Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Site visits to Google and Medtronic

Today we went on our first site visits to Google and Minneapolis-based Medtronic. At Google, we were given insight to the design process and learned how design and engineering are so closely linked. Medtronic gave us an in-depth explanation of its devices such as pacemakers.
Today we went on our first site visits to Google and Minneapolis-based Medtronic.

First we went to Google Australia. The building that Google was housed in was very unassuming and didn't even have "Google" written on the outside. However, we were amazed by the office once we got inside. The lobby was filled with things like scooters, a tire swing, and a unicycle. We were unable to take any photos past the lobby though.

We were given a presentation about design and engineering by one of the Google employees. He stressed the importance of the design process and tailoring the product to the consumer. Something he said that really stuck with me was that "repeatable actions are automatable."

Google employees are encouraged to think creatively and devote their time to projects that will move the company forward. The company policy is that 80 percent of your time is devoted to your day-to-day job, and 20 percent is to any project you feel is important. We were told by our tour guide that it is actually more like 100 percent at your daily job and an extra 20 percent on your own projects. Still, it seemed the Google employees seemed to not mind this at all and truly loved their work.

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After, we were given a tour of the office. The office not like any office we had ever seen before. There were break rooms filled with food and things like video games and napping pods. We walked out onto the balcony and saw a beautiful view of Sydney as well. Once the tour was over, the question on everyone's mind was: Where do we apply?

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After visiting Google, we went to Medtronic, a Minneapolis-based company. Here we learned about pacemakers and defibrillators. After the presentation, we were given a chance to try putting in pacemakers using their simulators. Putting in the pacemaker was very difficult and definitely confirmed that a job as engineer suits me far better than that of a surgeon.

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After Medtronic, we had the evening free to explore Sydney!