The Qualcomm engineer is an interesting breed of human. Here at 10:30AM on a Thursday, the entire building is completely silent. Believe it or not, people have either not rolled into work yet, or are still in the quiet beginning stages of their mornings. It appears that the 9-5PM workday that generations past and present adhere to is a joke at Qualcomm. I have noticed that many of my coworkers arrive late and stay late. As for me, I tend to get into work around 8:30 and stay until about 5. In my opinion, there are still heaps of places I have yet to explore in San Diego. Thus, I prefer having my afternoons more open to explore the city!
Last Saturday I went surfing with around 20 other Qualcomm interns. The camera crew who had been filming me the previous week attended, so I felt a little extra pressure to do well. I must admit, I was a little nervous that I would be a terrible surfer and no good camera footage would be taken! The first step was to find a wet suit that fit and grab a surf board. You can see a picture to the right of my roommate Anne and I next to a surfboard with flames on it! Hang ten! The surfing lesson started on the beach with an instructor and 4 other interns. It was really nice having small group sizes, since it meant that each of us got a lot of individualized attention from the instructors. After practicing “popping up” which is the core to standing up on the board once a surfer catches a wave, we were ready to try the ocean. The whole experience was very fun, but completely exhausting.
As Saturday night approached, I realized that anything I did with friends needed to require very little energy: my muscles were sore and tired from the busy morning! Some of my girl friends and I decided to go and see Mama Mia the movie in theaters. It was a perfect movie to see with friends, as it was thoroughly corny and peppy (what else would one expect from a movie based on ABBA music!).
This Monday at work I attended another “Executive Luncheon” with the interns. As before, we were provided free hot pizza and drinks. This round, the panel of executives were all engineers. No females on the panel. No surprise. Sadly, the gender inequity in engineering is still very prevalent, but getting better every day!
Tuesday night, my friends and I skipped Taco-licious Tuesdays to grab some sushi at a restaurant one block from our apartment. This was a nice alternative, as the closer location meant less gas money! After sushi we went to the theaters and saw The Dark Knight. Given all of the recent media hype surrounding the film, I was very excited. The movie did not disappoint. It was a thriller to the very core, with a number of scary and humorous parts. I highly recommend it to any Batman fans out there!
Last night, I got my second free meal of the week from Qualcomm. There is a local brewery in San Diego called Karl Strauss Brewery, which doubles as a restaurant bar. Last night, the Qualcomm women’s group I am a part of had a “Women in Engineering Mixer” there. Drinks and delectable appetizers were all paid for by Qualcomm! This event was really special for me, as it offered me another opportunity to share stories and experiences with some of the most fantastic women engineers at Qualcomm. I also had the opportunity to speak to the group briefly about the female mentorship program I have been working on all summer. Hopefully the program will continue to be popular among female interns and engineers! Another great part about coordinating this dinner: I got to take home mountains of free leftovers to eat for the next few days!
As I close down on my last two weeks of work, I am beginning to realize how much I am going to miss San Diego and Qualcomm this fall. While I still love Boulder and am excited for classes, I have really enjoyed living in another place and meeting new people. Perhaps the most exciting thing on my plate for today is the arrival of my parents! They are staying here this weekend and we already have a few fun things planned out to celebrate my dad’s “50-something” birthday! Sending my love to you all.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
My video premier to the world wide web!
I sometimes wonder if each new blog entry will be able to keep up pace with the others I have posted on this website. Probability seems to indicate that at least one of my blog entries should be dull or boring. I hope this is not the one, as I have once again been surprised at my week’s activities. Wondering why I had my own makeup artist and camera crew following me around for 3 days? Read further to find out!
The work week started off busy as ever. I am finding that the better I perform, the greater task load I am given. While this is a good thing, I still find myself continually surprised by the magnitude of my work tasks! If I were a manager, I am not sure I would entrust these tasks to a young intern! Nevertheless, I am very pleased with the sense of accomplishment I get from completing them.
This week was my first week to attend a famed “Taco-licious Tuesday” at Fred’s Mexican Restaurant in Old Town. This restaurant is a popular place for locals and tourists alike, since the $2 tacos and margaritas are famous to San Diego! Picture this: One grilled chicken taco, one shrimp taco, and 2 house margaritas totals up to $8.34. What a steal, right? A group of us attended the Taco Tuesday after work and enjoyed delicious food and good conversation. I have a feeling there will be more Taco Tuesday’s in the weeks to come.
