To Silicon Valley and back again

Growing up in Austria, Pius Binder fantasized about working in Silicon Valley one day. He felt he could enjoy creative freedom in a high-performing culture there — “something that Austrian culture doesn’t allow as much, because it’s very hierarchical,” he told Business Spotlight. He considered himself good at math and statistics, and he wanted an adventure. So, Binder studied business and international management in Vienna and in Sydney, Australia, and did internshipPraktikuminternships at a range of companies, including BMW, Deutsche Bank and L’Oréal. Then, he got the kind of job he’d been hoping for, at Facebook (now Meta) — first in Dublin, and then, at the company’s global headquartersHauptgeschäftssitzheadquarters, in Menlo Park, California.

“I was lucky getting my first job at Facebook back then,” the 36-year-old says. “But, you can see it in my resume (US)Lebenslaufresume, I didn’t have a single summer or holiday break. It was always like: ‘What can I do to get better skills, learn more?’”

Binder explains that the timing of career milestones can be a little different in the United States. Young people compete for sth.um etw. wettstreitencompete for tech jobs even without a master’s degreehier: Abschlussdegree — because, he says, the U.S. seems more willing to take a chance on someone based on skills rather than academic qualifications. He noticed that his coworkers on a similar job level were often younger than him.

“In California, anything is possible,” Binder says. “If you do something really well, your background doesn’t matter. You can do anything you want. People underestimate the power of positivity and focusing on the upside. From that perspective, California taught me about work culture.”

The right role

At first, Binder worked in growth marketing, which many outsiders thought was advertising, but his job focused on the analysis of new product launchProdukteinführungproduct launches, namely Facebook Jobs and Facebook Marketplace. He says working at a campus with tens of thousands of workers was a challenge at first — but it also felt “surreal” to walk around the office and sometimes see [CEO] Mark Zuckerberg or [former COO (chief operating officer)Vorstand für das operative GeschäftCOO] Sheryl Sandberg.

Binder’s role later changed to product growth management, where his job was to analyze user behavior in order to adjust sth.etw. anpassenadjust messaging and make product improvements. “I’m not a good marketer, but I’m a good analyst,” he explains. “I have a good sense of design. If you’re a hard worker, you can use something as a starting point.”

Life in the Bay Area

Binder says Menlo Park, in the heart of Silicon Valley, lies at the intersectionSchnittlinie; hier: Übergangintersection between the haves and have-nots, where modestbescheidenmodest family homes meet million-dollar mansionVilla, großes Herrschaftshausmansions.

Living in San Francisco was fun for going out and visiting ­attractions. Binder says it was exciting to live close to the ­Golden Gate Park and the Marina District. The redwood trees of Muir Woods National Monument were just a short trip away. However, commutependelncommuting was hard and involved waking up at 4 a.m. to get to Meta’s campus. Sometimes, he traveled to Los Angeles for work, which felt like a whole new world. “One thing about San Francisco, there are a lot of tech people,” he says. “You’re like: ‘Oh my God, everyone’s an engineerIngenieur(in)engineer.’ L.A. is cool because there are more people doing different things.”

Today, back in Vienna, Binder has cofound sth.etw. mitbegründencofounded a start-up called Subscribed, a search platform to help digital professionals find the right business software. If an opportunity came up, he would be open to moving back to California, but is currently focused on this new project. He does say that his mentors at Meta gave him the confidence to try something new: “That really empower sb.jmdn. stärkenempowered me. These moments when people believe in you, even when they have no reason to. I found that really crazy.”