Its time to head home! Although it was a bittersweet goodbye to leave the warm weather and palm trees a little piece of me was more than happy to head home where I belong; the east coast. As we were going through security I thought about what life would be like if I lived out on the west coast. Would I turn into a crunchy granola person? What kind of car would I drive? Would I still be the same person I am today? The environment you grow up in determines almost everything that makes you who you are. So to answer my question I think I could live out on the west coast if it meant pursuing my careers in ways I couldn't find possible over on the east coast. It would change my life in significant ways but I think overall it would be worth the risk of switching what side of the country I lived on.
As for my flight home I had the pleasure of endure my own personalized roller-coaster. The turbulence was not in our favor so for a majority of the six hour flight I spent it trying not to throw up my lunch and listening to the rain bounce of the wings of the plane. Once we landed in Boston I don't think I have ever been so excited to get off a plane and be on the ground again. Once I was down at baggage claim I knew I was where I belonged for the time being because of who was there waiting to pick me up; my wonderful boyfriend who brought me stale doughnuts from dunkies. Although I was starving I couldn't put myself up to eat the doughnuts but I put a big smile on and remembered its the thought that counts.
Thank you to everyone who has been reading my blog throughout my trip out to Silicon Valley, I hoped I was able to keep you somewhat interested regardless of my poor writing skills.
Until next time,
Kaitlyn
Monday, March 16, 2015
San Francisco
Our last day of official business was spent visiting TuneIn Radio and Target's database offices.
The two offices had spoke about how they were recent moves into the offices they were located in. Our host Andrew Boch at TuneIn spoke about how they office only had about 100 people apart of it company since it made its move from Texas to Palo Alto to its current office out in San Francisco. His overall presentation was directed towards the IT and Engineering interested students. Unfortunately that left me to kinda doze off here and there but the one thing I noticed was that he didn't work for Human Resources but he knew everything that was changing within the company.
Our last session was spent with a Curry College alumni Shawn Edge and Targets Executive Recruiter Melissa Chu. Together they spoke about how they had recently had moved to the office so don't mind the boxes around the office space. As we walked around you noticed nobody had cubicles but instead everyone had a desk where you could see everyone you were working with so it was easier to collaborate on their current projects. Melissa Chu told us that no individual person will ever receive all the credit for a successful project but instead everyone will be given equal recognition. After the office tour we spent time in the IT end of the office where Shawn Edge gave a presentation that gave us an overview of the company and its current statistics amongst its competitors.
After we finished up our session at Target we made our way down to the pier for a group lunch before we were able to venture off on our own. For a nice restaurant on the pier in San Francisco you would've expected great service and food options but instead the servers took forever to bring us water let alone our orders. To top that off when the food arrived my salad looked like it was ordered off the children's menu because the portions were so small. Little to say I will not be returning to that restaurant again whenever I return back to west coast.
Once we ate we were allowed to venture off and explore the city on our own. A majority of the class decided to take a boat tour that took us under the Golden Gate Bridge, Treasure Island as well as the historical Alcatraz. The tour was filled with facts from origins of each landmark, a breezy boat ride as well as some of the wonder vitamin D.
To end our last day on a high note our lovey taxi driver took us to the curviest street in the city; Lombard Street. He explained how the streets popularity could cause a line of cars throughout the neighborhoods leading up to it for hours which caused the city to place a ban on who could drive down the road during certain times of the day. Luckily cab drivers and residential drivers were excluded from this rule. As we made our way back to our parking garage to head back to the hotel it was nice to know that I spent my last day wandering around the city and taking in the history of the city as well as its historical landmarks.
Until next time,
Kaitlyn
The two offices had spoke about how they were recent moves into the offices they were located in. Our host Andrew Boch at TuneIn spoke about how they office only had about 100 people apart of it company since it made its move from Texas to Palo Alto to its current office out in San Francisco. His overall presentation was directed towards the IT and Engineering interested students. Unfortunately that left me to kinda doze off here and there but the one thing I noticed was that he didn't work for Human Resources but he knew everything that was changing within the company.
