It was 6:30 am and it felt like the sky was coming down along with the rain, which did not make it any easier to run to catch the bus from Merion (my dorm). Nevertheless, I made it in time, grabbed my breakfast and plopped on one of the bus seats. I quickly finished my sandwich and before I knew it, I was asleep.
The bus took fifteen students, including me, and four LILAC (The Leadership, Innovation, and Liberal Arts Center) staff members to New York City for a two-day “tech trip” on March 22nd. New York’s weather was a little gloomy, but it did little to dull our excitement as we made our way to Google’s office. We were received by Lauren Guerrant; she is the Women’s College Outreach for Google, who has been in contact with Bryn Mawr College. This part of the trip was an extension of LILAC’s Google Intensive, which happens during winter break, where Google engineers come in, teach us how to use Android Studio and make us do projects.
The first part of our morning at Google was having breakfast and checking out all the Google goodies we were given! Later, we were joined by three “Googlers” for a discussion session, and they shared their experiences of working at Google, the how and what of their path to Google and their thoughts on women in technology – including support from other members of their work communities. Personally, it felt like a relief to hear from a fellow Googler that Google hires a lot of Computer Science majors for non-software engineering jobs and a lot of non-CS majors for various positions like product/project managers, which has significant exposure to technology too!
After that session, we went on a short tour of the floors that were accessible to us. Apparently, each floor has a different theme of decoration (one was Pac-Man themed!) We looked at a working floor where many Googlers were working in their rooms, cubicles etc. There were spaces for them to nap, with massage chairs here and there and oh, there was a small theater as well. The total span size of Google’s office is said to be larger than the Empire State Building! (Fact: Some Googlers use scooters to move from one place to the other.)
According to our tour guide, there is also “a policy” that there needs to be an eating space within some feet of each working space; hence, they have a lot of kitchens with all kinds of fruits, snacks etc. We also went to their gaming room; I tried playing basketball, made a complete fool out of myself and proved that some things never change.
We ended the tour with lunch, which was followed by a #IamRemarkable workshop led by Laurent. Everyone in the room shared the things that made us remarkable. It was pretty difficult to stand in front of everyone and “praise yourself” for, what felt like an eternity. Nevertheless, that was the point of the workshop- so that women become less hesitant of sharing their achievements and can pride themselves of doing great things. Honestly, I had tears in my eyes when I shared with the group because I never truly realized how many things I had done until I had said them out loud.
“#IamRemarkable is a Google initiative empowering women and underrepresented groups to celebrate their achievements in the workplace and beyond.”
Following the workshop, we quickly left Google’s office for the hotel to drop off our bags because we had some remaining plans (I really didn’t want to leave!) Nonetheless, the hotel was absolutely breathtaking. They had a pool over the lounge – as in, instead of the ceiling! Anyway, we quickly left for Code and Theory; “Code and Theory is a creative digital agency that designs products, content and campaigns across platforms.”
Their office is in the One World Trade Center and it is very spacious and circular (like you can keep going in circles); you can see the Statue of Liberty from there (that is the featured image for this post!) We were received by staff members of the recruiting team for Code and Theory. We took a quick tour around the office and we saw a Ryan Gosling cardboard cutout (Ah!)
Afterwards, we were taken to a conference room and staff members joined us for some casual presentation; they talked about their own experiences there, but they also talked about how to not change yourself for a role, but to rather look for a role that fits you. That really motivated me.
Lauren Schofield, the Director of Talent at Code and Theory, also talked about how women (everyone really) should talk about their salary, negotiate (reasonably) when they get an offer because most of the time, it will work out if the employer is capable for accommodating that and values the candidate enough. Some software engineers and creative technologists came and talked to us about their daily jobs and why they chose the place; they also discussed what it is like to work for an agency, which was very intriguing. After that, we ended the “Code and Theory” tour by going to the topmost floor (I think so) and we took amazing pictures “for Instagram”; that was literally why we were taken there. All in all, the working environment seemed very down-to-earth, and I absolutely loved it!
We ended the day by going together as group to dinner. Despite that we were all dying with hunger by then (figuratively), we laughed, saved some memories in pictures, and reflected on the stunning day we just had. Soon later, we went back to our hotel. After going to my room, I fell asleep almost immediately, like I had not slept for days (which was just partially true.)
The next day (Saturday) we had brunch at the hotel, but we were also joined by three alums who work in different technological fields- ad agency, IBM and Goldman Sachs! We ate together and talked about almost everything starting from which dorms they lived in on-campus to how they came across the job position they are in and the suggestions they have for us. We got great advice from the alums about building the right connections and reaching out to the right people; and after two hours of having brunch and chatting nonstop, we said our goodbyes. The trip back to Bryn Mawr was quiet as I dozed off quickly, tired from the intense two-day trip, but happy to have learnt so much in such a short time.
The amazing staff at LILAC are definitely finding more and more ways to help Mawrters secure their future, so a huge shoutout and thank you to LILAC. To end, I would just emphasize on how important it is to grab every relevant opportunity to your interests because you never know which one will lead you to your dream (so, definitely pay attention to those emails from LILAC and sign-up fast *wink* *wink*).
