It took 15 years after finishing college for Reid Hoffman to figure out what he wanted to be when he grew up. 

"When I graduated from Stanford my plan was to become a professor and public intellectual,"he once said. "That is not about quoting Kant. It's about holding up a lens to society and asking 'who are we?' and 'who should we be, as individuals and a society?' But I realized academics write books that 50 or 60 people read, and I wanted more impact."

He sought out that impact by founding companies — including SocialNet, arguably the first social network — and joining PayPal early on. In December 2002, he cofounded LinkedIn, now a 20 billion-dollar-plus company. The rest is Silicon Valley history. 

But how did he get there? And what lessons can today's young professionals learn from his incredible success? 

To answer those questions Hoffman and Ben Casnocha coauthored a book called "The Start-Up of You."

Then, expanding on ideas from that book, they created a slideshow presentation for college grads called "The 3 Secrets Of Highly Successful Graduates," which they've allowed us to republish here. 

The only thing better than playing "Destiny," the next game from the "Halo" creators," is exploring a massive map of Russia to check out its the stunning visuals. 

We often found ourselves looking up at the sky more than fighting off alien races.

Take a look at some of the breathtaking views we captured, along with a few others we compiled from the more than 6 million gamers who took the Alpha for a spin.

While there's a lot of fighting in the game, one thing everyone could agree on was that there were some stunning skylines.

In the game you're given a vehicle called a Sparrow to ride around a futuristic Earth overrun by alien races.

It made it a lot easier to traverse across the vast map.

One of the hottest brands in the hotel industry, Amsterdam-based chain CitizenM opened its first U.S. location in Times Square in April. Stopping by recently, it was easy to see why there's so much buzz.

The hotels are a combination of high design — with work from artists like Andy Warhol and David LaChapelle lining the walls — and high tech — with high-speed touchscreen check-in and complimentary Samsung Galaxy tablets that control everything in the rooms.

The brand's emphasis is on affordable luxury: Each of the 230 rooms has the same layout, and rates start at $199 a night.

CitizenM also operates branches in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, London, Glasgow, and Paris, with plans to open in New York City's Lower East Side later this year and spreading elsewhere in the U.S. and Europe, too.

As hot as the brand is, competition is fierce and there's always a risk of bigger brands catching up.

"We have two kinds of competitors: hotels in the direct vicinity of our properties and aspirational lifestyle brands,"co-founder Michael Levie told Caterer and Hotelkeeper in 2011. " Products like W [Hotels] created a way people like to be and [W owner] Starwood got that right. But it's also much more expensive and product for product we are very competitive."

Welcome to citizenM Times Square.

Even before you enter the hotel, you'll see a wall full of art and knickknacks.

There's no reception desk at this hotel. Instead, guests use this kiosk of touchscreen computers to check in, though hotel 'ambassadors' in red shirts stand close by if you need help.

China’s wealthy real estate buyers are snapping up property a lot more often than their American counterparts, according to a new report from Sotheby’s International Realty, which breaks down profiles of wealthy real estate buyers around the globe.

According to the report, 96% of affluent Chinese consumers have purchased a property within the past three years. In comparison, just 54% of affluent American consumers — those who have over $2 million in assets — have bought a property.

Chinese real estate investors also rate location as a top priority, favoring Asia over both Europe and North America for their mansions. 48% want their home to be eco-friendly.

For American real estate investors, location is also still a top priority. They prefer to live in North America, and value a property that they have designed themselves over an estate that is eco-friendly, historically significant, or with famous former owners.

The annual Sotheby’s International Realty Luxury Lifestyle Report was compiled with data from a survey sent out to its affluent consumers over 25 years of age all over the world between January 28 and February 18, 2014. They also collected data from sothebysrealty.com from Google Website Analytics between January 1, 2013 and January 1, 2014. You can read more about the methodology here.

SEE ALSO: Here's What Wealthy People Want In Their Homes

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Even though they are usually only at a company for a short period, interns are still expected to abide by the same professional standards as any other employee.

From interns who embarrassed their boss to interns who just embarrassed themselves, there have been many entry-level workers who were quickly shown the door.

