On November 11, the Introduction to Computer Science class, the Tech Help Center Club, and the high school and middle school Technology Toolkit options class took a field trip to the Google Office at the Mori Tower Building in Roppongi. Organised by Mr. C. Thompson, the 49 students were chaperoned by Mrs. Yaegashi, Ms. Pomroy, Mr. Martindale, Ms. Shull, and Mr. S. Thompson.

After being welcomed by Google employees, the students toured their offices on the 26th~28th and 30th floors. Kazuki (11)  said, “They’re trying to bring out creativity in people and I thought that was really nice.” The spacious and unique designs made students realize the importance of creativity throughout the tour. The tour guide explained to us that the drinks in the vending machine in the Google Cafeteria were all free, in order to provide a relaxing and comfortable workplace for all workers.

Students were then led to a large meeting room where a solution consultant at Google began a presentation on encouraging women to study engineering. In the presentation she recalled how she decided to pursue both computer science and economics after discovering computer science in her sophomore year at college, and entered Google after working in IT at a bank.

In addition, she talked about how flexible the field is: employees are able to work from home, from the hospital, and even on holiday destinations (if they really like the job). Anjana (12) said, “Visiting Google was such an incredible experience. Apart from the office tour, what intrigued me most was a speech by a current woman engineer at Google. By listening to her speak, I was able to realise the importance of women in computer science, a primarily male-dominated field.”

A Sacred Heart alumni who is now working as an Engineering Director at Google was one of three engineers that answered students’ questions. In addition to encouraging students to pursue a computer engineering career, she also mentioned the wonderful experiences that she has had from working in the field of computer science.

When asked about the what qualities were most important for working at Google, one of the representatives who worked in recruiting said, “Creativity, leadership skills, versatility and, of course, Googleyness (fit) are the most important skills.”

To wrap up their visit to Google, the students were able to experience computer programming by constructing their own chat client. This was a tough activity for some; however, in the end, students were able to successfully build and program their own chat group.

Reflecting on the session, Hana (11) said, “We thought that if you wanted to work at Google, you had to work up to it — but it seemed they wanted to do what they love, then stumbled into Google. If what you love happens to be a good fit, you just fall into it.”

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Ms. Yaegashi