The Curry College trip to Silicon Valley was an amazing experience all around. I think there should be more opportunities for students to travel with the school and experience new environments, specifically in the workplace. During this trip, we as students got to observe a completely new business environment and culture. It opened my eyes to other parts of the country and made me see not all business environments are similar to that of the east coast. The workplace was much more casual in Silicon Valley, however everyone seemed happy and content with their current situation.
In Silicon Valley, we were able to compare and contrast companies of different size and stages of maturity. We were able to visit Fortune 500 businesses such as Apple, Google, and Facebook. Additionally we visited start up businesses looking to shape their goals and propel themselves into future success. Having the opportunity to experience these drastically different environments was very useful and could influence the direction I chose following graduation. One comment I have is that I think in the future it might be nice to visit one larger corporation, one medium size company, and one start up each day in Silicon Valley for the next class trip. This would give the opportunity to compare larger and smaller businesses each day, and not be too overwhelmed by say an Apple and Google in the same day. This is just some minor feedback, as the trip as a whole was an amazing educational experience. Students need more opportunities to visit the real world environment in the field of interest for each student.
The selection of businesses was perfect in my opinion. There were some businesses which I had no idea about prior to this class trip. I thought the mix of start ups with larger corporations was a great choice, and I wouldn't suggest changing too much in the future. Perhaps one more free day in the middle of the week to re-energize. But otherwise, it was a perfect week in Silicon Valley.
One suggestion unrelated to the Silicon Valley trip. I think Curry College should further encourage internships to gain more experience in the real world environment with real world application. It seemed as if the companies in Silicon Valley expected a number of internships as prior experience. However it doesn't seem like many Curry students have undertaken internships in the field that they wish to enter following graduation. As we continues visiting businesses in Silicon Valley, I noticed that internships were brought up contuinuously. Perhaps Curry should require at least one internship? Just a takeaway from the whole experience that I thought I should mention.
-David Blythe
Sunday, March 26, 2017
Friday, March 17, 2017
Silicon Valley - Movie Reflection
Considering I have been to California before, I think that I have a little bit of a different perspective from others since most people on the trip have not been here before. I have spent most of my time in the San Francisco area however, so Palo Alto, Mountain View and everywhere else we stayed were fairly new to me.
It was interesting seeing everything in person for the first time after seeing the film about Silicon Valley. I had always known the general background story behind the Valley - how many tech startups are rooted from this area, and some of the biggest companies in the world have both started here and are headquartered here.
There are a couple of takeaways from the movie that I want to mention here in my blog. The first takeaway was that the transistor was arguably the biggest turning point in tech and engineering and was the beginning spark in my opinion for Silicon Valley. It was interesting to learn about the speculation around William Shockley's company, and how he began to act much differently around his employees. What I mean by that is that Shockley made it a point to everyone that he wanted everything done his way and no other way. However, this was not always the case and he began to generate frustration amongst many of his employees and this created for an unpleasant working environment. The two-way communication between Shockley and his employees worsened, and as a result many of his employees shifted their focus from the transistor to the 4-layer dial. With that being said, the second takeaway from the movie is that due to this, a small group from Shockley's company ventured off and continued to pursue their vision. This was one of the smartest decisions that group ever made, because as seen in the movie it led to their partnership with Sherman Fairchild and then the creation of the Fairchildren. Instead of buying into Shockley's attempt at being an autocratic leader, they resisted his leadership style and pursued their vision. Their vision led to what is the greatest hub for tech and engineering today.
-David
It was interesting seeing everything in person for the first time after seeing the film about Silicon Valley. I had always known the general background story behind the Valley - how many tech startups are rooted from this area, and some of the biggest companies in the world have both started here and are headquartered here.