We've rounded up some of the best — or worst? — examples of bad interns for entertainment and education. Enjoy.

The intern who fabricated sources for her articles.

Liane Membis had a lot of things going for her as a recent Yale grad who had scored an internship with The Wall Street Journal but made headlines in the summer of 2012 for all the wrong reasons.

After her editors discovered she had been fabricating sources and quotes for her stories, Membis was fired from her internship.

The intern who allegedly wrote about startups in exchange for MacBooks.

Daniel Brusilovsky, a 17-year-old TechCrunch intern, was fired from the website in 2010 after it was alleged that he had asked a startup for a MacBook Air in exchange for writing a post about the company.

The company later confirmed that Brusilovsky also received at least one other computer from a company he wrote about.

The intern who threw glitter at Mitt Romney.

University of Colorado Denver student Peter Smith was fired from his 2012 internship with Colorado Senate Democrats after he attempted to "glitter bomb" Mitt Romney by throwing glitter at the then-presidential hopeful.

It seems like there are only two options when it comes to choosing a career: We can either pursue a meaningful job and make next to nothing, or we can pull in a pretty penny working insanely long hours in an uninspiring, high-pressure career.

But we've got some good news for you: It turns out there's a third option.

According to a new report from Payscale, there are plenty of jobs out there that offer both a fat paycheck and satisfying work.

Payscale, the creator of the world's largest database of individual compensation profiles, containing more than 40 million today, recently asked 374,000 workers: "Does your job make the world a better place?"

After analyzing job meaning for 453 jobs from the Occupational Information Network (O*NET), Payscale then examined median pay, job satisfaction, job stress, and typical education level for each occupation, and compiled its second annual list of the Most and Least Meaningful Jobs in America.

Katie Bardaro, Payscale's lead economist, says workers in these meaningful jobs are "typically driven by an interest to better society and by philanthropic initiatives, rather than purely money or subject matter interest."

We sifted through Payscale's list and found the 15 most meaningful jobs with an average annual pay of $70,000 or more.

No. 15: Nuclear Medicine Technologists

Median pay: $70,400

81% of employees say this job is meaningful. 

78% of employees say this job is highly satisfying. 

60% of employees say this job is stressful.

No. 14: Physician Assistants

Median pay: $88,200

83% of employees say this job is meaningful. 

80% of employees say this job is highly satisfying. 

73% of employees say this job is stressful.

No. 13: Managers of Police and Detectives

Median pay: $70,600

84% of employees say this job is meaningful. 

81% of employees say this job is highly satisfying. 

86% of employees say this job is stressful.

In 2008, Russian photographer Irina Popova was taking photos by a St. Petersburg nightclub when she saw a woman urinating in the street while her daughter sat in a stroller nearby.

Then a 21-year-old college student, Popova asked the woman, Lilya, if she could take her photograph. That photo spurred a months-long photo project on the lives of the little girl, Anfisa, and her parents, Lilya and a man named Pasha.

With the family's permission, Popova stayed with them for several weeks in the single-room apartment they all shared. Lilya and Pasha both abused drugs and alcohol, and Popova saw how their carefree, destructive lifestyle affected their young daughter.

Russians view drug abuse as a huge problem, with more than 2.5 million Russians addicted to various drugs, according to government statistics cited by the Associated Press. 90% of Russia's drug abusers use heroin, which flows freely there from Afghanistan.

Popova's photographs have been collected in a book, "Another Family," but she shared a selection with us here.

This is Lilya and Pasha. They live in St. Petersburg and abused drug and alchol when Popova stayed with them. Both are in their late 20s in this picture.

Here's the stroller Anfisa was in when Popova met her mother in front of the St. Petersburg nightclub.

When Popova asked Lilya if she could take her picture, Lilya began striking different poses, before laying down on the pavement. She was clearly on drugs.

Luis Suarez is probably the third-best player on earth going into the 2014 World Cup.

On the field he's smart, hard-working, and exceptionally skilled on the ball.

But a number of ugly incidents — including two separate biting fiascos and a racism controversy — have turned him into the most despised player in the world.