Wednesday I attended my first yoga class, which was provided free by my apartment complex. While I don’t consider myself to be extremely flexible, I had no idea how mediocre my abilities were until this class. There were women ages 20-70 who could bend their bodies in ways I did not know were possible! Between the slow entrancing music and sloth-like motion, I was more likely to fall asleep then get a workout. Yet my assumptions were proven wrong, because when I woke up the following morning, I had sore muscles. Who knew that making ones body become a human pretzel could cause such sore muscles the following morning?
Thursday afternoon I attended a free lunch event at work for the interns, where the interns ate lunch while talking to an executive panel of speakers. After a brief introduction, the executives opened the floor for questions. I raised my hand and asked: “On a day to day basis, what do you do to inspire your employees to innovate?” This was the first question to stump them, as the executives shared glances. The whole room laughed as the executives mentally collected their answers to share. When I got back to my office later that afternoon, I had a smattering of emails from my Qualcomm Boulder friends congradulating me on stumping the executives! I had completely forgotten that a live video was being streamed to Qualcomm’s remote offices (like Boulder, Austin, etc)! It was great to hear from a few of my friends in Boulder, as it reminded me how much I appreciate and miss them.
Thursday evening we continued with a tradition Anne and I have enjoyed since my second week here: Grilling and hot-tubbing by the pool. This Thursday was a really fantastic grilling experience, as we had over 8 people turn out to join us. Something about enjoying grilled food and taking a dip in the hot tub is therapeutic for me. It is one of my favorite ways to celebrate surviving through the work week. This week’s menu? A cheeseburger and tossed salad.
Qualcomm continues to surprise me. I sometimes feel like “The Chosen One” in the company. Another fantastic opportunity was provided for me on Thursday and Friday this week. I was selected, along with another 4 lucky interns, to participate in a professional video shoot called, “A Day in the Life of the Interns.” Since this video will eventually be posted on Qualcomm’s global website for recruiting efforts, no expense was spared to create the film. I had a professional camera crew and director, in addition to a professional make-up artist following me for the past two days! I felt very unnatural and out of place, as I got my make-up professional done and touched-up every few hours for each video segment. I shared a few small laughs with myself as words like “Action!” and “Camera Lighting 1” were casually tossed around by the film crew. I showed the crew the Imaging Lab that I work in, including the light booth and various resolution and color charts I use to test Qualcomm’s camera solution. I also had my first encounter using a “green screen” which was used for the interview portion (You can see this in the picture to the right!). Perhaps my favorite thing to film was a Qualcomm event called “QSOL,” which stands for “Qualcomm Summer on the Lawn”. This event is best described as a company-wide picnic with free food and bands on a green lawn. As I may have mentioned before, I am a part of a women-in-engineering group at Qualcomm. In this group, I organized and am currently co-directing a program which connects female interns to a female mentor. I personally believe that having a female mentor is a very important piece for female engineers, as girls are still a small minority in the computer engineering field! Thus, I invited the female interns and their corresponding mentor pairs to join me at the QSOL event (You can see a picture of all of the women in my program to the right!). We got brightly colored balloons and beach blankets to sit on and enjoy watching the music bands. It was really great to see all of my hard work being put into action at the event.
Let’s see if you were paying attention? Did you count TWO free meals from Qualcomm this week? Did you catch that I will soon have a video being posted online for the entire globe (and Qualcomm’s 14,000 employees) to see? Did you see that I am continuing to enjoy the delicious Mexican food here? Did you catch my wording about how back-breaking yoga can be? If so, than consider yourself thoroughly updated on another dreamy week here in beautiful San Diego. I miss all of my friends and family, but I continue to truly enjoy my time in this incredible city.
Curious what is on the agenda for tomorrow? SURFING LESSONS!! Updates on that will be posted on this blog soon!
The work week started off busy as ever. I am finding that the better I perform, the greater task load I am given. While this is a good thing, I still find myself continually surprised by the magnitude of my work tasks! If I were a manager, I am not sure I would entrust these tasks to a young intern! Nevertheless, I am very pleased with the sense of accomplishment I get from completing them.
