down a woman in a white lab coat walking in the hall and begged for access. I must have seemed like a mad man seeing the way that I ran towards her, but for some reason my explanation was good enough to let me in the room.

Inside were rows and rows of black lab tables, each with a few beakers on them. At the end of the rows was a larger beaker with a deflated balloon tied around the top. The chemist that ran the lab explained to me that the task was easy enough: create an acid/base reaction large enough to inflate the balloon until it pops. The trick though, was the beaker was already filled with a superacid. I didn’t know what a superacid was– apart from deducing that the liquid was very acidic– but the chemist explained to me that a superacid had a pH value of -18. What this meant is that my childhood education had failed me, as I would have died on the hill that claimed the pH scale was from 0-14.

The chemist further explained the risk: given that the one liquid in the beaker was a superacid, if it was to be mixed with a superbase the chemical reaction would result in an explosion big enough to evacuate the entire Cube. The unmarked beakers consisted of different acids with bottles of unmarked powdered bases. Using these, I had to find a base strong enough to inflate the balloon, but weak enough to not destroy an entire concrete building.

My first instinct was to systematically test the unmarked acids and bases against each other, narrowing down the strong from the weak. I counted all of the beakers and bottles and found that there were twenty of each; process of elimination would take forever. At the same time, I couldn’t risk mixing a superbase with the superacid. I decided to go with a hybrid approach.

I selected one of the acidic beakers as an arbitrary control unit. I then collected empty beakers and placed in them five different bases at random. I lined these up on one of the lab tables and prepared to pour a small amount of acid into each beaker. Whichever produced the smallest reaction I would immediately add to the final beaker with the balloon. I was operating under the assumption that any base, no matter how small, when mixed with a superacid would create a large enough reaction to inflate a balloon.

With my lab goggles on, I poured the acid into the first base. Nothing happened. At first I thought that the “acid” I had chosen was just liquid water. I decided to try it on another base. I started with a few drops and saw some bubbles forming. I looked into the beaker as I poured more acid into the base. Immediately the reaction shot all of the contents up and out the beaker and onto my face and goggles. Underneath the powder, my face must have been red with embarrassment and I could see the chemist turn his back to me suppressing a smile. Admittedly, I should have known better to put my entire face inches away from a chemical reaction so I headed over to the sink to wash off.

I wasn’t sure if that was the superbase, but it certainly would be enough to pop a balloon. Going onto the next one, I was significantly more cautious, but the reaction merely fizzled to the top of the beaker. I knew that I had wasted enough time and my gut told me to make a decision. I went with the third base and brought it to the superacid in the front of the laboratory. In order to get the base inside the beaker, I had to take off the deflated balloon and pour the powder inside the balloon. Then I had to quickly flip the balloon over the beaker and secure the hole around the rim.

Once I filled the balloon with the unknown base, I felt prepared to flip the contents into the beaker. It felt like the scene from Indiana Jones where the famous archeologist switches the golden statue with a bag of sand. With this imagery in mind, I quickly made the exchange and instinctively backed away from the lab table. Once again, the reaction was immediate. Except this time, instead of boiling over the edge of the beaker, the reaction slowly started to inflate the balloon. The balloon kept getting bigger and bigger but it would not pop. I was getting nervous that I hadn’t put enough powder inside the balloon. Slowly, the balloon continued to get bigger and with a dramatic pop, the balloon burst open, spilling its contents all over the table. This time, the chemist did not suppress his smile, but rather congratulated me and told me where my next challenge was: the computer lab.

The computer lab meant one of two things: coding or design. Unfortunately, neither were my strong suit. I made my way to the computer lab on the other side of the Cube. My heart deflated when I saw the computer screen waiting for me. On the screen was the Python interface, the most widely used developer programs. In school I had never been taught even the basics of Python and thought that this challenge wasn’t fair. How could I be expected to complete a task if I have no background knowledge? This totally favored a computer engineer.

I knew that I didn’t have any experience with Python, but the task at least seemed basic enough. Attached to the door was a motion sensor. The job was to create a script that turned off the lights when someone walked out of the room. That someone would be me once I completed the job. The trick to this one, was that I would never know if the code was correct until I walked out. If the code worked, the lights would turn off; if it failed, I had failed the job. There was no way to test the code; I had to have the confidence that it would work.

First off, I sat down and closed the Python interface. At that moment, I needed YouTube and Google to first learn the basics. I spent the first half hour watching videos on double speed, trying to soak in as much information as possible.

I was lost. I had no idea what I was doing. I flipped through forum after forum and searched for anything related to connecting sensors to Python. Similarly to the chemistry lab, I only had one shot and I would never know if my work was correct until it was too late. In the back of my head I kept thinking that there was no chance that I successfully ran a script on my first try. I worked for an hour. Then another hour went by. Soon it was lunch time, but I wanted to win more than I wanted to eat. I tried to channel my engineering ability to “figure it out” but it was no hope. While I was still on my third task of the day, the interns were called back to the break room and a winner was announced for having completed all six tasks.

I was amazed. How could someone finish six before I finished three. There was a murmur in the room of other interns recognizing just how impressive this feat was, when CEO Paul Salazar approached the podium. In my head, my mind was flipping through the names of the other interns, thinking of who it could have been. I initially thought it must have been one of the computer engineers from Stanford that talk about programming as if they don’t speak English, but rather strictly code. But when Salazar announced the winner my jaw dropped.

Salazar announced the winner as Ian Bailey, the only non-engineering intern from the entire group. I hadn’t talked to Ian much that summer; in fact, looking back I’m not sure if I had ever spoken to him before he won that competition. I was not the only one in the crowd that looked shocked. Nearly every other person in the room had a look of disbelief on their faces. That is, except Salazar.