Looking through a list of his most outrageous scandals, it's easy to see why so many people will be rooting against him and Uruguay in Brazil.

He bit an opponent while playing for the Dutch team Ajax in 2010. He was banned for 7 games.

Source: BBC

He also bit Chelsea defender Branislov Ivanovic during a game in 2013, resulting in a 10-game suspension.

Source: Mirror

In the 2010 World Cup semis, he punched a shot off the line against Ghana with his fist and got a red card.

As divisive as things get these days, it's easy to lose track of what unites the majority of Americans.

Based on Census data, Pew and Gallup polls, and more, we've identified some simple facts that are true about the majority of the 318,278,722 U.S. citizens.

50.5 percent of U.S. adults are married, down from 72 percent in 1960.

Source: A 2012 Pew poll of Americans over the age of 18.

53 percent of Americans believe the war in Iraq was a mistake.

Source: 2013 Gallup Poll

58 percent of Americans support legalizing weed.

Source: 2014 Gallup Poll

When airfare prices climb, as they often do, your travel budget can become a bit tight. Even so, a low hotel price point doesn't have to mean mediocre digs.

We worked with Hotels.com to create an exclusive list of the best inexpensive hotels in America. To create this list, Hotels.com found the highest-rated hotels in 27 big cities around the U.S. with rates under $200 per night.

From Honolulu to New York, these hotels offer comfort and style for a reasonable price.

ATLANTA: Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta ($199)

75 14th St. NE, Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta's midtown Four Seasons is a steal, with luxury amenities at reasonable prices. The hotel is a mere two miles from downtown, and offers perks like daily afternoon tea time at Park 75, the hotel's restaurant, and free chilled towels as you lay poolside. The hotel's 244 rooms include complimentary Wi-Fi and spacious bathrooms with both tubs and showers.

AUSTIN: The Driskill ($179)

604 Brazos St., Austin, Texas

Built back in 1886, The Driskill is a member of The Historic Hotels of America. Originally made as a showplace for cattle baron Jesse Driskill, the building has now become a decadent hotel in Downtown Austin. Room treats include iPod docks and designer toiletries, while the hotel itself houses The Driskill Grill, an award-winning restaurant. 

BOSTON: Envision Hotel Boston, an Ascend Hotel Collection Member ($199)

81 S. Huntington Ave., Boston, Massachusetts

This boutique Boston hotel is a bit far from the heart of the city, but its rooms and proximity to public transportation make up for its distance. It's a great spot for guests on a budget who value clean, spacious rooms with amenities like Keurig coffee makers, flat screen TVs, microwaves, and refrigerators. The hotel also includes a fitness center and cafe.

Three units in the Ritz Carlton Battery Park are selling as one penthouse apartment for $118.5 million, making it the most expensive listing in New York City, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

The massive penthouse takes up the top two floors of the Ritz Carlton and has indoor space totaling 15,434 square feet, as well as 2,193 square feet of terrace. The three units are not yet combined, but cannot be purchased separately, according to the Journal.

The Journal reports that one of the three apartments is owned by Gary Segal of Five Star Electric in Ozone Park. It was on the market last year for $56.5 million before being taken off. The second of the three apartments is a three-bedroom unit also owned by Segal. 

The final apartment is a four-bedroom, five-bathroom unit owned by financier Randall Yanker. It was listed earlier this year for $23 million, then was taken off the market shortly after its price was lowered to $19 million.

Even if this combined penthouse doesn't sell for its exact asking price, there's a good chance it will become the most expensive home ever sold in New York. A mansion at 15 Central Park West currently holds the record at $88 million.

Ryan Serhant of Nest Seekers International is the listing agent for this property.

This stunning penthouse has four separate terraces, each with a great view.

This terrace offers fantastic water views.

This wide staircase has a very modern feel.

The never ending quest for top speed supremacy among the world's automakers is alive and well.

Since Ferrari's iconic F40 broke the 200 mile-per-hour barrier in the 1980s, speeds have only continued to escalate, with today's elite hypercars pushing ever closer to the magical 300 mph mark. 

