Andy Barkett began his academic career at UC Berkeley studying political economy, a major he chose for its interdisciplinary focus and close-knit community. He credits UC Berkeley with teaching him the foundational skills he would later rely on in a dynamic, unconventional career that spanned from high-tech to politics.
Now a political economy board member, Barkett remains an active and engaged alumnus. Through guest lectures, student mentorship and organizing student mixers, he continues to give back to the Berkeley community. By sharing his story and the perspectives he’s learned, Barkett hopes to encourage students to build foundational skills and stay open to different paths.
Barkett recently spoke to Berkeley Social Sciences about his background and the advice he has for current students. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
What was your degree in and why did you choose it?
Andy Barkett: I majored in political economy. I was initially interested in economics, but I found it too narrow. I liked the breadth of the political economy major better.
What was your experience like at UC Berkeley?
Andy Barkett: It was a lot of fun. Some of my classes were pretty hard, but on the whole it was a great experience. I enjoyed the campus lifestyle a lot, and I learned a lot from developing deeper relationships with my professors.
Tell us more about the careers you’ve had after graduating?
Andy Barkett: My first job was at a startup with lots of Berkeley professors, grad students and undergrads at a small company. This was in the semiconductor manufacturing space. Since then, I’ve joined other startups as well, and have even started companies myself.
I worked at several high tech companies. I was an engineering manager at Google, Nvidia and Facebook at different times.
I’ve also worked in politics. I was the Chief Technology Officer of the Republican party during the 2013-2014 election cycle, and ran the technology efforts for Bush’s presidential campaign in the 2015-2016 period.
How did your Berkeley experience prepare you for your career?
Andy Barkett: Berkeley taught me a lot of important concepts within my field. I also made lots of connections during my time here. Shortly after graduating, I ended up working with a bunch of people that I knew from Berkeley who started a company.
In addition to that, one of the most important parts of my Berkeley experience was learning to do hard things. Berkeley isn’t an easy school in terms of grading, although there’s a lot of assistance available if you seek it out. If you don’t learn to seek out help, it can be a struggle to pass some of the harder classes. Learning how to do that was really important for me. It taught me to be independent.
Going to Berkeley also taught me how to overcome obstacles and break down problems into bite sized pieces. It taught me to manage myself, my time and my goals. That was probably the most valuable life lesson I gained from my Berkeley experience.
What advice would you give Berkeley Social Sciences students who wish to pursue a similar career path?
Andy Barkett: My career path has been weird because I’ve worked in high-tech, in politics and lots of other things – some of them more closely related to political economy, some less. Based on that experience, the advice I would give is that it’s a mistake to try to map your career too directly to your major.
For most people, you just need to focus on learning foundational skills like reading and writing well, thinking critically, dealing with other people and understanding the world. To do so, you should think about optimizing for the long term and short term in different ways. In the short run, you need to get access to different opportunities. In the long run, you want to build as many kinds of fundamental skills and abilities as possible. Make choices that maximize your options.
The mistake that many people make is that they try too hard to stay in one lane that is directly related to their field. The problem is, as a college student, it’s likely that you still aren’t aware of some of the more interesting jobs in the world. Because of that, it’s important to explore everything you possibly can. If you keep an open mind, you’ll be more likely to find an interesting job than if you fixate on one particular job.
How have you given back to UC Berkeley?
Andy Barkett: I’ve given back in several ways. I’ve donated money, but I’ve also been a guest lecturer quite a few times. For example, I’m doing a guest lecture in October in Political Economy 156, which is a course on the political economy of Silicon Valley. I’ve also lectured for various political science classes.
I also participated in the Regents’ and Chancellor’s Scholarship’s mentor-mentee program. I actually ended up becoming very good friends with one of my mentees, who I later hired. What I enjoy most about being an active alumnus is getting to know current students.