Apart from a faulty laptop :-( I don't have much to report this week. The training was very interesting but unfortunately for you there's nothing I can talk about... This week-end is going to be exciting since I'll meet up with A. and we'll visit around San Francisco. :-)
Stay tuned for some more photos.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
An excursion at Stanford
This week-end, I decided to follow A.'s advice. I cycled to Stanford Campus which is a great University campus. I found a nice little cacti botanic garden in the Nort-West of the campus and then headed to the Dish hike (http://dish.stanford.edu/) which was nice. Photos further below.
The only unfortunate result of this day out was the sunburn. But at least, I filled up my sunshine batteries to get me through the next few months in Dublin... ;-)
The roads in Mountain View are really great for cyclists. Most of them have a cycle path, either a reserved band on the side of the road or a shared footpath which makes cycling around a much safer option. I also found that drivers are very friendly and don't hesitate to let bikes go first. Thumbs up!
The only unfortunate result of this day out was the sunburn. But at least, I filled up my sunshine batteries to get me through the next few months in Dublin... ;-)
The roads in Mountain View are really great for cyclists. Most of them have a cycle path, either a reserved band on the side of the road or a shared footpath which makes cycling around a much safer option. I also found that drivers are very friendly and don't hesitate to let bikes go first. Thumbs up!
Saturday, March 22, 2008
California - End of week one
The first week in Mountain View is over and the experience was good. The trainings were interesting and I got in touch with a few other Nooglers. One of them, G. is sitting just next to me and he also plays bridge. We played a few hands together at lunch time today and are going to play some more on Monday. On Wednesday, Google lent me a nice bike so I don't have to ask my room-mate to taxi me anymore. This means more flexibility. There are cycle paths alongside the road so it's quite safe.
Monday, March 17, 2008
The Second Week
The second week at Google flew by quickly. I went through some registrations / codelabs / reading...
I also found out that a S.E. colleague (J.) was also flying to San Francisco on the same flight so we teamed up. It's much easier to fly and go around with someone who knows the place already.
The flight to San Francisco went well. It did not seem too long (special thanks to the individual in-flight entertainment units and also the book I brought along). I don't know yet what I'm supposed to do tomorrow so there's a bit of suspense right now but after having stayed awake for about 24h, I doubt this will prevent me from sleeping... On the plus side, J. gave me a quick tour of the Google-plex so at least I know in which direction I need to go tomorrow morning.
The weather is great here and I could see some blue sky again and this big yellow ball (sorry, forgot the name...)
Oh, and good news: My friend A. will come over to California for a week-end and we'll visit places together. :-) Current plan is one day in San Francisco and one day in the nature. That means I only have to find an occupation for the first week-end. It shouldn't be too hard...
I also found out that a S.E. colleague (J.) was also flying to San Francisco on the same flight so we teamed up. It's much easier to fly and go around with someone who knows the place already.
The flight to San Francisco went well. It did not seem too long (special thanks to the individual in-flight entertainment units and also the book I brought along). I don't know yet what I'm supposed to do tomorrow so there's a bit of suspense right now but after having stayed awake for about 24h, I doubt this will prevent me from sleeping... On the plus side, J. gave me a quick tour of the Google-plex so at least I know in which direction I need to go tomorrow morning.
The weather is great here and I could see some blue sky again and this big yellow ball (sorry, forgot the name...)
Oh, and good news: My friend A. will come over to California for a week-end and we'll visit places together. :-) Current plan is one day in San Francisco and one day in the nature. That means I only have to find an occupation for the first week-end. It shouldn't be too hard...
Friday, March 7, 2008
The first week @ Google
The first week is just over and I can already say: I love it and I'm sure it's going to be even better...
The people are great, the food is great, the IT infrastructure is great, the job looks like its going to be great (I won't start on the project for another month or so but I'm starting to get a feel). In short: I don't regret the move at all. :-)
The first week consisted mainly in meeting new people every day, some general training, setting up the laptop and desktop, registering at different places, organizing the trip to the USA, getting a PPS number and a bank account (in order to be able to get paid) ... No real work done but sorting out all those kind of things which are required to do when you move.
The people are great, the food is great, the IT infrastructure is great, the job looks like its going to be great (I won't start on the project for another month or so but I'm starting to get a feel). In short: I don't regret the move at all. :-)
The first week consisted mainly in meeting new people every day, some general training, setting up the laptop and desktop, registering at different places, organizing the trip to the USA, getting a PPS number and a bank account (in order to be able to get paid) ... No real work done but sorting out all those kind of things which are required to do when you move.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
The trip and temporary accomodation
Hello again,
We flew with Aer Lingus and apart from the delay, it went rather well. Crown Relocations picked us up at the airport and dropped us in a nice 2 bedroom serviced apartment which will be ours for the next 2 weeks. The apartment has broadband, TV, and all the essentials you could need (See photo below). It is also nicely located since I can reach Google in less than 5 mins walk and it is also 15mins walking distance from the city center.
Apparently, our neighbor is also a Noogler (New Googler) so we'll try to meet up at some point this week-end.
Today, we'll try to visit Dundrum shopping center and also try out the Luas (Dublin's tram).
Monday will be a big day with my starting at Google and S's job interview at Imaginosity.
We flew with Aer Lingus and apart from the delay, it went rather well. Crown Relocations picked us up at the airport and dropped us in a nice 2 bedroom serviced apartment which will be ours for the next 2 weeks. The apartment has broadband, TV, and all the essentials you could need (See photo below). It is also nicely located since I can reach Google in less than 5 mins walk and it is also 15mins walking distance from the city center.
Apparently, our neighbor is also a Noogler (New Googler) so we'll try to meet up at some point this week-end.
Today, we'll try to visit Dundrum shopping center and also try out the Luas (Dublin's tram).
Monday will be a big day with my starting at Google and S's job interview at Imaginosity.
Runner up to the move
Hello and welcome to JC & S's new blog!
Since this is our first blog you may find that the organization, frequency of post, presentation... will be somehow chaotic and irregular over the next few days.
Since this is our first blog you may find that the organization, frequency of post, presentation... will be somehow chaotic and irregular over the next few days.
I always considered Google as a great company to work for. The reason why I never applied (which doesn't mean I did not think of it) is that they do not have any development offices in Scotland where we wanted to stay for at least 3 years. Therefore you can imagine my surprise when Google contacted me just after the end of those 3 years (in October 2007) mentioning they were interested in my profile. After several interviews mainly split over two trips to Dublin, they decided to take me in. :-) :-)
The next 4 weeks went past extremely quickly but without any exceptional event to mention apart from a great couple of days spent in Dublin for a preview trip which was very informative.
Thursday was packing day with Crown Relocations taking care almost of everything for us and yesterday was when we officially left the U-K...
The next 4 weeks went past extremely quickly but without any exceptional event to mention apart from a great couple of days spent in Dublin for a preview trip which was very informative.
Thursday was packing day with Crown Relocations taking care almost of everything for us and yesterday was when we officially left the U-K...
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