David, Iris, Linda, Sebastian

California, here we come!

A few weeks ago, we had the most amazing chance to participate in ABC BootCamps’s Silicon Valley version “Learn Innovation through Emerging Technologies”. This experience took place from June 30 to July 13 at San Jose State University and, without a doubt, constitutes one of the highlights of our education at UAS Technikum Vienna.

We had two weeks to immerse ourselves in the innovative spirit of Silicon Valley and get to know the local mentality. We had the chance to visit world-famous tech giants, such as Google, NetApp, Apple, Oracle and Intel, as well as venture capital firm and accelerator Plug and Play. Silicon-Valley-savvy guest speakers shared their knowledge with us in the course of the program. These activities gave us valuable insight into the most-recent developments and practices of the tech industry. Among the highlights was our visit to Stanford University, which inspired immensely.

Class with professor Laszlo Gyorffy was nonetheless exciting and challenging. It consisted of interactive lectures, theoretical input and various projects, which gave us the necessary tools and challenged us to bring out the best in us. Among the topics were not only innovative approaches to finding ideas, but also processes to refine them and effective presentation techniques. We worked in teams and each had to develop a product. On the last day, the teams competed against each other in a pitching competition, making the most of their ideas and using the newly acquired techniques to perfect their presentation. The jury consisted of four experienced Silicon Valley professionals who finally chose the winning team. We are a little proud to be able to announce that some of us were part of this team. All in all, especially the extensive group project enabled us to improve our communication and project management skills as well as our cooperation abilities.

The Bootcamp not only focused on our professional growth, but also our development as a person. It helped us along in recognizing our own value, strengthened our self-confidence and gave us a platform to network and make new friends with similar interests.

We had one week of free time before and after the Bootcamp, respectively. This gave us the opportunity to explore California and its beautiful nature, as well as to network and visit some companies on our own. Through contacts provided by the UAS we visited ProTerra, a company that produces batteries for utility vehicles and were given a thorough and interesting tour. We were invited to the Austrian Chamber of Commerce’s office in San Francisco, where we were given valuable insights in the possibilities Austrian companies have in the Bay Area. Of course, we wanted to experience American national parks and made a trip to Yosemite. There, we did not only admire the breath-taking waterfalls and rivers, but were also left in awe by the giant sequoias.

A few days later we combined a visit to Siemens Mobility in Sacramento with a trip to Lake Tahoe. We enjoyed the crystal-clear– but also very chilly– water and the idyllic landscape.

After taking in California’s impressive nature, we also strolled through the beautiful sea-side town of Santa Cruz and were lucky enough that the San Francisco Pride Parade was about to take place at the weekend before class started. We were very happy to be able to see San Francisco on such a day of excitement and joy and to experience first-hand, how Pride is celebrated in the USA.

On the following Monday, class started and we were happy to participate in the program. Two weeks later, we went on road trips to complete our USA experiences. While Iris, Sebastian and Linda went South along the coast, direction Los Angeles, David headed inland to see Oregon and do some hiking.

On the way to LA, we stopped in Santa Barbara and took the opportunity to surf and go for a ride on the beach. After a two days’ stint in Santa Barbara, we continued to Los Angeles, where we, of course, looked for the Hollywood sign, explored Beverly Hills’s iconic neighborhoods and the Walk of Fame. We spent the evening chilling on Santa Monica Pier and Venice Beach, enjoying the perfect weather conditions, before we went on our way back to San Jose. There, we started to organize our trips back home trying to make enough space in our suitcases for all the souvenirs and gifts we had bought in the past four weeks.

We spent the last two days in San Jose reunited and bade farewell to the city with a little trip up to Communications Hill.

We are deeply grateful to UAS Technikum Vienna as well as ABC for being able to go on this trip and would like to express our gratitude especially to Sylvia Geyer, Agnes Kriz, Kerstin Kraus, Rafael Rasinger, Rebeka Dajak, Sandro Sertic and Laszlo Gyorffy for making this incredible experience possible.