This week was my first week to attend a famed “Taco-licious Tuesday” at Fred’s Mexican Restaurant in Old Town. This restaurant is a popular place for locals and tourists alike, since the $2 tacos and margaritas are famous to San Diego! Picture this: One grilled chicken taco, one shrimp taco, and 2 house margaritas totals up to $8.34. What a steal, right? A group of us attended the Taco Tuesday after work and enjoyed delicious food and good conversation. I have a feeling there will be more Taco Tuesday’s in the weeks to come.
Wednesday I attended my first yoga class, which was provided free by my apartment complex. While I don’t consider myself to be extremely flexible, I had no idea how mediocre my abilities were until this class. There were women ages 20-70 who could bend their bodies in ways I did not know were possible! Between the slow entrancing music and sloth-like motion, I was more likely to fall asleep then get a workout. Yet my assumptions were proven wrong, because when I woke up the following morning, I had sore muscles. Who knew that making ones body become a human pretzel could cause such sore muscles the following morning?
Thursday afternoon I attended a free lunch event at work for the interns, where the interns ate lunch while talking to an executive panel of speakers. After a brief introduction, the executives opened the floor for questions. I raised my hand and asked: “On a day to day basis, what do you do to inspire your employees to innovate?” This was the first question to stump them, as the executives shared glances. The whole room laughed as the executives mentally collected their answers to share. When I got back to my office later that afternoon, I had a smattering of emails from my Qualcomm Boulder friends congradulating me on stumping the executives! I had completely forgotten that a live video was being streamed to Qualcomm’s remote offices (like Boulder, Austin, etc)! It was great to hear from a few of my friends in Boulder, as it reminded me how much I appreciate and miss them.
Thursday evening we continued with a tradition Anne and I have enjoyed since my second week here: Grilling and hot-tubbing by the pool. This Thursday was a really fantastic grilling experience, as we had over 8 people turn out to join us. Something about enjoying grilled food and taking a dip in the hot tub is therapeutic for me. It is one of my favorite ways to celebrate surviving through the work week. This week’s menu? A cheeseburger and tossed salad.
Qualcomm continues to surprise me. I sometimes feel like “The Chosen One” in the company. Another fantastic opportunity was provided for me on Thursday and Friday this week. I was selected, along with another 4 lucky interns, to participate in a professional video shoot called, “A Day in the Life of the Interns.” Since this video will eventually be posted on Qualcomm’s global website for recruiting efforts, no expense was spared to create the film. I had a professional camera crew and director, in addition to a professional make-up artist following me for the past two days! I felt very unnatural and out of place, as I got my make-up professional done and touched-up every few hours for each video segment. I shared a few small laughs with myself as words like “Action!” and “Camera Lighting 1” were casually tossed around by the film crew. I showed the crew the Imaging Lab that I work in, including the light booth and various resolution and color charts I use to test Qualcomm’s camera solution. I also had my first encounter using a “green screen” which was used for the interview portion (You can see this in the picture to the right!). Perhaps my favorite thing to film was a Qualcomm event called “QSOL,” which stands for “Qualcomm Summer on the Lawn”. This event is best described as a company-wide picnic with free food and bands on a green lawn. As I may have mentioned before, I am a part of a women-in-engineering group at Qualcomm. In this group, I organized and am currently co-directing a program which connects female interns to a female mentor. I personally believe that having a female mentor is a very important piece for female engineers, as girls are still a small minority in the computer engineering field! Thus, I invited the female interns and their corresponding mentor pairs to join me at the QSOL event (You can see a picture of all of the women in my program to the right!). We got brightly colored balloons and beach blankets to sit on and enjoy watching the music bands. It was really great to see all of my hard work being put into action at the event.
Let’s see if you were paying attention? Did you count TWO free meals from Qualcomm this week? Did you catch that I will soon have a video being posted online for the entire globe (and Qualcomm’s 14,000 employees) to see? Did you see that I am continuing to enjoy the delicious Mexican food here? Did you catch my wording about how back-breaking yoga can be? If so, than consider yourself thoroughly updated on another dreamy week here in beautiful San Diego. I miss all of my friends and family, but I continue to truly enjoy my time in this incredible city.
Curious what is on the agenda for tomorrow? SURFING LESSONS!! Updates on that will be posted on this blog soon!
