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Worlds Away, Spreadsheet Basics, and Learning Foreign Languages with Mike Watson
9:40 with Michael WatsonIn this episode we talk with Treehouse COO/CFO, teacher, and artist, Mike Watson.
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Hi, I'm Craig.
0:00
Welcome to the Treehouse Show.
0:01
The Treehouse Show is our weekly
conversation with the Treehouse Community.
0:02
[SOUND] In this episode, we'll be talking
to teacher and Chief Financial Officer,
0:06
as well as Chief Operating Officer
of Treehouse, Mike Watson.
0:13
Thanks for being on the show Watson.
0:18
>> My pleasure to be here.
0:19
>> Real excited to talk to you,
because you have so
0:20
much stuff that you do here at Treehouse.
0:23
I would like to talk about how
you got started in technology.
0:25
>> So, I grew up in the Bay Area,
I grew up in Palo Alto,
0:28
and I used AOL from day one,
I installed it with a laser disc.
0:31
>> Nice.
[LAUGH]
0:36
>> And I remember creating websites,
0:37
using just HTML and CSS in line.
0:39
>> Okay,
what kind of websites were you making?
0:41
>> I was in middle school, making
websites for girls I had crushes on and
0:44
things like that.
0:48
>> [LAUGH]
>> So anyway, yeah, I was doing that and
0:50
using ICQ and playing.
0:53
There was this massive online game
called Worlds Away for Dreamweaver,
0:54
which I have no idea what happened to,
but I was obsessed with that, I loved it.
0:58
And that’s how I started.
1:03
And long story short, eventually
found myself in business school and
1:04
had a kind of idea for a startup.
1:09
And I didn't know how to code anymore, a
long time had passed between the AOL days.
1:12
And I started teaching myself how to code.
1:16
>> How were you doing that?
>> I was with Treehouse.
1:18
>> No way.
1:20
You were using Treehouse before?
1:21
>> Before I joined.
1:23
>> Wow, okay.
>> Yeah, so I was using Treehouse.
1:23
I really can't remember how I
stumbled across the service, but
1:25
I immediately fell in love with it.
1:29
And I started using it, and literally,
1:31
I'm going to some of my business
school classes cuz I was so hooked.
1:33
I was learning from Nick Pettit,
Jim Hoskins, Jason Seifer, and
1:37
had nicknames for all of them.
1:40
>> [LAUGH]
>> Nick was the Mohawk or something,
1:42
I can't remember.
1:45
>> Sure, yeah, the faux hawk.
1:46
>> The faux hawk, and
then Jason was the Smile.
1:47
So yeah, and it was super effective.
1:50
I made a website in three weeks.
1:52
It was responsive, and
I was super impressed with myself.
1:54
So fell in love with the product and
thought hey,
1:57
this would be a really
interesting company to work for.
1:59
Ad I got lucky timing-wise, and when I
sent off an email, they were hiring,
2:02
so here I am, five years later.
2:06
>> Where did you start out?
2:08
What was your first position here?
2:09
>> So I was a sales rep.
2:10
I joined the sales team.
2:11
And then actually, before I joined,
another position opened up that they
2:14
wanted me to consider, which was, at
that point, called the jobs team leader.
2:18
We used to have a team here at Treehouse
that was focused specifically on finding
2:22
jobs for our students.
2:26
In that, we had some wins, and we learned
a lot, but realized that it was better for
2:28
us to focus on the curriculum
side of things.
2:33
And then partnering with organizations
to help our students get jobs, so,
2:36
hence our relationship with
companies like Launch Code.
2:39
>> Yeah, totally, awesome, cool, so
okay, so then you move from that to?
2:42
Where did you go from there?
2:47
>> So jobs team lead,
I did that for four months.
2:48
And then on January 24th, 2013,
2:51
I was promoted into my current role,
which is CFOCO here at Treehouse.
2:53
>> Wow.
