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ALEX UNGER ’O3 Alex, a junior at Brown University, is interning at Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, CA this summer. Despite his busy schedule, we were able to find some time to talk about this extraordinary opportunity. How did you get the internship at Facebook? The process started with a long all night recruiting event at Brown called a hackathon. Facebook had a mini hackathon at Brown to attract and find potential hires. After my team won the prize for most interesting project, Facebook was interested in my whole group. I had an on-campus interview, a phone interview and two interviews out in Palo Alto. What are your responsibilities during the internship? I’m working on the Platform team which supports applications on Facebook like Causes and Connect sites like Digg. So far, I have built and modified some of the ways in which applications access data from Facebook. I also have a main summer project related to Events. This project is about unreleased features and therefore I can’t tell you more than that. What are you enjoying? I love working with a group of highly talented people. Many times I feel that almost everyone here is smarter than me, which is a good thing. It forces me to strive to be better and learn more. It’s also been interesting to see how a software company works and what it is like to work there. The sheer amount of code used to run Facebook presents unique challenges that I had never been exposed to before. I also love the weather out here. It’s beautiful all the time and I’m able to travel often. How did your Gordon experience prepare you? Gordon taught me how to think and experiment. Facebook is very focused on developers being self-sufficient and independently creative. One of Facebook’s mantras is “move fast and break things.” The focus is on being innovative and cleaning up minor mistakes made along the way after the feature is prototyped. My Gordon teachers encouraged me to be intellectually curious by challenging me to take risks and form opinions. Were there any teachers in particular at Gordon that made a lasting impact on you? All of my teachers at Gordon were memorable and I could say things about each one but there are a few that really helped me with what I’m doing now. They are Karla Harry, Deb Cusack and Dave Macdonald. Those three people taught me four important things; if you’re excited about something and express that interest enough someone will notice (and let you re-shelve books in the library); trust and reliability are valuable things (and if people really have faith in you they might give you the password to the whole network); don’t worry about tinkering, experimenting and learning, (they are only computers and they can be fixed often by just restarting), and most importantly, compassion and dedication to others and their ideas are the most valuable qualities in a person. What are your plans after your internship at Facebook? I’ll be going back to Brown in the fall for my junior year and I will be a Head Teaching Assistant for CS15, Andy van Dam’s intro computer science course. Over the last several years, I also worked as an engineering intern for Afferent Technology, a web site programmer for Embolden Design, a programmer for VAEIS, Inc. and a head teaching assistant in Brown’s Computer Science department, as well as running my own small business akutech.com. Technical aspects of programming and engineering, teaching, and the business and team management parts of the work I have been involved with have all been interesting. I’ve enjoyed and learned a lot working for startups and for a larger firm like Facebook, as well as running Akutech and working for Brown. I am not sure where I am headed after college or even next summer. But I am pretty confident there are a lot of great opportunities ahead. Gordon did a really wonderful job teaching me how to take advantage of opportunities and I am really thankful for that. Don’t forget to join Gordon’s Facebook page and reconnect with your classmates, view archived photos and learn about upcoming events. We also love hearing about your successes so please email Siobhan Sheerar Welsh at swelsh@gordonschool.org with any class notes and photos. We will share them with your classmates in the Winter 2010 issue. 10
45 Maxfield Avenue East Providence RI 02914 www.gordonschool.org Save the Date 1O.1O.2O1O Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Permit #365 Providence, RI thanks to you WE’VE REACHED NEW HEIGHTS! We are pleased to report the 2008-2009 Annual Fund raised a total of $330,046 for Gordon School. Thanks to the 721 alumni, parents and friends who participated in our efforts this year. By giving to the Annual Fund, you celebrate the teachers, friendships and lifelong lessons that define the Gordon experience. We are ever so grateful for your support and couldn’t have done it without you.
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gordonsum09news - The Gordon School

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