I’m currently making a whirlwind visit to San Francisco for the Fortune Most Powerful Women Next Gen summit, and a couple of lovely members from the Glass team were kind enough to give me a tour of the Googleplex while I’m in town.
For a tech geek like me this is the holy grail of opportunities, and I truly felt like a kid on Christmas morning as I arrived at the famous campus (there are others who may get the same feeling when I arrive home and distribute my bag of goodies from the on-campus Google store)!
To add to the Christmas feeling, holiday decorations were scattered throughout the campus, all with a snowy-theme somewhat at odds with the balmy outside temperatures.
Super-sized versions of many of the oh-so-familiar Google products were on display, and it was more than a little hilarious to be waiting for the giant Google Street View installation while the people in front of us searched for Parliament House in Canberra, where I had dinner just last Monday night! What are the odds?!
Continuing the Australian theme, we also passed a version of foosball I’d never seen before, not sure whether it is actually called fooscricket, but talk about going above and beyond to make the Aussie feel at home (and no Sam, I don’t have one of these in my suitcase to bring home for you)!
We’ve all heard so much about the supercool workplace design at Google, and that was evidenced everywhere we went. There were so many food options, from the ‘traditional tech’ junk style to the healthy choice canteens and of course, no shortage of coffee! My favourite had to be the giant slide, and the employee only policy meant that I wasn’t even tempted to try my recovering ankle out on it….
Primary colours were everywhere, and one of my favourite spots was the Android ‘garden,’where giant models of each release stood side by side, with no shortage of the well-known Google bikes adding an extra touch of colour.
Thank you so much to Becca and Tanner who hosted me for my visit (and Ethan who provided the initial introduction). I’m so appreciative of this great opportunity to visit one of the most iconic workplaces of our time. Being part of the Google Glass Explorer program has opened so many doors for me, and this was definitely one of the most exciting ones!