>> So yeah,
2:58
it was just really lucky timing.
2:59
I think when I joined the company,
there was not someone who had the kind of
3:01
experience and skills that I had
learned through my previous job,
3:05
which was doing private equity
work in southeast Asia.
3:08
So I learned a lot about scaling
businesses and helping them grow.
3:12
And there was an opening, and
I got lucky, fortunately.
3:16
>> We got lucky, too, let's be honest.
3:21
>> Thanks.
3:23
>> So on top of being a CFO, recently,
you've been releasing courses.
3:23
Is that right?
3:28
>> Yeah, yeah.
3:29
>> I don't know how you're finding the
time to do all this, but let's talk about
3:29
the courses that you've been-
>> Yeah, so
3:31
I've been working on data
analysis content for Treehouse.
3:33
We have people focused on SQL and
building up that.
3:37
And we know that for students that
are interested in learning about data
3:41
analysis, knowing how to work with
spreadsheets and then some of the more
3:44
basic fundamental concepts around
data analysis are important.
3:48
So since I have a lot of experience with
that and I'm super passionate about it,
3:51
I figured, hey, why not try to
help our students a little bit?
3:54
So, I've been trying to find some extra
time to create some of that content,
3:57
and data visualization is the next sell.
4:02
It should be coming out later this month-
>> Nice.
4:04
>> And there's a bunch of
plans to create more content.
4:06
I think the next one will
be a sort of case study
4:08
on return on investment analysis.
4:11
>> That's great,
that's wonderful for the students.
4:13
That's really cool, man.
4:15
So you said you were living abroad.
4:16
Where were you living?
4:17
>> While I was in college, I did
an internship in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.
4:18
>> Okay.
4:22
>> Colloquially known as KL.
4:23
So towards the end of college,
they offered me a full time job.
4:25
And I went and lived in KL for three
years after living in Boston for school.
4:29
And I loved it,
it was an amazing experience.
4:34
I frankly couldn't probably accurately
locate Malaysia on a map before I had my
4:38
internship there, which is
somewhat embarrassing, but anyway.
4:42
Yeah, so I lived out there,
I learned a lot.
4:45
The food in Malaysia is amazing.
4:49
I still have dreams about it.
4:50
>> [LAUGH]
>> And one of the things I think was
4:51
really special for me while I was living
out there is that I was able to travel
4:55
a lot throughout Southeast Asia, both for
work professionally and just personally.
4:59
I could hop on a flight, I went to Burma,
and I went to Cambodia and Laos and
5:03
spent a lot of time in Hong Kong and
Jakarta and Singapore.
5:08
And I lived in Mumbai for three months.
5:12
>> Wow.
>> So I got a lot
5:16
of exposure through that,
which was just so rewarding.
5:17
I think, if you travel and
get exposed to cultures and
5:20
step outside your comfort zone,
it's really very useful.
5:23
And it helps you grow a lot,
expands your vision of the world,
5:27
and I really appreciate
my experiences there.
5:31
I had the tough assignment at the end
of three years of getting sent to
5:35
the Sydney office, so I also got to
live in Sydney, Australia for a year.
5:39
>> Wow.
5:43
>> Which is a beautiful city and
it reminded me a lot of my hometown in
5:44
the Bay Area, the San Francisco Bay,
you've got the bridge.
5:47
And anyway, the Opera House is very cool,
Sydney is an amazing place.
5:51
I highly recommend visiting
if you have a chance.
5:54
And then after I finished
at the private equity firm,
5:57
I moved to France and
I lived in a suburb of Paris.
6:01
And I went to a business school
at a place called NSEAD and
6:04
that was very rewarding as well.
6:07
So I got to live in Europe for
a year and kind of travel around and
6:09
see a bunch of different places.
6:11
And now I'm back in the States on
the west coast here in Portland, Oregon.
6:13
>> How many languages did
you pick up along the way?
