Omid Kordestani
Field: tech
Omid Kordestani, a Google executive and San Jose State alumnus, shares three personal "aha moments" that shaped his life and career: thinking like an immigrant to maintain optimism and drive, following instincts and passion rather than money, and remaining open to unexpected paths. He recounts his family's immigration from Iran to the U.S., his shift from engineering to product marketing at HP, and his decision to reject an investment banking offer to join a startup, which eventually led him to Google. He encourages graduates to take risks, embrace mistakes, and make big decisions with their hearts.
Key moments
- 01 Opening with humor about the Y-generation and searching for students online
- 02 First aha: thinking like an immigrant to sustain optimism and determination
- 03 Recounting his family's departure from Iran and immigration to the U.S.
- 04 Second aha: following instincts over money by leaving a banking offer for a startup
- 05 Third aha: not being defined by one's degree and staying open to new paths
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Omid Kordestani at San Jose State, 2007
A Silicon Valley commencement address about immigrant optimism, aha moments, instinct, passion over money, missteps, and making big decisions with the heart.
Speech arc
- 01San Jose State
Opening move
- 02Full transcript mirror
Speech beat
- 03150th anniversary
Speech beat
- 04Immigrant edge
Speech beat
- 05Aha moments
Speech beat
- 06HP placement office
Speech beat
- 07Startup path
Speech beat
- 08Heart decisions
Final charge
Edge: Think and act like an immigrant
Kordestani turns his Tehran-to-San-Jose story into a portable mindset: optimism, bravery, education, and refusal to treat obstacles as final.
Origin
His mother's decision to seek educational access gives the advice its emotional foundation.
Optimism
The immigrant stance is described as dreamer and fighter at once.
Belonging
He extends the mindset to all graduates, whether or not they were born elsewhere.
Kordestani turns his Tehran-to-San-Jose story into a portable mindset: optimism, bravery, education, and refusal to treat obstacles as final.
Instinct: The first plan is not always the true path
The HP placement-office story shows a technical student learning that the right career may use the degree differently than expected.
Question
A recruiter notices his customer-facing energy and challenges the default engineering plan.
Switch
Product marketing becomes a way to combine technical background with business curiosity.
Gut
The larger lesson is to listen when the inner voice points away from the obvious credential path.
The HP placement-office story shows a technical student learning that the right career may use the degree differently than expected.
Risk: Prestige and money can hide the better choice
Kordestani contrasts an investment-banking offer with a startup brown-bag lunch, choosing the less certain path because it fit his passion for technology and building.
Banking
The rejected finance path exposes how status and bonuses can distort judgment.
Startup
GO Corporation fails, but the experience produces learning, relationships, and the route toward Netscape and Google.
Fit
Inputs from others matter, but the final decision has to fit the person making it.
Kordestani contrasts an investment-banking offer with a startup brown-bag lunch, choosing the less certain path because it fit his passion for technology and building.
• Key takeaways •
Optimism is a career tool
Connects to immigration.
Aha moments deserve attention
Connects to technology.
Passion can outrank prestige
Connects to intuition.
Missteps can teach the path
Connects to risk.
Big decisions need the heart
Connects to learning.
Closing charge
The closing advice treats graduation as a startup phase: experiment, keep learning, challenge givens, and reserve the biggest decisions for the heart.
Missteps are not missed steps
Experiment
Certainty is a moving target, so early imperfect choices can become learning assets.
Proof
In the real world, sometimes the only way to solve the proof is to challenge the givens.
Heart
His final maxim separates small decisions made with the head from big ones made with the heart.
The closing advice treats graduation as a startup phase: experiment, keep learning, challenge givens, and reserve the biggest decisions for the heart.
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Transcript
The previously catalogued transcript link is no longer live and is queued for re-sourcing. A video of the address is available above.
Machine transcript available for archive analysis; it is unverified and may contain transcription errors. Machine transcript source ->
Provenance
BROKEN transcript link (checked 2026-06-26): gradspeeches.com is a parked/redirecting domain serving no real content. Provenance: Imported from NPR commencement archive; cross-referenced with Open Commencement DB
NPR archive last updated in 2015; destination availability has not been exhaustively rechecked | Open Commencement DB transcript; not independently verified against the original recording | Transcript URL dead (gradspeeches.com is a parked/redirecting domain serving no real content); video fallback present
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