The Best Field Trip Ever: Visiting Viget HQ
Yesterday, the great web educator Jeff Brown brought his class of 25 Damascus High School students to Viget's headquarters to see what it's like to work at a "real" web services company. We had fun showing off the office, chatting about our jobs, and giving lofty, (hopefully) inspiring advice about life and careers. I enjoyed sharing the Viget story and showing them around. Everyone else seemed to enjoy it, too.
We wanted to do more than just talk, though. To that end, Brian and Jackson walked the group through a user experience design exercise. Anjali explained our marketing services and gave a behind-the-scenes view of both Google Analytics and an AdWords campaign. Rob showed off his latest iPhone site design (the yet-to-be-launched new Pointless Corp. site). Owen, Trevor, and Blair shared some other work from Viget's design lab. "They were great," Blair said. "And it gave me great perspective on my own professional development. It was inspiring to have them around for the day."
"The kids were engaged and receptive," Tony told me. He and Justin talked to the group about web development. "I don't think they had much development experience, so I was impressed that they stayed interested and followed along well."
The students' teacher, Jeff Brown, does an amazing job at getting web people to visit the class or deliver talks via Skype. Trevor said, "I am so jealous of those kids. Some of the people they have speak to them in their classroom are people I have to go to conferences to hear speak. I wasn't exposed to any industry stuff when I was in high school."
The students also got to talk with April about project management, Emily about what it takes to get a job at Viget, and Andy about how the business works.
We were glad to be a part of Mr. Brown's efforts to introduce the students to industry leaders and give them a leg up on their careers. When they presented us with "The Progressive Enhancement Award" we were touched, but the biggest kudos should really go to Mr. Brown and the students.
Best field trip ever? I guess that's up to the kids to decide, but we sure enjoyed it.
