Alumni Insights: Brett Wagner

When I made the decision to take a job at a high tech startup and leave the world of Commercial Real Estate, I was actually more excited than apprehensive.  I knew very little about the tech world but the job had everything I was looking for – a great team, a great culture, and the ability to directly impact the company’s bottom line and future direction.

After that startup failed (as many do), I was fortunate enough to join the amazing team at Skyhook Wireless (www.skyhookwireless.com).  Skyhook is a location intelligence company located in the Fort Point Channel neighborhood of Boston.  We are known for providing location based services for the likes of Apple (think the “blue dot” on your phone’s map), Samsung, and Sony.  We also arm the Ad-Tech world and major brands with context and intelligence, and we are constantly providing various location solutions for a number of other industries and verticals such as Wearable devices (smart watches, smart glasses), iGaming, and Mobile Device Management.  This list truly goes on and on as location can be applied to nearly every industry.

I’m part of the Sales Team at Skyhook and my job is to find new business opportunities, qualify prospects, and close deals.  This role requires me to keep up with trends in a number of exciting industries.  For instance – I was in Las Vegas in early January for CES (Consumer Electronics Show) and I’ll be traveling to San Francisco for Apps World in early February.

If I could pass on a bit of advice to current students and recent grads it would be this:

Take the time to think about what you want out of the day to day within your career.  Make a list of what is going to make you want to jump out of bed every day and not just hit the snooze button.  You spend nearly half your life working and will end up spending more time with your employees than you do with your loved ones (and yourself).  And if you're lucky enough to find some real happiness in your career then you'll most likely find some success as well.