6:17
[LAUGH]
>> So I think that's always an interesting
6:20
question, because I think the way people
answer that is highly subjective.
6:23
I'm super critical of whether or
not I can speak a language.
6:26
My mom is Puerto Rican, so
I can speak a lot of Spanish.
6:30
I learned a little bit of Bahasa and
Malay,
6:33
which is the local Malaysian
dialect of Bahasa in Malaysia.
6:35
I ended up meeting my wife, who's Iranian,
so now I speak quite a bit of Farsi.
6:40
>> Wow.
>> In France,
6:45
I was able to get some
conversational French.
6:46
But I think there's this actor
called Paul Robenson, and
6:49
he had a quote that I
think is very amazing,
6:53
which he said, the more languages you
speak, the closer you get to God.
6:56
Now I know that's controversial for
some people, but I truly believe that
6:59
being able to converse with
different people coherently and
7:03
fluidly in their local language is a just
tremendously valuable skill to have.
7:07
>> Yeah, absolutely.
7:11
>> And the more language I can speak,
I mean, I just wish I could learn more.
7:12
It's amazing.
7:15
>> I would like to ask you, what's
something that the students might not know
7:16
from just watching these courses that
you're putting out there, about you?
7:21
>> Yeah, I think there's a few things.
7:26
One, when I was growing up in high school,
I was really into painting, so
7:27
that was my big hobby, yeah.
7:32
So I had a sculpture teacher, my junior
year, who encouraged me to start trying
7:34
to paint and explore different forms
of media other than paper mache.
7:39
>> [LAUGH]
>> [LAUGH] So, anyway,
7:43
she taught me a lot about using
the mixed media and acrylic.
7:46
And I kinda had a natural talent for
it and really got super into it.
7:50
>> Wow.
7:57
>> And by the time I graduated college,
I painted about 80 paintings.
7:58
>> Whoa.
8:02
>> And sold half of them.
8:02
>> Wait, you're selling these?
8:03
>> Yeah.
8:04
>> Professionally selling these?
8:05
Wow.
8:06
>> Well, I mean,
I've had one gallery exposition, but yeah,
8:06
it's something that I'm
very passionate about.
8:10
I wish I could do more of it.
8:13
To be honest,
since I started working full time,
8:15
it's been difficult to kind
of get that creativity.
8:17
There's something to be said for the
energy that is required to go into making
8:21
something that is, I don't know,
reflects your creative energy.
8:25
I don't know how to describe it.
8:32
It's very difficult, but after a long
day at the office, you come home and
8:33
you kind of just wanna relax and
hang out with your family.
8:38
So whereas it used to take me
maybe a week to finish a painting,
8:40
now it maybe takes me months.
8:44
And so,
my velocity has slowed down quite a lot.
8:47
But I still love it and
8:50
it's something that I would like
to be more purposeful about.
8:51
>> Cool, do you have those available
some place where we could take
8:54
a look at some of them?
8:56
>> Yeah, I have an old portfolio
site which I built in 2012 and-
8:57
>> You built the site, too?
8:59
>> Yeah, yeah, this is one of the sites
I learned how to build with Treehouse.
9:01
Now it hasn't gotten much love since then,
I'll be honest, but it's shmags.com.
9:04
>> Shmags.
9:07
>> Yeah.
9:08
>> Can you spell that?
9:09
>> S-H-M-A-G-S, I think we can
do a lower third here maybe.
9:11
>> Sure.
9:17
>> Right here, [LAUGH] it's an inside
joke, I'm a big San Francisco Giants fan.
9:18
And one of the announcers refers
to people smoking cigarettes,
9:22
are called cigarette schmags,
so it's long story.
9:25
>> Okay, [LAUGH].
9:29
[SOUND] Thanks for
watching the Treehouse Show.
9:30
To get in touch with the show,
reach out to me on Twitter, or
9:32
hit us up in the Treehouse community.
9:34
See you next time.
[SOUND]
9:35
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