Monday, July 14, 2008
Celebrating the 4th of July with Julie
Last weekend Julie, my roommate from CU, came to visit me in San Diego. We thought it was the perfect opportunity, considering that both of us had Friday off from work. The fun filled weekend began when I picked Julie up from the airport after work Thursday night. She was exhausted from the trip, but we had no time to waste: 3 days is hardly enough time for good friends to explore the entirety of the San Diego landscape! Thus, I took her straight from the airport to one of my favorite restaurants in downtown La Jolla called Jose’s. We met a big group of my friends there and enjoyed chips and salsa while waiting for the food. While La Jolla generally has the reputation of being quite ritzy and swanky, Jose’s Mexican restaurant is a diamond in the ruff. Its relaxed atmosphere and reasonably priced food are complemented by music from the 80s and 90s and big screen TVs displaying the evening baseball game. After devouring a chicken quesadilla, we decided to call it a night and head back to my apartment complex.
When Friday morning came upon us, we were armed and prepared for the big event of the day: getting to the beach. I had been forewarned that the beaches on the 4th of July are crowded crowded crowded. Nevertheless, we were looking to be surrounded by the excitement and buzz of the celebratory San Diego population. When we arrived to Pacific Beach, all of the rumors were confirmed. We set up camp, which consisted of a couple of beach towels and a cooler filled with a packed lunch and waters. Shortly after we arrived, the remaining specks of sand still showing were covered by other locals and vacationers celebrating the holiday. When I say the beach was crowded, I am not exaggerating. If I stretched my arms out too far after a beach nap, I probably would have accidentally dipped my hand in the neighboring person’s beer mug! Our original plan was to watch the fireworks from the beach, but the cloud cover settled over the shoreline as the afternoon progressed. Thus, we reworked the plan and decided to drive back home and watch a show in downtown La Jolla instead. We joined a mass of people on a grass field and watched a spectacular show of fireworks above the Pacific Ocean. We topped off the long day by grabbing Haggen-Daz ice cream on the way home.
On Saturday we decided to go shopping and then head to Mission Beach for the day. The beaches were slightly less crowded than on the 4th, but it appears this holiday weekend is a popular time to hit the shores! We grilled salmon with citrus butter for dinner that night on the grills at my apartment complex. I also had a chance to share my favorite frozen yogurt place with Julie that evening. Sunday, Julie’s last day in San Diego, was spent doing some shopping in the Cove. We decided that it would be appropriate to grab lunch at a restaurant overlooking the beach. Shortly after, we took a picture (you can see it on right) before heading home to pack up. After relaxing by the pool for a few hours, I took Julie back to the airport to head home for Colorado. I have heard the expression “time flies when you are having fun,” and I find myself a wholehearted believer of the phrase. The three days and holiday weekend passed in the blink of an eye. And upon further reflection, I realize that this has been the case for my entire summer here! As I sit here typing my latest updates for my blog, it is shocking to think I have just finished my seventh week of work. Seven, already? Time really does fly.
This past week at work was quite stressful, but I believe it is calming back down. I was even asked to work a bit of overtime, which is a rare request to give to an intern. Working overtime was both a gift and a curse; While I didn’t particularly enjoy the long hours, the extra money I obtained (1.5 times my normal hourly rate) was put to good use this past weekend.
I went out to a restaurant bar with a big group of friends called Jose’s in the Cove. You may have read about Jose’s many times now, given that it is one of our favorite Mexican food restaurants nearby. The group decided to turn the dinner into a wild night at the bar, so we didn’t get home until late that evening. Saturday morning I awoke and decided a smoothie from Jamba Juice was needed to kick-start my day. I decided to walk the 4 mile journey (towering California gas prices made this decision a no-brainer!). I had a nice long chat with both sets of grandparents on each leg of the walk, which was a highlight of my weekend. Saturday night, two girlfriends and I devoured sushi rolls for dinner and rented a movie from Blockbuster. My roommate Anne and I spent Sunday at Mission Beach and swapped the lunch option for a large boardwalk waffle cone filled with Butter Pecan ice cream! This is one of the great aspects about living on your own: no parents loving eyes to scold me for choosing dessert over lunch!