There are a couple of takeaways from the movie that I want to mention here in my blog. The first takeaway was that the transistor was arguably the biggest turning point in tech and engineering and was the beginning spark in my opinion for Silicon Valley. It was interesting to learn about the speculation around William Shockley's company, and how he began to act much differently around his employees. What I mean by that is that Shockley made it a point to everyone that he wanted everything done his way and no other way. However, this was not always the case and he began to generate frustration amongst many of his employees and this created for an unpleasant working environment. The two-way communication between Shockley and his employees worsened, and as a result many of his employees shifted their focus from the transistor to the 4-layer dial. With that being said, the second takeaway from the movie is that due to this, a small group from Shockley's company ventured off and continued to pursue their vision. This was one of the smartest decisions that group ever made, because as seen in the movie it led to their partnership with Sherman Fairchild and then the creation of the Fairchildren. Instead of buying into Shockley's attempt at being an autocratic leader, they resisted his leadership style and pursued their vision. Their vision led to what is the greatest hub for tech and engineering today.
-David
Silicon Valley - Day 6
Today we started off with taking a trip to Aruba, which is a Hewlett Packard enterprise company. They seemed to be an all in one network, conference and equipment set up and integration contractor. I observed a lot of new and cool technology at Aruba which I had not seen before. They had wireless connections from cell phones to TV in conference rooms. They have location maps and the ability to track employee data and see an aggregate of relative metrics. Aruba seems to have the solution to problems which average employees and executives may not be asking. I think all businesses with a large number of employees should call Aruba to inquire of the various tools they offer. It seems a lot of their equipment both software and hardware could be incredibly useful to a massive number of businesses in all sectors. The business environment was similar to the corporate structure that I have observed in Silicon Valley. This same environment and culture is very attractive and motivation as a potential employee. Aruba was a great first business to visit for this sixth day in the Valley.
We visited Apple after the visit to Aruba. Apple is just finishing their new campus which will be the largest company building in the world. Unfortunately we didn't get to explore Apples new campus. But we were given probably the best presentation of the Silicon Valley trip in my opinion. Apple is very product driven with a massive portion of profits being reinvested into research and design. They have an emphasis on innovation and the culture at Apple is all about innovation. I came away from the Apple visit with a new interest in coding. Apple has a free book on the Apple book store teaching individuals to code in Swift which is the iOS developers coding language. I downloaded those tutorials upon leaving Apple. I plan to watch the whole series and hopefully learn how to code. O want to be able to develope applications for ideas that I have. Actually be able to bring ideas to foition. I had a great time at Apple and the employees who presented to us brought a lot of useful information.
The computer meuseum was last on today's agenda. This was cool to walk through, however it was the least exciting thing for the day in my opinion. I like observing a bit of the long history, but I prefer learning and seeing new things and futuristic things. Today was a great last day of visiting companies in Silicon Valley.
-David
We visited Apple after the visit to Aruba. Apple is just finishing their new campus which will be the largest company building in the world. Unfortunately we didn't get to explore Apples new campus. But we were given probably the best presentation of the Silicon Valley trip in my opinion. Apple is very product driven with a massive portion of profits being reinvested into research and design. They have an emphasis on innovation and the culture at Apple is all about innovation. I came away from the Apple visit with a new interest in coding. Apple has a free book on the Apple book store teaching individuals to code in Swift which is the iOS developers coding language. I downloaded those tutorials upon leaving Apple. I plan to watch the whole series and hopefully learn how to code. O want to be able to develope applications for ideas that I have. Actually be able to bring ideas to foition. I had a great time at Apple and the employees who presented to us brought a lot of useful information.
The computer meuseum was last on today's agenda. This was cool to walk through, however it was the least exciting thing for the day in my opinion. I like observing a bit of the long history, but I prefer learning and seeing new things and futuristic things. Today was a great last day of visiting companies in Silicon Valley.
-David
Silicon Valley - Day 5
Let's just say the fifth day in California was a blast! It was the first day in San Francisco and we started the day off visiting Square, Spoke and Moovweb. This was a successful day of visiting companies, as I enjoyed observing all three of these businesses.
