Invicta Vlogs
Silicon Valley - Day 1 and Day 2
From Abigail Mckeown 12T and Mrs Lloyd
26 October 2016
Day 1: We travelled for 24hrs arriving in the evening California time after an 11 hour flight. We settled very quickly into the hotel located in San Jose, Silicon Valley, CA.
27 October 2016
Day 2:
We visited the world headquarters of Facebook and had a talk with Chuck Rossi, CTE Engineering Director.
We learned from Rossi that every 30 mins they carry out a ‘Continuous Integration’ where they test the systems and review changes.
Once every quarter Facebook holds a "Hackathon" which lasts for 24hrs. Every employee is entitled to do what ever they want such as changes or new ideas. It is an opportunity for creativity and experimentation.
The Facebook campus is wonderful, there are many places to eat with restaurants and cafes themed to serve cuisine from around the world. There are also areas for employees to carry out their personal hobbies and interests such as a music hall woodworking area, creating a community with in itself.
After our visit to the Facebook Campus we travelled across Silicon Valley to Electronic Arts, the world’s largest computer games company. It was very exciting to see the creative images within the office interiors. We were given lunch by Carolyn Troyan VP of HR and were joined by their leading female engineer for the suite of the SIMS games, Lyndsey Pearson who explained what she did and about the various teams and roles involved in games design from creative, technical, IT and product development and promotion.
From there we travelled to San Francisco to the offices of UBER. We were given a talk by Thuan Pham, the CTO who was one of the key figures in the success of the business. UBER is the fastest growing company in the world. It was inspiring hearing about their development so far and their plans for the future in a world of automated cars and lorries. We were joined by four of their top female engineers who were very passionate and enthusiastic about their roles and about the company.
All the people we spoke to throughout the day had the same message that there was a considerable shortage of female engineers and the need for many more to cope with global demand.
The day ended with a visit to ‘In and Out’ for a famous Double Double burger only available in California!
