Mission Bit students visit local tech company, Gusto

Cora Monokandilos | November 14, 2018
Categories: Student stories

San Francisco based tech company, Gusto, hosted students for their first field trip of the fall semester. Gusto employees, Flora Jin and Karlotcha Hoa, provided students with an overview of the company and its welcoming work culture. As well as an app demonstration. Gusto is a full service, online people platform (HR + payroll + benefits) making human resources a breeze for small businesses. Currently, 60,000+ businesses use Gusto.

Several Gusto employees, also referred to as “Gusties,” volunteered their time to speak to small groups of students and hear more about their interests in tech and the curriculum that they are learning in their Mission Bit class. One student in particular, Nicholas McNealy, explained how he created a game that was meant to frustrate the player because it’s very difficult to beat and this is the type of game he enjoys creating. He added that his game, Mario’s Revenge, could be found on Mission Bit’s website in the Demo Day — Student Projects section so that Gusties could get a taste of frustration. Gusties from the product and engineering departments also shared their personal stories on how they got interested in tech, what their positions entail, and what steps in their education and career they took to get where they are today.

Students then took a tour of Gusto’s office, which is a former Union Iron Works machine shop that survived the 1906 7.9 magnitude earthquake. From the second floor students overlooked the whole office space, including the preserved original architecture of the building. The center of the building resembles a living room with couches, arm chairs, and ottomans. Gusto takes pride in providing an office space that feels like home. One very unique aspect about the company that students experienced upon arriving was their no-shoes policy. A huge shoe cubby was one of the first sights students saw when they arrived. Students were provided socks and slippers to wear while they toured the office.

Mission Bit student, Michael Yu, stated that his favorite part of the field trip was being able to ask questions to the Gusto staff in various departments and asking the following question to risk engineers, “How do you know when there is a security breach?” Gusto risk engineers continuously check their system to assure that there is nothing suspicious occurring, as well as no unregistered activity. Michael hopes to be an IT or Research Development Manager when he grows up. Once he graduates he plans on taking a variety of college courses to figure out his exact career path.

When asked what his favorite part of the field trip was, Cristian Espinosa enthusiastically stated,

Everything! I learned a bunch of new stuff like the different work environments that engineers work in. I got to see how the office looks. I was impressed! I enjoyed speaking with the staff and asking them questions like if I ever worked there what would I need to do.

Cristian’s career interests are in robotics and software engineering. He looks up to his older brother who is currently studying engineering at UCSF.

Students left with smiles on their faces, full bellies from the complimentary sliders for dinner, and a bag filled with Gusto swag.

Do you work at a cool tech office? Would you would like to host Mission Bit students for a field trip? Email us at info@missionbit.com. You can also click here to learn more about Mission Bit.