Our last session was spent with a Curry College alumni Shawn Edge and Targets Executive Recruiter Melissa Chu. Together they spoke about how they had recently had moved to the office so don't mind the boxes around the office space. As we walked around you noticed nobody had cubicles but instead everyone had a desk where you could see everyone you were working with so it was easier to collaborate on their current projects. Melissa Chu told us that no individual person will ever receive all the credit for a successful project but instead everyone will be given equal recognition. After the office tour we spent time in the IT end of the office where Shawn Edge gave a presentation that gave us an overview of the company and its current statistics amongst its competitors.
After we finished up our session at Target we made our way down to the pier for a group lunch before we were able to venture off on our own. For a nice restaurant on the pier in San Francisco you would've expected great service and food options but instead the servers took forever to bring us water let alone our orders. To top that off when the food arrived my salad looked like it was ordered off the children's menu because the portions were so small. Little to say I will not be returning to that restaurant again whenever I return back to west coast.
Once we ate we were allowed to venture off and explore the city on our own. A majority of the class decided to take a boat tour that took us under the Golden Gate Bridge, Treasure Island as well as the historical Alcatraz. The tour was filled with facts from origins of each landmark, a breezy boat ride as well as some of the wonder vitamin D.
To end our last day on a high note our lovey taxi driver took us to the curviest street in the city; Lombard Street. He explained how the streets popularity could cause a line of cars throughout the neighborhoods leading up to it for hours which caused the city to place a ban on who could drive down the road during certain times of the day. Luckily cab drivers and residential drivers were excluded from this rule. As we made our way back to our parking garage to head back to the hotel it was nice to know that I spent my last day wandering around the city and taking in the history of the city as well as its historical landmarks.
Until next time,
Kaitlyn
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Apple Facebook Wakatime
I don't even know where to start about today we spent a majority of the day visiting the Apple headquarters learning about different positions as well as moves within the company over the yearly quarter. They showed us the soon to be new apple campus across the 280 Expressway but then served us lunch as if we were clients of Apple. 
After we finished our visit at Apple we migrated over to Facebook and had the hardest time finding a parking spot. There were cars boxing other cars in thanks to their lovely "complimentary vallet service."
Due to this we had to park on the opposite side of the campus from where we were supposed to actually be but regardless we had a great session. We were able to walk the entire campus and learn about the amenities all the employees received just for working there. They spoke highly about trying to make everyone's lives easier and if it meant having an on sight laundry/dry cleaning service so be it. Before we end our visit we were to take a sneak peak into Instagrams "anti gravity photo booth" that was furnished with furniture Mark Zuckerberg used to sit in before he upgraded to nicer furniture.
By the end of the session we were all completely wiped out and decided to switch our last session to be located poolside rather than up in the professors suite. We spent the end of our day sitting around eating tasty food and drinking a couple libations while learning about Priyanka Sharma's start up company WakaTime. The start up essentially allows contractors to look our their data to see how long it takes coding to be produced as well as it's success rate. Sharma's reference for a better understanding was directed towards the Fitbit Health App. Once the reference was made it was easier to understand what she talking about. Now that I have successfully typed my fastest blog I am relaxing since we have a big day out in San Francisco tomorrow.
Until next time,
Kaitlyn
Google - Boxfish - Criteo
Today we went to one of the worlds largest search engines, the number one place to work in the world as well as one of the most innovative companies to be apart of. Unfortunately we did not get to explore as much as we had originally intended too. Yesterday we were scheduled for a campus tour but our guide from HR fell through, so instead we decided to venture out on the colorful bikes recognized as "google bikes." 
