Introduction
Hello! I’m Ryan Deal and I am a Marketing and Management double major at the business school at the University of Maryland. I have worked a variety of jobs in my life, from being a cashier at Panera Bread to working as a security guard for one of Maryland’s most high-profile concert venues, the Verizon Center. I have spent the last two summers interning at the Rockville Recreation and Parks department, as well as writing two books, one of which I self-published on Amazon. Over my past year at the Smith School of Business, I have learned head-on about the “Land of Innovation” that exists out West, so, when the option for this trip came up, I had to check that world out for myself. If I got lucky, I could find a place that has appreciation for creative arts and writing, and I could find a great career calling.
There was a lot I hoped to gain out of my trip out to the West Coast, first and foremost was exposure to an entirely different world of innovation. So often, I had read and watched (through the hit show “Silicon Valley”) about how different companies operated on the West Coast compared to the East Coast. As someone who is assessing potential job opportunities in the net two years, I felt I would be doing myself a disservice if I did not at least check out firsthand how these companies functioned. Also, as someone who has spent basically their entire life on the East Coast, I wanted to be able to claim that I know what the West Coast is like. I wanted to visit cities that my family has never seen, cities such as Seattle and Portland, so that I can judge them for myself.
Not only was I excited to see the massive companies like the Googles and the Amazons of the world, but I was interested to see how lesser known companies, such as Tableau and Flex, operated as major behind the scenes players in the scope of the Valley. It was this contrast that was one of my main reasons for pursuing this trip, to get a better understanding of how companies work together to change the world. The technological heartbeat of the world was taking place in Silicon Valley.
Entering the trip, I expected to see cultures centered around creativity and improvisation. I expected to be entering into offices where the workers were more dressed down than I was, where ping pong tables and refrigerators were as common as computers in the landscape of the office. Above all else, I expected to enter a world where individuals valued the betterment of the world ahead of self-indulgence. I expected to feel the vibrant energy of the world’s heart of innovation, and perhaps, find a career path along the way.
There was a lot I hoped to gain out of my trip out to the West Coast, first and foremost was exposure to an entirely different world of innovation. So often, I had read and watched (through the hit show “Silicon Valley”) about how different companies operated on the West Coast compared to the East Coast. As someone who is assessing potential job opportunities in the net two years, I felt I would be doing myself a disservice if I did not at least check out firsthand how these companies functioned. Also, as someone who has spent basically their entire life on the East Coast, I wanted to be able to claim that I know what the West Coast is like. I wanted to visit cities that my family has never seen, cities such as Seattle and Portland, so that I can judge them for myself.
Not only was I excited to see the massive companies like the Googles and the Amazons of the world, but I was interested to see how lesser known companies, such as Tableau and Flex, operated as major behind the scenes players in the scope of the Valley. It was this contrast that was one of my main reasons for pursuing this trip, to get a better understanding of how companies work together to change the world. The technological heartbeat of the world was taking place in Silicon Valley.
Entering the trip, I expected to see cultures centered around creativity and improvisation. I expected to be entering into offices where the workers were more dressed down than I was, where ping pong tables and refrigerators were as common as computers in the landscape of the office. Above all else, I expected to enter a world where individuals valued the betterment of the world ahead of self-indulgence. I expected to feel the vibrant energy of the world’s heart of innovation, and perhaps, find a career path along the way.