Visiting Googleplex - any fellow engineers could help us out?
heya! Me and my friend, Jo, are both engineers (girl-geniuses ;) from Poland and doing out great California road trip from 15 of March... and we would love visit Googleplex... but we don't know anyone who could invite us and show us around :( Could anyone help us out?
Nataly & Joanna
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You can walk around in the campus, it's all open. But you can't get inside the buildings. It's a very nice campus. Make sure to check the store and the big figures (Android garden? don't remember the name) nearby. If you want to visit Intel, I might be able to give you a quick visit. The museum is free and open to everyone.
Bruna thanks for fast reply! Yes, that would be fantastic if you could give us a quick tour around Intel! ThinkPad was my dream when I was a student ;) about the Google store - are you sure any n00b can get in? I read somewhere that you 'special access' to access it... obviously we don't wanna leave empty handed :)
Yes, I've been at the Google store several times. Last time was 4 or 5 months ago but I don't think they changed it. They sell all the Google merchandising, would make no sense to have restrict access. It's free advertising for them. And you are paying for that. When will you be in the area? Send me a message with the details and we can arrange a quick tour. Lunch time or late afternoon is the best for me.
The main "Plex" building complex has a secure courtyard, you can't get inside. Not much to see from the outside. The sad reality of Technology is that there isn't much physical to see. Same holds for the Facebook campus; everything is gated and locked. All you really see in both places are the huge parking lots and exterior windows of fairly drab buildings (possibly painted bright colors).
a far better experience as a tourist in the Silicon Valley area would be to bicycle along the bay, or hike in the hills (looking down onto the Valley below), or walk or bike around the beautiful Stanford University Campus (the buildings of which are, mostly, open to walking inside). Stanford also has two excellent free art museums amid all the interesting architecture. (a lot of the technology of the Valley was developed at Stanford)
Really, Silicon Valley (San Jose area) really isn't any kind of tourist destination. Instead, spend your time in the city of San Francisco, walking around the University of California at Berkeley campus, hiking the hills of Mount Tamalpais, wine tasting in Healdsburg and the Russian River Valley, riding a ferry boat, hiking or driving along the Pacific Ocean Coast. Those are "real" northern california experiences.
The harsh truth is that it is very unlikely that someone will spend their time to show you around unless they are your friend. You can visit Android Garden, take some nice pics, check out Hacker Way 1 road sign near Facebook headquarters, visit Museum of Computer History, and then go to Stanford.
Much more interesting than Google is the Internet Archive in San Francisco. They have a free lunch open to all on Friday at noon, where you can hear project managers describe their work & you can get up & speak also. The Archive has many fascinating projects & puts masses of valuable material online, for free. Check them out at archive.org