Technology-driven Falcons return to the roost

There’s been a common trend for SHS students in the past decade or so: They graduate, run off to college and then return to pursue work in their original, humble abode — the bustling Silicon Valley. 

“Technology in this area is off the charts. With our education backgrounds here at Saratoga, I think it’s pretty natural that they end up working at places like that,” history teacher Mike Davey said. “A lot of people get strong educations in Saratoga and go on to strong education institutions and have a tradition of working hard.” 

Nikhil Sheel, who graduated from the school in 2008, studied economics with minors in statistics and Spanish at UC Davis. Since 2012, he has worked with product marketing on the Google Search team, working to “drive more adoption and usage at the various access points of search.”

“On a typical day [at Google], I get two or three massages, ride a rainbow colored bike around campus and play in the large ball pit,” Sheel kidded. 

Jokes aside, Sheel explained that his work includes creating mobile banner units, producing video shorts and building and analyzing testing frameworks. He said, “It’s very fulfilling and a new challenge every day.”

According to Sheel, attending SHS affected his outlook on school, work and life.

“Growing up in Saratoga mainly affected my desire to succeed and excel in all endeavors,” Sheel said. “I believe the saying goes, ‘You are who your friends are,’ and Saratoga is full of hard-working, driven individuals.”

Sheel’s interest in technology is a huge factor of why he returned to the Silicon Valley. 

“As a huge consumer of tech, I have a strong understanding of the current and future market pulse, and love being a part of the solution,” Sheel said. “The Silicon Valley is the central hub for new technology, so it was a logical starting place.”

He explained, however, that he hopes to take his experience elsewhere and “build out some of Silicon Valley’s greatness in a less developed market.”

Sheel’s favorite aspect of his job are the people, and he describes them as hard-working and dedicated individuals.

“If you spend 50 to 60 hours a week at work and do not like the people, you will be miserable. At Google, people have a unique combination of talent, intrigue and friendliness,” Sheel said.

Alumna Wendy Mu graduated from SHS in 2007 and then studied at Stanford, double majoring in mathematics and computer science for her Bachelor of Science, also receiving her Master of Science in computer science.

Mu is now a software engineer at Facebook on the PHP Product Infrastructure team, building “efficient and robust PHP infrastructure to help engineers build new products.” On a typical day at Facebook, she writes code, does code review for teammates and sometimes attends meetings or interviews. She communicates a lot with her coworkers as they complete projects.

Mu said that growing up in the Silicon Valley exposed her to the idea of engineering at an early age. Also, being a part of Saratoga’s math club encouraged her to pursue more math and computer science theory in college.

Although Mu didn’t always know she wanted to work in the Valley, she said “the Bay Area has the most software-related jobs, so it made sense to stay here after graduation.”

Mu’s favorite part of her job is the impact and the responsibility. 

“It’s a great feeling to be able to work on important projects at such a large scale, and to be able to ship code to one billion people,” she said.

Mu encourages students interested in software engineering to pursue side projects and interests outside of school to get more experience and to “work hard, but also have fun.”

Similarly, Angela Chiang, a 2008 graduate, double majored in computer science and economics at Stanford. She’s working at Dropbox in San Francisco with approximately 600 employees, focusing on numerous projects including product experiments, marketing and strategic finance.

“Dropbox is very unique in that the company is small, but the product has a global impact. There is never a shortage of challenging problems and learning opportunities,” Chiang said. “Dropbox has the highest concentration of smart and interesting people in any environment I’ve been in.”

She also went on to explain that “the perks are nice,” and Dropbox employees receive massages, three free meals a day from a Michelin-star trained chef and yoga and dance classes.

Just like Sheel and Mu, Chiang’s experience growing up and receiving education in the Silicon Valley strongly affected her desire to go into the tech industry.

“Attending college in the Silicon Valley granted more exposure to the tech industry and allowed me to see the practical applications of an engineering degree,” Chiang said. “At career fairs at Stanford, for example, there are a wealth of tech companies and startups looking to hire people with [computer science] backgrounds.”

Chiang has heard anecdotally from friends in the East Coast that their career fairs have almost no representation from technology companies, mostly from finance and consulting firms.

Chiang had no exposure to computer science until college. Her father, an engineer, was the one who encouraged her to take introductory courses at Stanford. It then became clear to her that she wanted to go into the tech industry, and she knew that the Silicon Valley was the best place to do so.

She now strongly encourages students who want to go into tech to pursue an engineering degree, even if they do not plan on being engineers themselves.

“I’ve found that a computer science major opens so many doors, and I’m extremely fortunate to have grown up and studied in an environment where computer science is so valued and empowering,” Chiang said.