With that in mind, we thought it was time to take a look at the fastest cars you can drive home from a dealership today. Using information from various auto-manufacturers and thesupercars.org, we put together a list of the 10 production hypercars with the highest top speeds on the market. 

Cars on this list are actively marketed and sold by manufacturers in 2014 (waiting list counts) and do not include cars that are out of production, are not series production cars, or whose top speed is not yet verified.

As a result, contenders like the SSC Aero (out of production) and the Ferrari LaFerrari (unconfirmed top speed) were left off of our list.

9. Ferrari F12 Berlinetta - 211 MPH (tie): Picking up where the 599 Fiorano left off, the $316,000 F12 is the latest in a long line of highly competent front-engined grand tourers from Maranello.

9. Porsche 918 Spyder - 211 MPH (tie): The $930,000 918 hybrid, the most advanced production vehicle ever to carry the legendary Porsche badge, is powered by a state-of-the-art 887 horsepower hybrid V8 powertrain.

7. McLaren P1 - 217 MPH (tie): The $1.15 million P1 is the spiritual successor to the legendary F1 supercar that put McLaren on the map. While the P1 can't match the F1's 240 MPH top speed, it should be noted that its 217 mph mark is electronically limited.

The retail industry is undergoing a dramatic shift: E-commerce is capturing a larger share of sales than ever before. 

We've created a slideshow highlighting the retail categories where e-commerce is having the most impact, and where there is still opportunity for disruption. The shift away from physical retail toward digital retail is happening faster than many observers expected. 

BI Intelligence is a research and analysis service focused on mobile computing, digital media, payments, and e-commerce. Only subscribers can download the individual charts and datasets in Excel, along with the PowerPoint and PDF versions of this deck. Please sign up for a free trial here.

Cloud storage company Dropbox recently moved its headquarters to the China Basin district of San Francisco.

The 85,000-square-foot space houses around 700 employees, all sitting in an open floor plan with giant windows overlooking the San Francisco Bay and AT&T Park, home of the Giants baseball team.

We went on a tour of the new headquarters on a quiet Friday morning. 

The first thing we noticed when we got there were the scooters. The space is so huge that people often take one to get from one meeting to another.

And they're not just for show. We saw several people actually riding those things around.

Different variations of the company's T-shirts are lined up in chronological order.

Chinese internet giant Tencent recently opened brand-new offices in Guangzhou, located in the southern part of the country. 

Tencent is the young tech company behind WeChat, the wildly popular messaging app that currently has about 355 million monthly active users. 

The company's new Guangzhou outpost will accommodate 800 employees in a complex that formerly was a six-building textile factory. Global design firm M Moser Associates transformed the dilapidated industrial zone into a beautiful open-floor office.

There are lots of fun amenities too, from a fully equipped gym to a slide that employees can use to get from floor to floor. 

Tencent's new office in Guangzhou spans six buildings that formerly made up a textile factory. Four of the buildings are workspace for Tencent's 800 Guangzhou employees, while the other two are dedicated to meeting rooms and common areas. All together, the company has more than 100,000 square feet of space.

The separation between the six buildings was a challenge for the architects. "Somehow, all the buildings had to be connected together and have a distinct, coherent identity," M Moser's Ramesh Subramaniam said in a press release. "There was also a need for very clear wayfinding through the campus, because there are quite a lot of other buildings there which don’t belong to Tencent."

To solve the problem, the design team created these open bridges to connect four of the six buildings.

Great news everyone — you can now share GIFs on Twitter!

Twitter announced the change last week, so your feed will probably be getting a lot more animated. And just in case you want to add your own GIFs into the mix, we decided to put together a list of the best apps for making GIFs. You don't have to be a professional to make those pictures move.

GifGrabber lets you create a GIF out of any video.

Giffffr does basically the same thing, but only from a YouTube link.

Recordit makes a GIF out of your computer screen, think of it like a GIF screenshot.

I've been Business Insider's managing editor for almost four years now. Since we're a fast-growing company, we're constantly looking for new talent, from interns to site leads.

Between career fairs, coffees, and in-office interviews, I've interviewed hundreds of people.

Most candidates come prepared — but many don't.

Each one of these warnings comes from real life experiences I've had while conducting interviews at Business Insider.

