My experiences this past Saturday would indicate that it takes 3 companies. It's odd, after growing up in Colorado, to suddenly find myself casually interacting with employees working at some of the most recognized company names in the country. Introductions are almost laughable. After getting someone's name, you might ask, "What are you up to this summer?" only to hear the nonchalant reply: "designing the next version of the iPad."
On Saturday, I found myself in the company of of seven eclectic people, spread across three of Silicon Valley's hottest companies: Google, Apple, and Facebook. No big deal. The irony is that we were getting together to delve into some good old-fashioned home cooking. The goal? Multiple batches of homemade dough, which would yield 3-cheese pizzas and a loaf of whole-wheat bread.
This particular group of people was very social, avoiding most of the stereotypes associated with "super-nerds" (although there WERE a few pretty intense rounds of Settlers of Catan played in the early evening). Nevertheless, it's inevitable that the conversation occasionally slips into tech talk mode. The typical banter with a mix of people like this tends to revolve around the hot topics of the moment, such as "Facebook Questions: viral or useless?" or jokingly, "Careful, you're holding your iPhone the wrong way and blocking the antenna!" Or the product that just never seems to get old to rip on, even months after the release: the iPad. While the conversation flared and laughter filled the kitchen, my mind disengaged, and a nutty idea occurred to me: the people in the room, if we were not all steadfastly devoted to each of our stellar employers, could collectively destroy Google's, Facebook's, and Apple's product roadmaps for the upcoming years!! Of course, these topics did NOT come up in conversation, as everyone there was fully aware of nondisclosure agreements and passionate about the privacy of their company. But nevertheless, I laughed to myself at the power circle around me: there were many secrets stored between the eight of us.*
Note that while I said it takes three silicon valley companies to make a loaf of bread, I haven't commented yet on the edibility of the outputs. I'm happy to report that the pizza turned out stunningly delicious…but the whole-wheat loaf of bread is about as edible as a brick. It's a good thing that the future engineers will be asked to design spaceplanes or the next great mobile platform…as asking us to cook up a quick ratatouille for the world may result in an excess of indigestion.
*I have to call out Apple here, because it's no fun not to. Apple is highly (in?)famous in the valley for being highly secretive. Even Apple employees are kept completely in the dark about many products, to the extent that most have no better idea about what the next version of the iPhone will look like than the general public.
On Saturday, I found myself in the company of of seven eclectic people, spread across three of Silicon Valley's hottest companies: Google, Apple, and Facebook. No big deal. The irony is that we were getting together to delve into some good old-fashioned home cooking. The goal? Multiple batches of homemade dough, which would yield 3-cheese pizzas and a loaf of whole-wheat bread.
This particular group of people was very social, avoiding most of the stereotypes associated with "super-nerds" (although there WERE a few pretty intense rounds of Settlers of Catan played in the early evening). Nevertheless, it's inevitable that the conversation occasionally slips into tech talk mode. The typical banter with a mix of people like this tends to revolve around the hot topics of the moment, such as "Facebook Questions: viral or useless?" or jokingly, "Careful, you're holding your iPhone the wrong way and blocking the antenna!" Or the product that just never seems to get old to rip on, even months after the release: the iPad. While the conversation flared and laughter filled the kitchen, my mind disengaged, and a nutty idea occurred to me: the people in the room, if we were not all steadfastly devoted to each of our stellar employers, could collectively destroy Google's, Facebook's, and Apple's product roadmaps for the upcoming years!! Of course, these topics did NOT come up in conversation, as everyone there was fully aware of nondisclosure agreements and passionate about the privacy of their company. But nevertheless, I laughed to myself at the power circle around me: there were many secrets stored between the eight of us.*
Note that while I said it takes three silicon valley companies to make a loaf of bread, I haven't commented yet on the edibility of the outputs. I'm happy to report that the pizza turned out stunningly delicious…but the whole-wheat loaf of bread is about as edible as a brick. It's a good thing that the future engineers will be asked to design spaceplanes or the next great mobile platform…as asking us to cook up a quick ratatouille for the world may result in an excess of indigestion.
*I have to call out Apple here, because it's no fun not to. Apple is highly (in?)famous in the valley for being highly secretive. Even Apple employees are kept completely in the dark about many products, to the extent that most have no better idea about what the next version of the iPhone will look like than the general public.
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