BLU E & W H I T E PAG E 2 2
Michelle Carr (Fr 2008)
Michelle Carr (Fr 2008) works in Infrastructure Construction Management at Facebook, where her team is responsible for building the global physical infrastructure that brings their apps and services to billions of people around the world. Michelle shared with us what her time at College and university was like, the challenges of moving abroad and what a typical day in her life working at Facebook looks like. Can you tell us a bit more about your Infrastructure Construction Management role at Facebook? What does your role involve? Our team is responsible for building Facebook’s global physical infrastructure that brings Facebook apps and services to billions of people around the world. My current role manages our long term strategic planning all the way through preconstruction to handover to the construction team on our global sites. I love working on our strategy, collaborating with a range of different teams and setting our projects up for success. What are some of the best parts and even the worst parts of your job? Facebook operates on a truly unprecedented scale. A third of the world’s population rely on Facebook products to keep them connected every single day, and our teams work hard to make that possible. Managing at our scale has unique challenges and requires unconventional thinking, which is what I really enjoy about the job. Another great aspect of my role is the people I work with, Facebook hires extremely talented individuals with diverse backgrounds, I am always learning something new.
What does a day in your life look like? Due to the nature of my role I don’t really have a typical day as I travel a lot for work and work on many different projects, but this is roughly what it looks like: 5.15am – Wake up 6am – Get the Facebook shuttle to work (many tech companies have shuttles that take people from all around the Bay Area to the office campus). I normally respond to emails or prep for my meetings on the shuttle. 7am – Grab breakfast at one of our cafeterias on campus. 7.30am – 4pm – I am normally in back-to-back meetings all day. They vary from meetings planning our future site strategies; to meeting with our internal teams for design changes or utility commitments; to establishing and reviewing budgets, schedules or contracts. 4pm – Get shuttle home. It normally takes about 2hrs to get home, so I’ll take my afternoon meetings or work on the shuttle. 6pm – Exercise. I either go to the gym; pilates; cycling; or play tennis or basketball. 8pm – Have dinner, and catch up with friends or family. What has been your biggest accomplishment so far – career or otherwise? I had travelled a lot before moving overseas, but I underestimated how challenging moving abroad is, even to an English-speaking country. It required me to navigate complex immigration systems, new healthcare and tax systems, and even smaller things like having to re-sit my drivers test. I knew only one person when I moved to San Francisco, so building new friendships and navigating a similar but different culture was tough. Having to reestablish my career and create new work networks pushed me to challenge myself. The experience has given me a different perspective and appreciation for people; the US and Australia; and even myself. What have you enjoyed most about living in San Francisco? And what do you miss most about Australia? San Francisco is an incredibly vibrant city, there is always something going on – concerts, festivals, lectures, shows, comedy, films, and it’s really close to incredible national parks, surfing and snow. It’s amazing the amount of people that are working on cool and innovative things, like AI for health applications and VR for education. I miss my family and friends in Australia, and definitely miss the Australian beaches. You can read the full interview with Michelle on the College website: www.standrewscollege.edu.au/alumnicommunity/androvians/
