More than 40 Delta College students and faculty visited Googleplex, the corporate headquarters of Google Inc. on Monday.
Funded by the Delta College Foundation, the trip gave students and faculty the opportunity to tour the Mountain View campus as well as meet with former Delta students now working for the company.
Activities included a question and answer session, a meditation exercise and tour of the campus and Google store.
“I had a lot of time to program and code at Delta. It was my formative years for really learning how to be a programmer,” said Todd Poynor.
Poynor is a Stockton native, a former Delta College student and has worked at Googleplex for more than four years.
He currently works for Google X, a facility dedicated to making technological advancements, working on projects such as Google contact lenses, Google Glass and Google’s self-driving car. The trip catered to those interested in pursuing engineering but many of the attendees were not pursuing engineering majors.
The majority of attendees comprised of students from Dr. Elizabeth Maloney’s psychology class.
Googleplex coordinator Austin Lin said psychology correlates to the company’s philosophy.
“Think of the skills and know how to look at different conflicting points of view. Those skills whether you’re writing code or writing a paper — it’s a way of thinking. It’s how your process, regardless if you’re a psychology major or engineering major,” said Lin.
Lin also said a highlight about working for Google is all of the different kinds of people he gets to work with.
“Sharing the moment with others — little things like that have been awesome,” said Lin. Other students in attendance were part of the journalism and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) program.
Prior to arriving, STEM student Kevin Alejandrino had high hopes for the trip.
“I’m really excited. It’s a good opportunity for me because I’m a computer science major,” he said.
Alejandrino emigrated from the Philippines two years ago. This is his first year at Delta.
Towards the end of the trip, Alejandrino reflected on his day at Googleplex.
“It was everything I had hoped for and more,” said Alejandrino.
He also said it was inspiring to hear the speakers talk about their fields, especially since it geared towards engineers.
“My favorite part was when they said, ‘the degree is not important, it’s how you strive to achieve whatever your goal is’,” he said.