Square gives the customer the tools to receive payment in form of credit or debit card as well as Apple Pay and Android Pay. They sell cheap receivers which connect to Apple and Android devices. These payment receivers are very small and simple and can even connect to cell phones. Square makes there money one or two percent at a time, taking a small commission of sales from the millions of people who use Square registers. The Square business environment was the best of the day. All types of work spaces existed in this workspace, including open desk areas, enclosed areas, conference rooms, large auditorium stares, kitchen spaces, etc. everyone in Silicon Valley and at Square seems to genuinely like their jobs and lives. Something that's honestly quiet different from the east coast. Square is a very interesting company with a great culture to match.
Spoke was a small start up company with the majority of employees working as software developers or engineers. Spoke is essentially a search engine taylored to individual companies which learns from data and continues to improve. It is a relatively small start up which is about to launch the final version of the application.
Moovweb is a company which turns desktop web sites into mobile format and optimize the UI and UX. They work with over 200 very successful companies. They focus on the format and the checkout experience. They seem to have a great business model and foundation, as they are providing a tool that's becoming much more relevant and important in this day and age.
After visiting these companies we were able to explore the city of San Francisco. We went to Fishermans Wharf and walked the board walk. We went to Twin Peaks to overlook the city of San Francisco and saw an amazing view of the city. We walked and found a food truck festival and had some of the best chicken wings I've ever eaten. The time exploring in San Francisco was an amazing time and probably the best day I've had while on this trip. It's been an amazing experience with all the different things we are experiencing along the way.
-David
Moovweb is a company which turns desktop web sites into mobile format and optimize the UI and UX. They work with over 200 very successful companies. They focus on the format and the checkout experience. They seem to have a great business model and foundation, as they are providing a tool that's becoming much more relevant and important in this day and age.
After visiting these companies we were able to explore the city of San Francisco. We went to Fishermans Wharf and walked the board walk. We went to Twin Peaks to overlook the city of San Francisco and saw an amazing view of the city. We walked and found a food truck festival and had some of the best chicken wings I've ever eaten. The time exploring in San Francisco was an amazing time and probably the best day I've had while on this trip. It's been an amazing experience with all the different things we are experiencing along the way.
-David
Silicon Valley - Day 4
On day four of Silicon Valley, we visited Lockheed Martin, Hacker Dojo and the NASA visitors center. Lockheed Martin stood out significantly over the other two. Hacker Dojo was more of a workspace where anyone could pay a fee to use the space and equipment for the day. It looked like a library work environment. At NASA we just went to the visitors center and the gift shop which in my opinion were some of the least stand out visits in the trip. However it was still good to take a look so we can compare and contrast the visits in Silicon Valley.
Lockheed Martin was a very impressive company who we visited on this fourth day of the Silicon Valley trip. Lockheed Martin is a military defense contractor who works directly with the United States government. They get an incredible amount of funding from the government and create some futuristic technology for all kinds of purposes. Lockheed Martin makes all kinds of solar panals for satellite and radar detection which are sent into space. They make massive high beam lasers as a defensive mechanism. They make missiles and nuclear equipment as well as their THAAD primary military system. They send defense mechanisms, radars, troops, etc all over the world to protect our nation and help disarm conflicts world wide. There is a ton of classified information which wasn't disclosed to us. But the brief information we were told was impressive to say the least. The sheer size of Lockheed Martins one base with all the divisions and funding was mind blowing. Lockheed Martin was very different from the tech firms we have seen in Silicon Valley, but it's great to compare and contrast all the different companies we have visited in Silicon Valley California.
