Career Path of a Finance Chief of Staff at PagerDuty
Andrew's career journey, initially envisioned as a path to law school, took a fascinating turn after a gap year spent teaching English abroad led to a reevaluation of their goals. This led to a series of roles—from sales and project management to customer success management at PagerDuty—culminating in their current position as Chief of Staff, Finance, a role they describe as a move toward "something maybe a bit more strategic, maybe internal facing."
Career Exploration, Project Management, Career Development, Networking, Overcoming Challenges
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Andrew La Follette
Chief of Staff, Finance
PagerDuty
University of Arizona, 2012
UCLA MBA
Political Science, American Studies
Technology
Finance
Scholarship Recipient, Took Out Loans, Transfer Student
Video Highlights
1. Andrew's career path highlights a non-linear progression, showcasing adaptability and a willingness to explore diverse fields before settling into his current role as Chief of Staff.
2. His experiences in sales, project management, and customer success management demonstrate a strong foundation in business operations and client relations, providing a holistic understanding of the organization's goals and processes.
3. Andrew's decision to take a gap year and reflect on his career aspirations before pursuing law school and ultimately transitioning into the tech industry underscores the importance of self-reflection and proactive career exploration for students.
Transcript
Could you walk me through your career path, starting with your experiences in college? Did you have any internships or jobs before your current role?
Absolutely. Throughout college, I had a few work-study roles. I worked in the library and had an internship at a senator's office. During the summers, I worked at a health club in my hometown.
All the while during college, I thought I would go into law school. That's what I was prepping myself for mentally and through my coursework.
Then I took a gap year. After graduating, I applied to law schools and had about a year before I would start. I went to Europe and taught English abroad for about eight months.
It was during that time, after some reflection and talking to current lawyers, that I realized law school was not for me.
Instead, I went into sales at a research and advisory firm. I sold research on business best practices to sales and marketing executives. At that same company, I transitioned into project management, building and deploying employee engagement surveys for very large clients, which was fascinating.
From there, I was in San Francisco and knew I wanted to try out the tech world. I transitioned from project management to my current company, PagerDuty, becoming a customer success manager.
Essentially, I worked with clients to deploy our software and ensure they were getting the value they expected. This involved training and conducting value assessments.
After a few years, I decided I wanted to try something more strategic and internal-facing, like corporate strategy. At the same time, I was applying to business schools.
Those two forces pushed me to explore options at my current company. I networked and landed this job as chief of staff, reporting to our CFO. I've been in that role for about two and a half to three years.