October 2014
Google Headquarters
Mountain View, California, USA
I am happy!
I am at the happiest workplace in the world.
I am at Google HQ in USA.
I am here with a group of school administrators for an Executive Briefing on Google Education and Google Classroom and many more.
Let me share with you thru my photo blog my experience in the best company to work for in the world. :-)
I am at the main front entrance of the Google Campus or Googleplex. This place was featured in the movie "The Intern" . The movie is about Google, the people who started it and more...
At the Google Quad... This is where we registered, got our badges and had the executive briefing... Awesome place! It's just a fraction of the Google campus but the area where we were was just amazing...
Look at the multi-colored pedestrian lane... Cool, huh? That's where the fire trucks would pass in case of emergency inside the campus. :-)
The welcome board inside the Google Quad... Look for the "Mabuhay" greeting. I am so glad our Filipino greeting was included in the board. :-)
Pic 1... The registration machine. No paper. Just tap in and you're good to go!
Pic 2... My badge at Google. Too bad we were asked to return it. I would love to have it as a souvenir.
Pic 3... The Android bin where all used badges are returned. :-)
A "threeFie" (imbento ko lang - tatlong nag selfie) before the start of the executive briefing on Google Education and Google Classroom. We were given individual Acer notebooks to use for that session... Check this out - coffee bar behind me. Free and unlimited coffee and tea. :-)
The top three guys on Google Education:
What is in store for us...
And the Executive Briefing went really well...
And now, the most awaited part of the program... the tour of the Google Campus also known as The Googleplex!
(Note: Thanks to Ruby Pasimanero Ramos for this cool pic!)
Offices are named after an anime, a cartoon character, or a just anything funny.
One of the many lounges inside the Google Enterprise...
I love the look of this lounge... cozy and inviting :-)
Every nook in the offices has a pantry where drinks, coffee, snacks, candies, biscuits, sandwiches and I think almost everything are available and free for the employees of Google. How cool can that be? Employees don't need to bring their own "baon". Everything is provided. They even have restaurants, cafes, sweet shops and bars around the Googleplex, and guess what, no need to pay! ALL FREE!!!
Pic 1 - Candy dispenser... Yup! Told yah!... It's all free!
The top lid is not sealed. Hehehe
Pic 2 - Signage are found on the floor and not on the walls
You may get disoriented, though... :-)
The Google Street Finder...
The giant Google Map...
I was able to manipulate it.
Galing!
Some Googlers take their lunch break
outside the cafeteria.
We were brought to the huge cafeteria inside the Googleplex. It's like a "sosyal" SM food court where you can just grab and go or dine inside or go alfresco. As I have mentioned earlier, the food's free! So let's eat!
This is my lunch for this day... My own version of egg and tuna salad, mexican burrito, hash brown nuggets, a wacky hotdog sandwich and flavored water.
Galit galit muna sa pagkain, hahaha! Walang kibuan, mga gutom na kasi :-)
And just like any other food court, they have their own waste management area...
After lunch, we resumed our tour of the Googleplex.
Googlers either use their colorful bike or electric car in going to work. Again, it's courtesy of Google ;-)
I like the bike very much!
We passed by the famous building of Google.
This is the same building seen in the movie "The Intern". There's this big Android robot peeking
outside the frame of the building.
Buildings are designed to have like a steel-industrial kinda look but the colorful nooks and kiosks outside made it comfy and homey.
Every space in the Googleplex is designed to meet the needs of the Googlers. If they need to do intensive research they go to this building,
if they need to relax a bit they either go
to their sports area or just rest in their lounge.
The tour will not be complete without going to their souvenir shop, syempre! I got some stickers, a sweater with an android design and pens :-)
According to Catherine Malone of Knote.com
"Google topped Forbes list of best places to work for the fifth year in a row this year, and recently, for the first time, the company was hailed Glassdoor’s Best Place to Work 2015. The company’s work culture seems true to its philosophy:
“To create the happiest, most productive workplace in the world.”
With such accolades under his belt, it’s clear there are very few people more qualified than Larry Page to educate on the best practices for promoting happiness and productivity in the workplace."
Would you like to work for Google?
If you wish to read more about Google and why it is labeled the happiest place to work just click on the following links:
http://reviews.greatplacetowork.com/google-inc
http://greatist.com/health/healthiest-companies
What's on my mind?
First, happiness is a choice. It is a decision.
Whether you work in the happiest place on earth
but your attitude sucks you'll never gonna be happy.
Or it can be the other way around, you may be working in a place which is not to your liking but you choose to be happy, then that place can be YOUR happiest place or work or office or space.
Second, work is a gift from God.
It is given to us as a blessing, not to burden us.
It is given to us to hone our talents and creativity to be of service not only to our families but to our community, our society and of course, the Church.
My experience in Google made me happy!
It is the kind of happiness with satisfaction because
I may not be working in the happiest place on earth BUT
I know that I am the happiest knowing that my work
is my offering of love to my family, my community, our society and our Mother Church.
Yan ang sabi ni Manang!