Tech Is Taking a Bite Out of The Big Apple

Editor’s Note: This is part of a series of blog posts by LinkedIn’s rockstar summer interns.

If often feels like everyone in business school wants to work in San Francisco. Because Silicon Valley has the reputation as a global center of innovation and is home to the headquarters of some of the world’s most prominent technology companies, it follows that aspiring tech business leaders would want to sit closest to the action.

In contrast, New York City is perceived as the city of bankers and consultants. After spending most of their waking hours hunched over spreadsheets and presentation files, the last place many of my classmates want to return to is New York. My summer working at LinkedIn’s New York office has completely challenged this perception which I too shared.

(that’s me in the purple shirt)

What I realized from the outset is that the sheer scale of the city - from the employers and job functions to the people and cultural opportunities located in New York - provides for an almost unparalleled level of experience.

I can leave the LinkedIn office in the Empire State Building and have dinner with my friends in finance and marketing and talk about everything other than the newest technology disruption or the newest ad exchange. And still, because of the power of connected technology, I can come into work the next day, fully aware of the latest developments and excited to work alongside people passionate about their industry but with similarly diverse interests.

To be clear, those of us who work in New York are not just waiting for the tech news to break from the West Coast. Often, we’re the ones making the headlines. In fact, due to the professional diversity here, the city has seen the development of very strong nodes between sectors, e.g. Advertising Agencies (Madison Avenue) and Technology. These kinds of connections excite me as a business student and future job seeker because it indicates the potential for a wide variety of new fields and companies.

So, as I wrap up my internship in the coming days, I know that I will leave very confident in the idea of building a successful career in tech in NYC.