Stuti's Personal Website
First Impression
Going to pinterest was my most memorable field trip with girls who code. Although all engagement opportunities excite me because we get to meet inspiring people working in
Tech, I was especially excited about this one since I am an avid user of Pinterest and wanted to see where the magic happens. This was the first photo I took within the first ten minutes of entering the office.
Look how happy I am! I was so impressed by the lobby aesthetic. And I could only imagine how beautiful the rest of the campus would be. "You looked very excited, Stuti!" is what one of the students said to me when she noticed how I was suddenly acting half my age. I quickly regained my composure and 'teacherly' stature when our host came to invite us in!
Best Welcome Ever!
Our excitement grew as we saw the welcome sign. Our host invited us to a buffet breakfast laid out for us and the employees. Although our sponsor company, Autodesk(and really every big tech company at this point!) also has free food and fancy espresso machines, we were especially impressed by the food at Pinterest. I was being a dork about the flavored and sparkling water machine. Such an amazing use of technology! We ate delicious breakfast, mingled with other girls who code classroom, and continued to be awestruck by the cute office aesthetic.
Tour of the office space and Panel
We were then split into teams and assigned a tour guide to take us around. Our tour guide was a wonderful pinployee who opened her introduction by asking us to guess the countries Pinterest is expanding in. It was interesting to learn that despite being a relatively young company Pinterest is reaching so far! We then walked around and saw more beautiful things. My two favorite things were the knitting station and the wine themed office. A lot of my students were so happy to learn that the office is dog friendly. We then proceeded towards the panel discussion led by about 6 female pinployees. They talked about their experience and future aspirations. This is where my pincrush(sorry for all the pinterest puns!) went beyond what some might call a superficial interest. Apart from being extremely aesthetically pleasing, pinterest is also full of skilled software engineers, mathematicians, and creators. At girls who code graduation our keynote speaker gave a speech and talked about how companies in future would prefer STEAM majors over just STEM majors, that extra A being art. And I think companies like pinterest are already showing this trait that is anticipated to be desirable in future. Our tour guide pointed out how all the posters and pictures on the walls were for a campaign and all the photographers and models were actual pinterest employees. I was extremely inspired by the varied backgrounds and life stories of the panelists and for once, I didn't see as much gender disparity as I usually see when I tour a tech company office. They also value creativity and art. Our tour guide told us how employees often come to the knitting nook and create their own things or do pinterest crafts.
Bye Pinterest!
The fieldtrip ended right after the panel and we said our final goodbye. I wished the panel lasted longer or extended into a meet and greet with the panelists. I would have loved to personally talk to those women and thank them for sharing their stories with us. But we had to head back to resume our final projects planning and other classroom stuff. It was most definitely the more memorable and inspiring fieldtrip I have ever been to.