As I prepare for my last three weeks here, I realize there are many things I have yet to experience. My goal is to enjoy every minute here as much as possible. And after reflecting back on my previous weeks here, I am confident this goal will be easy to reach!
When Friday morning came upon us, we were armed and prepared for the big event of the day: getting to the beach. I had been forewarned that the beaches on the 4th of July are crowded crowded crowded. Nevertheless, we were looking to be surrounded by the excitement and buzz of the celebratory San Diego population. When we arrived to Pacific Beach, all of the rumors were confirmed. We set up camp, which consisted of a couple of beach towels and a cooler filled with a packed lunch and waters. Shortly after we arrived, the remaining specks of sand still showing were covered by other locals and vacationers celebrating the holiday. When I say the beach was crowded, I am not exaggerating. If I stretched my arms out too far after a beach nap, I probably would have accidentally dipped my hand in the neighboring person’s beer mug! Our original plan was to watch the fireworks from the beach, but the cloud cover settled over the shoreline as the afternoon progressed. Thus, we reworked the plan and decided to drive back home and watch a show in downtown La Jolla instead. We joined a mass of people on a grass field and watched a spectacular show of fireworks above the Pacific Ocean. We topped off the long day by grabbing Haggen-Daz ice cream on the way home.
On Saturday we decided to go shopping and then head to Mission Beach for the day. The beaches were slightly less crowded than on the 4th, but it appears this holiday weekend is a popular time to hit the shores! We grilled salmon with citrus butter for dinner that night on the grills at my apartment complex. I also had a chance to share my favorite frozen yogurt place with Julie that evening. Sunday, Julie’s last day in San Diego, was spent doing some shopping in the Cove. We decided that it would be appropriate to grab lunch at a restaurant overlooking the beach. Shortly after, we took a picture (you can see it on right) before heading home to pack up. After relaxing by the pool for a few hours, I took Julie back to the airport to head home for Colorado. I have heard the expression “time flies when you are having fun,” and I find myself a wholehearted believer of the phrase. The three days and holiday weekend passed in the blink of an eye. And upon further reflection, I realize that this has been the case for my entire summer here! As I sit here typing my latest updates for my blog, it is shocking to think I have just finished my seventh week of work. Seven, already? Time really does fly.
This past week at work was quite stressful, but I believe it is calming back down. I was even asked to work a bit of overtime, which is a rare request to give to an intern. Working overtime was both a gift and a curse; While I didn’t particularly enjoy the long hours, the extra money I obtained (1.5 times my normal hourly rate) was put to good use this past weekend.
I went out to a restaurant bar with a big group of friends called Jose’s in the Cove. You may have read about Jose’s many times now, given that it is one of our favorite Mexican food restaurants nearby. The group decided to turn the dinner into a wild night at the bar, so we didn’t get home until late that evening. Saturday morning I awoke and decided a smoothie from Jamba Juice was needed to kick-start my day. I decided to walk the 4 mile journey (towering California gas prices made this decision a no-brainer!). I had a nice long chat with both sets of grandparents on each leg of the walk, which was a highlight of my weekend. Saturday night, two girlfriends and I devoured sushi rolls for dinner and rented a movie from Blockbuster. My roommate Anne and I spent Sunday at Mission Beach and swapped the lunch option for a large boardwalk waffle cone filled with Butter Pecan ice cream! This is one of the great aspects about living on your own: no parents loving eyes to scold me for choosing dessert over lunch!
As I prepare for my last three weeks here, I realize there are many things I have yet to experience. My goal is to enjoy every minute here as much as possible. And after reflecting back on my previous weeks here, I am confident this goal will be easy to reach!
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Shadow Day with Peggy Johnson
As I have been alluding to in my previous posts, yesterday was a very special day for me. I had the opportunity to shadow an incredible woman in engineering, Peggy Johnson. Peggy is currently serving as Executive Vice President of the Americas and India. But more importantly, she is a normal mom and woman who has mastered work-life balance and somone I greatly respect. I wrote a continuous series of entries during my day in attempt to capture as much raw emotion as possible. I hope you enjoy reading about my shadow adventure:
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10:05 AM
Before coming into work today I was all adrenaline and excitement. It seems goofy, but for me, the reaction that often occurs when people see celebrities is similar to the one I get when near corporate leaders. I have heard and read that one of the best ways to prepare for situations that may cause one anxiety is through multiple “dress rehearsals” an practices. Thus, I spent much of my last 24 hours in the suit I was wearing today talking to myself in mirrors and brainstorming possible conversations and situations I may find myself in today.
