Meet Alexande Baelde

Who is Alexandre?

Alexandre is currently living in Berkeley and we had the opportunity to meet him during his holidays in France. He is a young French engineer specialized in the mechanical field. After living in Valence, then Grenoble and Paris, he has moved to Berkley one year ago to study mechanics and medical devices.

Paris, June, Café de la Place, 06:00 p.m. – Alexandre speaks about his Californian experience.

"People are early-adopters"

For Alexandre, people in the north of Silicon Valley are really technology addicts and eco-friendly. They have a pioneering spirit and want to try new products first. At the opposite of French culture, Californian people are future-oriented and seem to believe that things will be better in the future.

Alexandre likes how open minded people are, especially at the university. Everyone, from any cultural background, is accepted and integrated without judging. Moreover he notices there is no bad idea in the valley. Every concept could be turned to a great startup.

"Management is taught with a totally different view"

American management is people-oriented. Managers tend to cultivate employees’ performance. Thus, in management classes you learn how to develop your leadership and people’s achievement. This way of managing people explains that you can be manager of a technology business unit with… a PhD in psychology!

"In Silicon Valley, you launch a startup after a PhD"

The American and French university systems are really different. In the American one, students have more personal work and fewer classes. They can easily throw themselves into their teachers’ researches. Moreover, companies and universities are working together: a lot of companies put money in laboratories. Thus, results of researches become startups and startups are bought by companies.

#siliconvalley #innovation #california