After he congratulated Ian, Salazar started with a question. “How many of you are electrical engineers?” About forty percent of the interns raised their hands. “How many of you are mechanical engineers?” Another twenty percent answered. “How many are another type of engineer?” Nearly everyone remaining raised their hands. “And how many of you have no formal engineering education?” Only Ian.

“Ian,” Salazar started, “please share with us what you are studying in school.”

“Economics,” Ian replied.

My jaw, heart, and stomach all dropped in unison. How in the world did an Econ major win this competition. Surely he had help. There is no way, I thought to myself.

“Yes, an Econ student won this challenge over a group of this nation’s best engineering students,” said Salazar as if reading our minds. “Some of you may be sitting there thinking how someone like Ian was hired by Atlas Laboratories in the first place. What you didn’t know is that I made the final decision on every single one of your applications. Ian’s was the only one I remember reading. His was the only one that stood out. Why? Because he is more than just an ‘Econ major.’ Ian’s application said that in his free time, he spent time learning to code, he entered bridge building competitions, has taught himself four non native speaking languages, and is on the political debate team at his university.

“This challenge was not to see who was the smartest amongst the interns. Always remember that wherever you go, there will always be smarter people than you. Ian did not win because he knew the most about quantum physics; he probably couldn’t sit down and build his own computer right now. No, Ian won because he knew a little bit about a lot of things. This challenge was designed to test just how curious you are and to see how willing you have been to learn new skills.

“This is the difference between an ‘I’ shaped person and a ‘T’ shaped person. Ian, is the perfect example of a ‘T’ shaped person. His specialty is economics. He goes five miles deep in world trade and is the best expert in the room when it comes to the way financial systems operate. That is the vertical line in the ‘T.’ Across the top, Ian goes one mile deep and five miles long in a lot of other subjects. This is his ability to code, to debate, and to speak to different cultures in their native tongues. They are not his specialty and he is not an expert, but he has become familiar with many different things over the years. The rest of you are ‘I’ shaped people. You are the best of the best in one subject and for that I congratulate you. But I will not hire you as an employee next year.

“At Atlas Labs, we look for ‘T’ shaped people in every position. I want our chemist to be able to quote Shakespeare, I want the receptionist to understand calculus. I only want curious minds that are always looking to learn more about what they do not already know.

“To win this challenge, you did not need to be a master at everything; you just needed to know a little bit about a lot of things in order to let your critical thinking skills figure the rest out. As you know, some of the tasks you had to do were super basic for you to complete. Others seemed impossible for you. In reality, the tasks were all extremely basic– the ones you found difficult were just as easy as the ones you flew through. The difference between them was that you did not even have a basic understanding of the tasks you could not complete.

“Our friend Ian did, though. And that is why as of today, he is the only person out of the rest of you who I would hire. However, the best part about it? You can start your learning journey whenever.”

With that, Salazar left the podium and walked out of the room, leaving the rest of us speechless and feeling dejected. I had my number one hero look me in the eyes and tell me that he would not hire me to be his employee.

After a few minutes, the other interns began to stir in their chairs and we were eventually directed to go back to the station we were currently at when the challenge had ended. With a lot on my mind, I walked slowly back to the computer lab where there was the same team of computer programmers waiting for me. They explained to me that the rest of the day I would be walking through the final tasks of the challenge with the team in there to support me. They said that this was designed to be the first step in forming that horizontal line in the ‘T’ formation and they were going to help me get started.

Salazar was right. Within a half hour, with some guidance, I was able to walk out of the door and have the lights turn off behind me. It really was that basic. If I could pick up something as cool as this in just a couple of hours, I started to wonder what else was out there that I could start learning. There was only one problem: between work and trying to enjoy the summer in California, I did not have much time to simply start learning random things. Ian apparently did, and I headed over to see how he had done it.

“Hey Ian,” I started, “first off congratulations on the win today. I can’t even start to explain how jealous I am that you get to spend the whole day with Salazar tomorrow.”

“Thanks, it’s Joel right? Yeah, I’m definitely looking forward to spending that time with him. He’s been my hero since I was a kid,” Ian responded.

“Same, man. It’s been my dream forever to work for Atlas Labs. But after his speech today, that does not seem likely for everyone. I have to ask, how have you learned all that outside of school? How did you have the time?”

“Well, let me ask you this,” Ian responded. “What time do you wake up in the morning?”

“Work starts at eight so between a shower, breakfast and commute, I have to get up around a quarter to seven. Why? What about you?” I asked.

“Well there’s your problem. You let your work start time determine when you need to wake up. I get up at 5:30 every morning, have showered and ate by 6:00 and still have two hours before I need to be at work. Let me guess; if your first class of the day back at school starts at 10 am, you probably wake up at 9:00. Imagine how much you could get done if you woke up at 5:30 for a 10:00 class. That’s four and a half hours you get to have extra each and every day. You can’t let your first obligation of the day decide for you when your day starts. Your first obligation should belong to you.”

“Wow,” I said blushing, feeling a little embarrassed. “And you don’t get tired throughout the day?”

“I did at first,” Ian said, “but honestly, it’s those hours in the early morning that get me really excited. That’s where all the discovery takes place with hardly any distractions. I once had a boss of mine tell me that he would get more done 5-9 in the morning than he would 9-5 during the rest of the day.”

At that moment, I knew that something needed to change. For the past few weeks I had been telling myself that I had planned up until then and didn’t know what to do after I got to San Francisco. I was beginning to see the new path. In fact, the real journey had just begun.