The first scenario I had dreamed up did not go exactly as I had predicted. Upon our first meet-and-greet, she was very friendly to me. I explained that I saw her speak at the Q-Awards Scholarship Weekend I had attended in San Diego, and she wasn’t able to recall it! I imagine this is incredibly juvenile of me, but her response saddened me a little. However, upon further reflection I realized that an executive vice president of one of the greatest companies on the globe probably cannot remember a quick one-hour speech to 30 minority students. She is probably involved with so many fantastic speeches and opportunities every week that smaller speeches to smaller audiences probably fade into the fabric of her everyday job.
The first meeting of day was a conference call from 9:30-10:00 with Cingular CTO (Chief Technology Officer) Kris Rinne. My roll in this meeting was simple: I was a fly on the wall, just listening in to see how business gets done. Also joining us in the meeting was Senior Director of Business Development Howard Wright. Kris Rinne is one of those women who is talked about in all women-in-technology circles. I found it almost amusing today how she took our conference from her mobile device. Times have surely changed since my parents were in the workforce only 3 years ago! I also couldn’t help but smile as I listened to the three of them casually toss around first names like Paul (for Paul Jacobs, Qualcomm CEO) and Ralph (for Ralph de la Vega, President and CEO of Cingular). I especially enjoyed watching the body language and nonverbal interactions between Peggy and Howard. Many of the notes I jotted down during the meeting were direct quotes or phrasing used on each side. It was as if nothing said could be perceived as remotely offensive. The speech seemed to be the epitome of diplomacy. Perhaps my biggest learning experience from this meeting was listening to the tone of conversation. Although there were clearly important business deals at play, the whole thing felt very light-hearted. All parties were laughing. A lot. Joking. A lot. This is not something I expected. When imagining the scenario in my mind, I had anticipated a more “corporate” feel. While it now seems obvious, I was pleased to watch how business was able to be completed in good humor.
11:20AM
I have just come from a meeting directed by Peggy called “A-Team Staff Meeting”, which is essentially Peggy’s biweekly staff meeting. In this meeting, one of the 6 members called into a conference bridge since he was traveling back from Argentina. One of the team members had announced his retirement plans, so the first part of this meeting was delegating each of his duties to the remaining members. I found it incredibly fascinating how flexible the team members were to change. One man to my right was told he would probably be going to Cairo, Egypt next week for a round of meetings with one of Qualcomm’s partners, and he simply nodded and smiled. Is this the pace executives are expected to move at? He could literally be off to Egypt in 4 days to meet with a new customer and his response was to simply smile and nod! It also came out in the meeting that Peggy and a team member traveled to four South American countries in four days last week! I suppose much of traveling becomes routine after awhile. But still. Wow. The idea of a global market, while exciting, is quite frightening too.
One of my “starred” notes from the meeting was Peggy’s tactic to explain how to “back fill” the retiree’s position. I found her approach very clever. She explained it something like this: “I am sure as we feel the weight of his retirement, we will all be wondering ‘When are we going to back-fill this position and get some relief?’ I think it will be best for our team to wait until we feel the painful areas, and then hire one of your direct reports into the position.” She acknowledged that her decision will temporarily cause more stress on her team, but showed them how it will ultimately provide long-term relief where it is most needed. It is small lessons like these that I consider invaluable from today!
12:03 PM
The last meeting I attended this morning was a preparatory meeting for Peggy’s Executive Insight Presentation this evening. Essentially, Peggy will speak to about 35 people (director level and up) about her leadership growth and insights she picked up along the way. It is being held at Estancia La Jolla, a very fancy hotel. What does this mean for me? In a few hours time I will be the only intern on the globe eating appetizers and sipping cocktails (or soda, in my case) with 35 of the top leaders in Qualcomm San Diego. Would someone pinch me please? I must be dreaming. While I have quite a bit of work to do for my normal job this afternoon, I am allotting a certain amount of time to mentally prepare for this incredibly rare opportunity.
