Arriving in Silicon Valley

I arrived in Silicon Valley on January 8, 2010, and stayed at my friend Allan's house. Allan is the trombonist in our video-game music ensemble, Octorock.
We started out by taking a tour of Stanford University's Arboretum:




And this is a statue of a weeping angel in the Arboretum, dedicated to Leland Stanford's mother-in-law. Supposedly, the whole family is buried in the casket.

We then took a tour of the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA. One of the highlights was the massive SAGE computer, probably the largest ever built (unfortunately they don't have the whole thing). SAGE was built to track and intercept enemy Soviet bombers during the Cold War. By the time the thing was done, bombers were no longer a threat, and the game had moved on to missiles and MAD.



From Wikipedia:

Each machine used 55,000 vacuum tubes, about ½ acre (2,000 m²) of floor space, weighed 275 tons^[1] and used up to three megawatts of power.

And by the time it was done, they had no use for it. Oh, well. At least it led to major developments in computer technology!

Another highlight was the original Google server, which Larry Page and Sergey Brin must have kept in their garage. It really is a hacked together piece of shoddy work, but it somehow managed to function. They just took the motherboards and chips out of PC casings, stacked them up, and wired them together. Humble beginnings. (My friend Allan is in the picture.)



The Computer History Museum showed how silicon ingots are refined and turned into chips through a long and complicated process (that I didn't understand). It also made me think about why this specific place became the country's, and the world's, center of technological innovation. Could it be, as Jared Diamond would suggest, that the geographic presence of certain resources can lead to the development of a culture? That is, it could be that the presence of silicon led to forming an innovative culture, because that is the type of culture that can best make use of the resource, once it's known how to make it into chips. Just a thought.

Networking Skills

Tap into your network

I was in Silicon Valley for only 10 days, but I managed to set up meetings with CEOs and top management at start-ups such as Playdom, Box.net, Square, TrialPay, Aardvark, iSkoot, Oodle, Thumbtack, and MyFit. How did I do it? I leveraged the power of my network. Here are some networking tips:

• First, try to clearly define your abilities and goals. Narrow this down into a short (4 or 5-sentence) self-description. If you can use bullet points, even better. You'll include this, along with an attached resume, to all your emails.
  
• Then start by setting up a meeting/call with someone you know who is connected to the industry you're interested in. Explain what you're looking for and give some examples of companies that interest you. Ask for any suggestions. Ask if they could introduce you to anyone. Make sure you follow-up with an email and thank them.
• Follow-up with anyone they introduce you to. Repeat the same steps, and ask for more introductions. If each person you talk to leads to 2 or 3 more contacts, you'll be full of meetings before you know it.
• Do you have a dream company? Check on LinkedIn if you have any connections to them. The steps above could help with that. If not, check out the blogs of some key people at the company. You should be able to find their email address and a hook of a common interest.
• Set up an information interview. These are often better than formal interviews because they are more low-key and cooperative. Tell the person that even if they don't currently have any open positions, you'd still love to meet them.
• Email them again a few days later if they don't respond. People get busy and emails get lost. As long as you don't do it every day, it will be seen as persistent, not rude. You can also try calling.
• Remember to send thank-you/follow-up emails after every meeting and thank-you cards.