Once in a Lifetime Experience!

It is tradition for the ITWS department to take their students to New York City on Grand Marshall Day. (GM Day is the day of GM Week where students get classes off. GM Week is the week when student elections are held. It's an RPI tradition!) Every year our plans are to go visit a couple companies, then meet up with Mike and Henry (2 RPI Alums) to give us a walking tour of NYC, and end the trip with a meet and greet with more alums at Red's. This year we followed tradition and visited Google and Goldman Sachs.

While at Google we had a Q & A session with about 10 employees. They were all from different departments and gave us an interesting view on what it is like working at Google. They also talked about what kinds of people Google were looking to hire. They provided very insightful answers. After the Q & A session we were given a tour of the Google's NYC headquarters. They have recently purchased the entire building and it seems as though Google is hiring so fast that they don't have to space to accommodate everyone. We then were invited to eat lunch in their cafeteria and all I have to say is, their risotto was pretty amazing!

After we headed over to Goldman Sachs. This provided the other spectrum of working environments. Compared to Google, Goldman Sachs had more of a corporate environment feeling. When we first entered, the security at the front desk immediately told us that photography inside the building is not allowed. The employees at Goldman Sachs then spoke with us about internal auditing and how it works. Goldman Sachs is one of the most reputable companies for internal auditing. They then invited former RPI alumni who work for the company to come and talk about what they do.

We then headed over to the Winter Garden to meet up with Mike and Henry. They are very nice alumni who take us on a walking tour of some part of NYC every year. This year, they talked about the World Trade Center and then we went to visit Linda's "lucky bull!" As we were walking around, we stumbled upon 70th Pine St. Mike, being the old fun guy he is, somehow talked his way into letting the security guard let us inside the building to see the old architecture. A little while later, the security guard then asked us if we wanted to see the top of the building. Little did we know that he actually meant the executive observatory. To get to the deck we had to take an elevator up to the 60th floor, then we had to take a 5-person elevator to the 66th floor. Once I got up there, the view was magnificent. No photos could possibly encapsulate the rushed air whipping against your face and magnificent aura of the frantic city buildings. I want to be able to return to relax with book in my hand and the view in the background. The word amazing is the only word that can and can't describe what the experience was like.

To end the day, we headed over to Red, a restaurant near the Brooklyn bridge. There, students and alumni were able to meet in a social environment, making connections or visiting old friends. I recommend any and all ITWS students to visit go on this trip at least once in their RPI career. It is very fun and worthwhile of your time. We get a day off, might as well use it right?