Sadly this adventure ended short when security promptly asked us to get off the bikes. Not too long after we decided to call it quits and head out to next appointment of the day BoxFish. It was located in downtown Palo Alto it was a small building space with desktop screens all over the counters and only 5-6 people typing away as we entered the roomie workspace. We spoke with co founders Eoin Dowling and Kevin Burkitt spoke highly of the valley and how easy it was to start their company within the first few days of them arriving in Silicon Valley. The way Dowling described how the company worked as well how successful they have become since the company started you could tell how much it meant to the two of them. For an IT major you understood what they were discussing when it came to their source codes and data analytical you knew how it worked and what the outcome could be. As for me I couldnt figure what was going on if my life depended on it.
Our last visit of the day was with a small start up called Criteo. It was an dad retirement retargeting company that helped their clients increase sales by showing ads for recently searched items on their social media pages. Overall it made sense but unless you know how to code I don't think you would be able to blend into that company as well as an engineer or Information tech might.
After all of our appointments we ended the night at a nice restaurant in down Palo Alto named Trellis. It was a quiet Italian place so it was easy to have conversation with our dinner guests. Once the dinner ended we decided to make a stop at this local 24/7 donut shop called Happy Donuts. 
These were homemade on site and tasted amazing. I could've eaten a dozen but I didn't want to get sick from the sugar rush. Now that the day is over it's time for some sleep
Until next time,
Kaitlyn
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Stanford - In & Out Burger
Today we were able to visit Stanford University for a walking tour of the beautiful campus. The campus was lined with 166 palm trees when you drove down Palm Drive (the main road to campus). It was a perfect 65 degrees out so it was ideal weather to stroll around the large campus.
1. The campus would always be coed
2. Stanford would be secretarial based campus (even thou there's a huge church on campus!)
3. Stanford would never turned someone away based on race, ethnicity, culture etc
4. Stanford will never sell their land (hence why they lease to VMware)
5. Stanford will be tuition free (in 1920 they began charging students $140- caused riots!)
After lunch we browsed around the Computer History Museum. We were able to sit inside a computer driven car, browse the earth from a satellite with Googles newest version of its Google Earth Program where you had to use a toggle to guide yourself across the map. I think my favorite part of today was buying a sweatshirt from Stanford's bookstore so I could have a little keepsake from the perfect college to attend if you wanted to go to big school with good weather year round.
Until next time,
Kaitlyn
Monday, March 9, 2015
VMware & NetApp
On our first official day of business we visited VMware and NetApp. One is located in Sunnydale, the other in Palo Alto. When we went to VMware it looked like we stepped on an ecofriendly college campus. They had "no now grass" that doesn't need maintenance it can just be left be year round. VMware spoke highly about how they're all about being green and never let anything go to waste they compost almost everything and anything. The campus itself was 94% sustainable from just recycled goods and only 3% of the energy used throughout the campus was electric.
However when we went to NetApp they spoke about being ecofriendly but they didn't show it as much. They didn't show solar panels or compost centers they only provided products for eating that were made of recycled materials when they provided us lunch. Both campus were very similar but of the two you could tell who really cared about the environment more.
Overall it was a great first day out in the valley and to top it off I received an ecofriendly water bottle from our concierge host Jeff Goodall during our visit at VMware.
Until next time,
Kaitlyn
Sunday, March 8, 2015
We made it alive!
Today I woke up at the crack of dawn to make the long drive from Connecticut to Logan Airport for my flight to California for the chance to learn more about Silicon Valley. We boarded at 8:22a and from there I spent seven long hours trying to get comfortable but failed miserably. I leaned on a class mate I leaned on the fold out table but nothing seamed to work. I got to the point of misery where I slumped down in my seat in hope to catch some rest and luckily I did. When I woke up I had found we were climbing over the Rocky Mountains and wow what a view.
The rest of the flight was quiet and surprisingly smooth accordingly to colleagues that have flown before. As much as a I do not like to fly I found today's adventure to be more manageable than the last time. Once we arrived in Palo Alto we were able to enjoy with our professors who were more fun than they perceived themselves to be at times. We laughed and joked as if it was a regular vacation. I feel this trip will be a lot more enjoyable now that we've all bonded over great food and libations.
Until next time,
Kaitlyn
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