The rest of my afternoon is free to me, since Peggy will be attending an off-site meeting with a customer in San Diego. It wouldn’t be appropriate for me to attend this particular meeting, so I am happy to relax and work on some tricky Matlab code in my guest office for the afternoon. My guest office is directly next to Peggy’s on the 9th floor of the executive tower. The view is absolutely breathtaking, as I sit here sipping my coffee with the San Diego terrain laid out before my eyes (see pictures of my "guest office" at right). For possibly the 50th time today, I am counting my blessings and wordlessly thanking the people who helped make this day possible for me.
7:20 PM
So I just got back from Peggy’s “Executive Insights” speech. Wow. Just wow. I pulled my car up to the Estancia La Jolla hotel and got ready to walk in when a man approached me with his hands reaching out towards me. What did he want? My keys. Valet parking. Of course. Luckily this was compliments of Qualcomm, but I still wasn’t prepared to have my first valet parking experience today! (Personally, I think a 19 year-old getting valet parking is rather ridiculous, considering most of the men parking the cars were older than me!) The appetizers included deep-fried shrimp kabobs, mushroom roundletts, and beef skewers among other things. I was surprised to see that my hiring manager, Felix Singh, was in attendance. I feel slightly guilty, as I hadn’t told him I would be shadowing Peggy today. My reasoning had been simple: this was a fantastic opportunity, but I didn’t want to seem like I was bragging! Thus, I had explained the situation to my work mentor who I report directly to and simply told the rest of the office I would be gone today. Nevertheless, he already knew that I was shadowing her (tricky managers! Haha), and it was nice to have another familiar face in this sea of Qualcomm executives.
Peggy's actually speech was inspirational, as I have consistently seen to be true in all talks I have heard. She seems to embody this real, tangible excitement when she talks about her past and future. I marveled how she managed to captivate the diverse audience in attendance. I would imagine it is quite difficult to entertain the lawyers, businessmen, and engineers with the same speech! I snagged a picture or two throughout the day, which you can see to the right. Overall, I am still in shock at how well the day went. I always pray that things will go almost exactly as I had planned, so it is a rare treat when things actually go better!
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10:05 AM
Before coming into work today I was all adrenaline and excitement. It seems goofy, but for me, the reaction that often occurs when people see celebrities is similar to the one I get when near corporate leaders. I have heard and read that one of the best ways to prepare for situations that may cause one anxiety is through multiple “dress rehearsals” an practices. Thus, I spent much of my last 24 hours in the suit I was wearing today talking to myself in mirrors and brainstorming possible conversations and situations I may find myself in today.
The first scenario I had dreamed up did not go exactly as I had predicted. Upon our first meet-and-greet, she was very friendly to me. I explained that I saw her speak at the Q-Awards Scholarship Weekend I had attended in San Diego, and she wasn’t able to recall it! I imagine this is incredibly juvenile of me, but her response saddened me a little. However, upon further reflection I realized that an executive vice president of one of the greatest companies on the globe probably cannot remember a quick one-hour speech to 30 minority students. She is probably involved with so many fantastic speeches and opportunities every week that smaller speeches to smaller audiences probably fade into the fabric of her everyday job.
The first meeting of day was a conference call from 9:30-10:00 with Cingular CTO (Chief Technology Officer) Kris Rinne. My roll in this meeting was simple: I was a fly on the wall, just listening in to see how business gets done. Also joining us in the meeting was Senior Director of Business Development Howard Wright. Kris Rinne is one of those women who is talked about in all women-in-technology circles. I found it almost amusing today how she took our conference from her mobile device. Times have surely changed since my parents were in the workforce only 3 years ago! I also couldn’t help but smile as I listened to the three of them casually toss around first names like Paul (for Paul Jacobs, Qualcomm CEO) and Ralph (for Ralph de la Vega, President and CEO of Cingular). I especially enjoyed watching the body language and nonverbal interactions between Peggy and Howard. Many of the notes I jotted down during the meeting were direct quotes or phrasing used on each side. It was as if nothing said could be perceived as remotely offensive. The speech seemed to be the epitome of diplomacy. Perhaps my biggest learning experience from this meeting was listening to the tone of conversation. Although there were clearly important business deals at play, the whole thing felt very light-hearted. All parties were laughing. A lot. Joking. A lot. This is not something I expected. When imagining the scenario in my mind, I had anticipated a more “corporate” feel. While it now seems obvious, I was pleased to watch how business was able to be completed in good humor.