Don’t come a half an hour early. It makes the interviewer feel pressure to finish what they're doing. Five minutes early is more than enough.

However, that doesn't mean you should be late, either. Sending an email 30 minutes after a scheduled interview to say that you haven't even left Long Island yet is not the best idea. If you are running a few minutes late, apologize when you arrive.

Don't bring your own cup of coffee or smoothie to the interview. It's not professional, and it might make the interviewer jealous they don't have one.

How many times have you applied for a job and never heard back? 

You tell yourself, “They probably never saw it,” or, “Maybe I just wasn’t a good fit,” and you move on.

But, more likely, your resume just didn’t impress.

Hiring managers receive dozens — sometimes hundreds — of resumes for any given opening. They don’t have the time or resources to review each one closely, so they spend approximately six seconds on their initial “fit/no fit” decision. 

You may be perfect for the job, but if your resume has just one typo, if it’s formatted poorly, or you use the wrong font, it could easily end up in the “no fit” pile.

“Think of the resume as a wedding invitation or other important announcement,” says Tina Nicolai, executive career coach and founder of Resume Writers' Ink. “You wouldn’t send out a wedding invitation with typos or false information, or one that includes too much information. So, why would you send out a resume with any of those things?”

Nicolai and other experts share tips for making sure your resume steers clear of the trash pile.

Get rid of the objective.

If you applied, it's already obvious you want the job.

However, if you're in a unique situation, like you're changing industries completely, it may be useful to include a brief summary. 

Cut out all the irrelevant work experiences.

Yes, you might've been the "king of making milkshakes" at the restaurant you worked for in high school. But, unless you're planning on redeeming that title, it's time to get rid of all that clutter.

Take a pass on the personal stuff.

Don't include your marital status, religious preference, or social security number.

This might've been the standard in the past, but all of this information is now illegal for your employer to ask you, so there's no need to include it.

People do some crazy things to customize their cars.

From a Swarovski crystal-encrusted Mercedes to a frighteningly realistic insect-shaped motorbike, we found 26 custom sets of wheels that are turning heads around the world. 

And yes, they include a flying car and a crystal-covered Mercedes.

This tricked out stretch Mini Cooper S has 6 passenger seats, 4 doors, 6 wheels and a Jacuzzi for relaxing on those long drives.

This 25-foot-long car shaped like a cricket bat was a huge hit in cricket-obsessed India.

Two custom Mercedes-Benz SL600s, each wearing 300,000 Swarovski crystals, are displayed in Tokyo.

Thursday's 2014 NBA Draft is expected to be the best draft in 11 years.

ESPN's Chad Ford told Bill Simmons on a podcast that there are nine potential All-Stars in the class.

Andrew Wiggins, Joel Embiid (if healthy), and Jabari Parker are the top-tier players, but there are a whole bunch of other guys who have the potential to turn into stars.

Using the big boards from seven of the best NBA Draft experts, came up with an expert consensus ranking of the the top 30 prospects.

The rankings we used: ESPN's Chad Ford, ESPN's Jay Bilas, Draft Express's Jonathan Givony, CBS Sports's Gary Parrish, SB Nation's Tyler Lashbrook, Sports Illustrated's NBA editors, and NBADraft.net's Aran Smith.

30. Jarnell Stokes, Tennessee

Average ranking: 24.8*

Position and height: Forward, 6'8"

Top 30's: 4 of 7

Thing to know: He missed a bunch of team workouts in early June after a scary car crash in Florida.

*Outside the top-30 in three rankings.

29. Jordan Clarkson, Missouri

Average ranking: 24.7*

Position and height: Guard, 6'5"

Top 30's: 4 of 7

Thing to know: His biggest weakness is shooting. He shot just 28% from 3-point range last year.

*Outside the top-30 in three rankings.

28. Jordan Adams, UCLA

Average ranking: 27.6*

Position and height: Guard, 6'5"

Top 25's: 5 of 7

Thing to know: He initially announced he was going to stay in school before changing his mind at the last minute. He's now the 3rd-ranked prospect on his own team.

*Outside the top-30 in two rankings.