 "Photo: John Gallaugher")
Earning glowing reviews from business firms throughout northern California, the 2009 undergraduate TechTrek group took the business world by storm, not unlike the one they missed in Boston during their spring break trip. The TechTrek West class researched 20 of America's top business firms in preparation for meeting and conferring about technical developments with them.
Founded by John Gallaugher, a professor in the information systems department, the class began as an alumnus' idea and developed with Gallaugher until a pilot program was held in the graduate school of management. "The idea behind [TechTrek] was to not keep students under the illusion of all faculty do on the chalkboard," Gallaugher said. "We give them the opportunity to meet with managers in a sort of master class and the ability to learn from managers in the field."
The three-credit course involved a rigorous application process, with more than 30 students being cut from the final roll of 24. In the weeks approaching spring break, the class read three books, more than 100 press readings, and took an exam covering the multiple firms to be visited in California. In pairs, students developed 20-minute presentations on each of the companies, compiling technological and economical information and distributing the most recent five to seven press releases on each one. "I went through nearly 40 to 50 readings, and then I picked the best ones," Brendan said Feinberg, CSOM '11.
Another research tool used by the class was a social text wiki, which utilized data from each company taken the year before and could be updated by current students on a regular basis. Links to press releases and other readings were placed on these wiki pages as well.
The trip included a four-night stay in San Francisco and three days in Palo Alto, where the class toured, questioned, and dined with associates of West Coast business firms. "It's like meeting celebrities you learned about in class," saidKathie Chang, CSOM '11. In order to ensure that students had complete knowledge of the firms, each student was responsible for a firm and had to deliver an executive brief giving a quick rundown of its vital statistics. "It's necessary to update each other because a lot can happen in a company between December and March," Chang said. The students visited large firms, such as Apple and Google, and smaller, newer firms, such as Digg and Social Text.
With their vast knowledge of the companies, the class earned raves for their participation and interaction with executives. "They're better than the Wharton MBAs we interviewed last week," one partner from Sequoia Capital told students. The companies also praised the in-depth questions the students asked during interviews. "The level of our questions dug to the core of the companies' issues because we were so well-read," Feinberg said.
In the aftermath of their trip, the class is now attempting to work with the Undergraduate Government of Boston College (UGBC) in an effort to utilize the iTunes U program now becoming available at universities. The input from executives at the firms, particularly those of Apple, the creators of iTunes U, led the students to reflect on the growing role of technology and the important and practical uses it can have in student life, Chang said. "Use of technology is where students differ; it would reflect a new time period if BC used updated technology and placed lectures and notes in a form accessible by phones and iPods," she said.
As the class progresses, the students must turn in journals transcribing their experience in California, with detailed explanations of their likes and dislikes regarding the companies' policies, and write a five to seven page research paper on a topic of merit. The experience, Chang said, has still not truly ended."We stayed up almost every night until 2 a.m. discussing the firms we visited that day. That experience can only really be shared with people in that class," Chang said.
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