11:20AM
I have just come from a meeting directed by Peggy called “A-Team Staff Meeting”, which is essentially Peggy’s biweekly staff meeting. In this meeting, one of the 6 members called into a conference bridge since he was traveling back from Argentina. One of the team members had announced his retirement plans, so the first part of this meeting was delegating each of his duties to the remaining members. I found it incredibly fascinating how flexible the team members were to change. One man to my right was told he would probably be going to Cairo, Egypt next week for a round of meetings with one of Qualcomm’s partners, and he simply nodded and smiled. Is this the pace executives are expected to move at? He could literally be off to Egypt in 4 days to meet with a new customer and his response was to simply smile and nod! It also came out in the meeting that Peggy and a team member traveled to four South American countries in four days last week! I suppose much of traveling becomes routine after awhile. But still. Wow. The idea of a global market, while exciting, is quite frightening too.
One of my “starred” notes from the meeting was Peggy’s tactic to explain how to “back fill” the retiree’s position. I found her approach very clever. She explained it something like this: “I am sure as we feel the weight of his retirement, we will all be wondering ‘When are we going to back-fill this position and get some relief?’ I think it will be best for our team to wait until we feel the painful areas, and then hire one of your direct reports into the position.” She acknowledged that her decision will temporarily cause more stress on her team, but showed them how it will ultimately provide long-term relief where it is most needed. It is small lessons like these that I consider invaluable from today!
12:03 PM
The last meeting I attended this morning was a preparatory meeting for Peggy’s Executive Insight Presentation this evening. Essentially, Peggy will speak to about 35 people (director level and up) about her leadership growth and insights she picked up along the way. It is being held at Estancia La Jolla, a very fancy hotel. What does this mean for me? In a few hours time I will be the only intern on the globe eating appetizers and sipping cocktails (or soda, in my case) with 35 of the top leaders in Qualcomm San Diego. Would someone pinch me please? I must be dreaming. While I have quite a bit of work to do for my normal job this afternoon, I am allotting a certain amount of time to mentally prepare for this incredibly rare opportunity.
The rest of my afternoon is free to me, since Peggy will be attending an off-site meeting with a customer in San Diego. It wouldn’t be appropriate for me to attend this particular meeting, so I am happy to relax and work on some tricky Matlab code in my guest office for the afternoon. My guest office is directly next to Peggy’s on the 9th floor of the executive tower. The view is absolutely breathtaking, as I sit here sipping my coffee with the San Diego terrain laid out before my eyes (see pictures of my "guest office" at right). For possibly the 50th time today, I am counting my blessings and wordlessly thanking the people who helped make this day possible for me.
7:20 PM
So I just got back from Peggy’s “Executive Insights” speech. Wow. Just wow. I pulled my car up to the Estancia La Jolla hotel and got ready to walk in when a man approached me with his hands reaching out towards me. What did he want? My keys. Valet parking. Of course. Luckily this was compliments of Qualcomm, but I still wasn’t prepared to have my first valet parking experience today! (Personally, I think a 19 year-old getting valet parking is rather ridiculous, considering most of the men parking the cars were older than me!) The appetizers included deep-fried shrimp kabobs, mushroom roundletts, and beef skewers among other things. I was surprised to see that my hiring manager, Felix Singh, was in attendance. I feel slightly guilty, as I hadn’t told him I would be shadowing Peggy today. My reasoning had been simple: this was a fantastic opportunity, but I didn’t want to seem like I was bragging! Thus, I had explained the situation to my work mentor who I report directly to and simply told the rest of the office I would be gone today. Nevertheless, he already knew that I was shadowing her (tricky managers! Haha), and it was nice to have another familiar face in this sea of Qualcomm executives.
Peggy's actually speech was inspirational, as I have consistently seen to be true in all talks I have heard. She seems to embody this real, tangible excitement when she talks about her past and future. I marveled how she managed to captivate the diverse audience in attendance. I would imagine it is quite difficult to entertain the lawyers, businessmen, and engineers with the same speech! I snagged a picture or two throughout the day, which you can see to the right. Overall, I am still in shock at how well the day went. I always pray that things will go almost exactly as I had planned, so it is a rare treat when things actually go better!
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