01/19/2018
It's the end of another work week, and our last full day in Menlo Park! Today we had some very bizarre weather: one minute it would be sunny and 55 then quickly turn to 50 and down-pouring. However, we were able to keep from getting too wet!
Today started off by visiting the non-profit company Benetech, which has multiple projects and missions they are currently working on: Booksource, which involves designing technology so that people can have access to and read several books if they are unable to do so because of blindness or other disabilities. Another project involves work in human rights, working through several media to find human rights violators and bring justice through that regard. The last that we heard about is their Benetech Lab, which our host, Ann, was primarily involved with. Their lab works with customers to design pieces of equipment to best serve people with technology such as eSight to provide the equipment necessary for them to overcome obstacles they face.
Ann had gotten her PhD in English and was excited and passionate about non-profit work because she feels that that has a much better impact on the community, even if it means having a lower salary for yourself.
Ann discussed B-corporations, which have two bottom lines instead of one: the normal revenue line, that is most often used to measure success, and the other is the social impact line, which allows them to know whether their work is doing the most justice to the community for the amount of work put in.
Ann also discussed several other topics, including Web 2.0, and how a second bubble burst could have both positive and negative impact on Benetech specifically. The positive impact being that it may drive them specifically to have a better place in the market and/or move them towards their primary goal: going out of business (meaning their services aren't needed any more). Also that they are fairly unaffected from drastic market change. The negative impact would be that they would be out of jobs too soon.
Finally, we talked about how Benetech goes where the market has failed. By doing so, they can run a non-profit and still be able to have a positive impact on the community. She also talked about how, out is Silicon Valley, there is no "balance" between work and life. Instead there is work-life, where your work is the passion that drives you and it consumes your life instead.
After our meeting with Ann, Anna gave her book report on Sound Recording before we went for a short visit to the Stanford University campus and bookstore, although we couldn't stay long due to the lack of parking spaces.
We then met Scott at Tibco, where he dove into the importance of unit testing, and how getting a PhD can be a very complex thing that doesn't always pay off in the way you expect. He also seemed to advocate planning and thinking very seriously about what you love to do, and then deciding how to pursue that! For example, he dislikes being a manager, even though he easily could be one by now. He just needed to be honest about what he likes to do and decide to stay at a lower level position if that means doing something you like doing more.
Lots of information that I found valuable today! Time for the weekend, which means possibly being unresponsive for a couple days. Redwood Forest hike tomorrow, and then we move to San Francisco!
Erik Nelson
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