Facebook Visit

Brendan Quinlan/ October 7, 2016/ 2016

By Claire North

Facebook was one of my favorite visits by far. Although they couldn’t tell us all the secretive new products and software they were working on, it was extremely cool to hear from a panel of relatively recent Duke alums and walk around a little part of the campus. It’s a company that truly emulates the “Silicon Valley dream,” starting your own company and having it grow into a multi-billion dollar company.

First, we walked through the doors to get our badges. We could already tell Facebook too had the startup laid-back vibe as the walls were covered in blue graffiti and abstract art. We signed in via our face books (lol) and followed Rachel, our tour guide, to the panel.

We then heard from about 10 Facebook employees that all had graduated from Duke. The panel was one of the more interesting ones we’ve had because the fields represented were so widespread. Some of the people we heard from was a former investment banker, a marketing team member, a product manager, a software engineer, and a graphic designer.

They beamed with joy talking about Facebook and the work culture. They loved the “startup feel” that this enormous company still had and the nice work perks.  Each gave us great insight on their early career experience and Silicon Valley in general.

Finally we concluded the visit by walking around one of Facebook’s many buildings and outdoor areas. The place was covered with dining and coffee shops and cool hubs to work in. It was incredible to see a company that we all knew so well.

Overall, our panelists and tour guide did a great job of showing us what Facebook is really about. The campus and culture is something truly unique and inspiring.

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