My Google Journey (4)

Day 4 (5/25)

Reserved seating at TGIF for the Nooglers!

Activities:

• Attended workshops about Open Source, and Developer Testing.
• Participated in first TGIF (on a Thursday)
• Completed online trainings for sexual harassment and for the code of conduct (woot, ethics and compliance)

What I Learned Today:

A snapshot about the services Google provides — courtesy of the visitor center

• It’s very important to pay attention to open source licenses — or the lack thereof. Just because it’s on GitHub, doesn’t mean it’s open source, and just because it’s open source, doesn’t mean you can use it how you’d like.
• You never really understand how inspiring it can be to hear from the co-founders of your large company… until you do. Because of the motivation and inspiration company leaders can provide, it’s incredibly important that employees feel they’re being engaged and valued by their leaders.
• Along similar lines, transparency in a company is also crucial for employee engagement and satisfaction. Although not everyone was pleased with the answers they heard, at least employees know that each week, Sergey and Larry and other company leaders take the time to recognize their questions and concerns.
• Sexual harassment isn’t always obvious, and someone shouldn’t always have to say “no” for it to be considered harassment.

Reflection:

Something that frustrated me today was seeing people who didn’t understand nor appreciate the position they are in here at Google. During multiple workshops I would end up next to people who not only completely disregarded the speaker, but would also blatantly hold conversations with their neighbors, which not only took away the attention of those they were talking to, but also distracted the ones around them (namely, me). I completely understand that not everyone was fully immersed in the workshops, and I’ll admit that even I struggled to listen at times. However, there were still people around me at least trying to listen, and at the very least, our speakers — who volunteered their time to speak to us — deserved a silent, even-pretending-to-listen audience. At times, I felt I should have said something, but I had no authority and I am anything but confrontational.

One of my favorite Google perks: Massages! Hopefully it helps with my antsiness.

More than anything, I just feel antsy to get started with my project. I even went out of my way to ask my mentors/hosts what I could do during my free time — not because I have a lot of free time, but I feel anxious not being more productive with my time. While I am learning through my orientation, I learn best through activities and application. Everyone keeps saying I should calm down and enjoy everything, but I am happiest when I am busy, I guess.