Lockheed Martin was a very impressive company who we visited on this fourth day of the Silicon Valley trip. Lockheed Martin is a military defense contractor who works directly with the United States government. They get an incredible amount of funding from the government and create some futuristic technology for all kinds of purposes. Lockheed Martin makes all kinds of solar panals for satellite and radar detection which are sent into space. They make massive high beam lasers as a defensive mechanism. They make missiles and nuclear equipment as well as their THAAD primary military system. They send defense mechanisms, radars, troops, etc all over the world to protect our nation and help disarm conflicts world wide. There is a ton of classified information which wasn't disclosed to us. But the brief information we were told was impressive to say the least. The sheer size of Lockheed Martins one base with all the divisions and funding was mind blowing. Lockheed Martin was very different from the tech firms we have seen in Silicon Valley, but it's great to compare and contrast all the different companies we have visited in Silicon Valley California.
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Silicon Valley - Day 3
Today we visited Progressly, Facebook and Google in Silicon Valley California. I was able to observe some very different business cultures and lifestyles. When comparing and contrasting the businesses we visited today, my assumptions were almost backwards. Progressly is a start up company with a small amount of employees doing a lot of different work. It seemed a bit more hectic and all the employees were on task and at their work stations. At Facebook and Google, the atmosphere seemed much more relaxed and I observed a much smaller percentage of employees actually doing meaningful work. At large corporations such as Facebook and Google, I had assumed the corporate lifestyle was a grind all day everyday in attempt to please a hire up. It seems as though my assumptions regarding large corporations and small start ups were backwards. Facebook and Google had similar elements to their individual campuses which were both very attractive. It was very interesting to observe these businesses and be able to compare and contrast the real world environments.
Facebook campus and the Facebook company in general is probably my favorite out of all the companies we have visited in Silicon Valley. Their campus had a wide variety of amazing food, all of which was free to employees. Employees could actually get unlimited free food on campus. If I worked at Facebook, I would never eat anywhere else and get all my food for free. Facebook campus also had many other elements including a gym, game room, sports courts, shuttles, etc. The work environment and culture that I observed at Facebook has been the most attractive to me up to this point in the trip. We are just going to have to wait and see if Apple can top Facebook.
-David
Facebook campus and the Facebook company in general is probably my favorite out of all the companies we have visited in Silicon Valley. Their campus had a wide variety of amazing food, all of which was free to employees. Employees could actually get unlimited free food on campus. If I worked at Facebook, I would never eat anywhere else and get all my food for free. Facebook campus also had many other elements including a gym, game room, sports courts, shuttles, etc. The work environment and culture that I observed at Facebook has been the most attractive to me up to this point in the trip. We are just going to have to wait and see if Apple can top Facebook.
-David
Monday, March 13, 2017
Silicon Valley - Day 2
Today we visited Survey Monkey, Intel and Microsoft. These are all businesses with locations in Silicon Valley California. Out of the businesses we visited, Survey Monkey and Microsoft stood out in my mind. Survey Monkey had a business culture unlike any other business I have seen. Their work environment seemed very group oriented with an emphasis on inclusion and support. An employee told us he worked with brilliant and like minded people, however no one was trying to prove they were any better or smarter then the next employee. All the walls were glass with open work spaces which gave the impression that no one was segregated or hiding anything. This work culture and environment included a cafe for the employees, a game room, and exercising room, treadmill desk stations, etc. The work environment was incredibly attractive and encouraging. I would absolutely work for a business like Survey Monkey.
Microsoft stood out for separate reasons. They seemed to have an emphasis on creativity and innovation by any means necessary. The Microsoft work environment seemed less structured and scheduled. It appeared as if Microsoft gives their employees freedom to create through a vast variety of means, as long as they deliver results. The Microsoft employee who told us his career history gave the impression that employees could move around in the company and change positions as they please. This was a good experience and it was interesting to compare and contrast these two major companies.
-David
Microsoft stood out for separate reasons. They seemed to have an emphasis on creativity and innovation by any means necessary. The Microsoft work environment seemed less structured and scheduled. It appeared as if Microsoft gives their employees freedom to create through a vast variety of means, as long as they deliver results. The Microsoft employee who told us his career history gave the impression that employees could move around in the company and change positions as they please. This was a good experience and it was interesting to compare and contrast these two major companies.
-David
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