IGNITE field trip to Hulu | Nathan Hale HS and Ingraham HS | 11.8.2018 | Cindy Jamieson
Today Hulu hosted students from Nathan Hale High School and Ingraham High School in their downtown Seattle office. This was a big deal because it was the first event of this type for Hulu and they were terrific hosts! Students unanimously reported that today’s event made them more interested and inspired them toward STEM careers.
“It was super cool to see what has to happen for Hulu to be a success.”
“The hands on activity was so fun and interactive, it made me interested in the creativity that goes into the outcome of the product.”
“I got to meet women in the exact position I was interested in!”
Corporate Tour: We walked through the work environment. Students quickly noticed how there were no walls, just open spaces. Hulu believes that the productivity of team members is increased when they are allowed to have connections and places to be creative. Their office high rise building has many floors and each floor has a different focus: living room team, android team, design team.
Hands-on Activity: Working in teams, and guided by Hulu employees, develop a product that redefines TV. List the details of your product and do a 5 minute presentation. Along with the Who, What, Why, and How questions, students also had to consider ethical issues or risks associated with the product. What will you measure to know if your product is achieving your vision?
Panel Presentation: Hulu’s motto: “Focus on the user and the rest will follow.” Most of these professionals had computer science degrees with psychology or anthropology minors. Human / Computer Interaction – What do product and people do? Product group thinks about the What and the Why. Tech group is more of the How. Jobs represented on the panel were software developer, program manager for data team, data analyst, project manager, designer, user experience tech (Hulu app).
One of our students asked “How can I prepare now for these jobs?”
- Have collaborative work experiences: clubs, year book, school newspaper.
- Start to think critically about the things you use every day. “I don’t know why this isn’t working but I know if I keep trying I can figure it out.”
- Write a blog even if you don’t publish it.
- Summer experiences and camps to learn coding.
- Listen to what other people say and get good about taking feedback. That person has good intentions and they’re just trying to make that project better.
