Quick! Someone Google: Google

On Tuesday, April 2, thirty-two Cranford High School students embarked on a school bus to New York City.  Mr. Richard Bell, of the Mathematics and Computer Science department set up this field trip for students to experience one of the most unconventional offices filled with some of the most gifted technological minds of our time.

As the students entered the Google Offices in New York City, the sheer size of the building, the entire city block, humbled many students.  Junior Stefan Gorski said, "Going to Google was probably one of the most interesting days in my life. Seeing such an awesome office filled with thousands of brilliant minds left me awestruck. After the trip I think everyone felt inspired!"  

The first stop was with five programmers who led a panel discussion. They worked on Google Docs, Google Maps, GPS algorithms and a few other projects they were unable to talk about. The students were exposed to details about a typical day for the programmers, where ideas for new technologies come from, and how both teamwork and individual work and learning are important.  Google has a 20% policy, which is a belief that 20% of your time at Google can be spent learning and doing independent projects, like the April Fool’s joke Google Nose or a 3D rendering of every building in the world.  The students found it unusual that even though they had managers, no one was looking over their shoulders and telling them what to do next.  Most of the time these discussions consists of the managers asking, “what can I do for you?” Senior Eamon Cagney describes the panel. "They made it sound like the most interesting job in the world; these were people solving problems that were entirely new and unique, kinds of scenarios that had never been tackled or even anticipated before.  When they described a platform they developed or a data set they recovered, you could see their faces light up; I really have never seen anyone so excited to do their job."  Senior Liam Laverty agrees, saying, "It seems like everyone really enjoys their job and is able to use their creativity to benefit the company."

After lunch in Chelsea Market, the students were eager to get back to get a closer look at the offices that housed these happy programmers, technicians, engineers, accountants, lawyers and administrators.  Junior Molly O’Brien said, “Seeing how excited everyone was to be working there made me excited to continuing learning about coding."  Senior Jason Pastuzyn loved that they called all employees that have been there for less than six months “Newglers!” We saw many mini-cafes to supply the workforce with free food and break rooms with ping pong, pool, treadmills and climbing walls to help relieve stress. Numerous bookshelves were filled with educational material someone donated after using them to expand knowledge in vast directions, and there was even a Lego room with many pieces of Lego-Art created by the workforce on display.  Sophomore Ruslan Polyanskiy commented that "the freedom and casual nature of the office is not something you think of when you think of a multi-billion dollar company, but it allows for some of the most efficient workplaces I've ever seen."  Maybe it is the scooters throughout the offices that help the Newglers get around the enormous office so quickly?

Junior Nick Sutera said, "I’m certain everyone had a new respect and understanding of the complexity and efficiency of their everyday computer applications, once they met the people behind them."  Besides building a desire to work for Google, this trip gave these students a glimpse into what their future might hold. They learned that passion drives opportunity, and that asking questions, talking to people and collaborating can make troubleshooting and ultimately problem solving that much easier.  Special thanks to the Google programmers that gave their time to talk to the CHS students, and Program Manager Erin Mindell for making this possible.