Boston Stacks Up with Facebook for Veteran Networking Event!
Late last week, Facebook’s Boston office held its very first Vetworking Happy Hour. Facebook Boston employees welcomed local veterans to check out one of the social media giant’s newest locations. Boston Stack leader Tanner Hastings checked out the venue on Stack-Up’s behalf, and got a chance to meet some of the great veterans working in the local tech industry!
Aside from casual mingling, the event also featured a brief tour of the office. For obvious reasons, Stack-Up cannot disclose any business information. On the bright side, this allows us to focus on the fun and recreational side of the space! Facebook Boston has a fully staffed cafeteria overlooking the clock tower off of Kendall Square.
Besides all the healthy (and less-than-healthy) food you can eat, the office has two game rooms. The first room features a Foosball table, a titanic flat screen, and literally every gaming console made after 2006. The second gaming room contained (of course!) Facebook’s own investment in the gaming industry: The Oculus Rift. Ryan, the host and lead programmer at Facebook Boston, talked at length about game nights. Unfortunately, the interns had blocked off the Oculus room for a game night of their own. The Boston Stack will just have to explore that console another time!
Ben, one of Facebook’s engineers and a soldier in the National Guard, explained how Facebook Boston has started to give back to the community. As the hometown of Zuckerberg’s alma mater, the office feels a strong sense of loyalty to the Boston area. Although Boston is one of Facebook’s newest and smallest locations, all the employees present seemed eager to help out beyond their workspace.
While there were a few newcomers to the Boston area, some of the Facebook employees have lived in and around the city for decades. Eric, an engineer hired back in April, mentioned that he’d been working all around the city for 10 years before landing this job. Designing software from startup to startup, he even worked in the same building the Facebook office now calls home!
Attendance to this first event was on the smaller side, but overall well-received. Veterans exchanged business cards with the Facebook team and with each other, and most of the attendees left satisfied with the event. Facebook Boston even showed interest in working with Stack-Up to hold a joint event in the near future! Here’s to more Vetworking events, and a great step in reaching out to deserving veterans!
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