Following the press conference, Computer Science Senior Lecturer David J. Malan ’99 posed questions to Zuckerberg and Facebook Vice President of Engineering Mike Schroepfer at a panel event that was held in Farkas Hall.
Attendees said that his casual demeanor made Zuckerberg’s ascension in the world of startups seem more attainable.
“I thought it was really interesting that Mark kind of emphasized that he never expected Facebook to become what it did,” said Thomas M. MacWilliam ’13. “[He’s] definitely not the jerk in the movie—he’s a really great guy.”
Students had submitted resumés in advance to the Office of Career Services to take part in the discussion. About 200 were accepted on a first-come-first served basis.
Panelists addressed a range of topics that were based on questions that had been previously submitted by students—topics included Facebook’s approach to privacy, the advantages of start-ups versus companies, and the early days of Facebook, according to Julia C. Winn ’12.
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A select group of students from Harvard and MIT were invited to join Zuckerberg and other Facebook executives at a private reception that was held in the Meridian Hotel, according to MacWilliam.
Zuckerberg’s visit to Harvard is part of a three-university recruiting trip along the East Coast that also hopes to attract students from MIT and Carnegie Mellon University.
“There’s a lot of really smart people here,” Zuckerberg answered during the press conference when asked why he chose to recruit at both Harvard and MIT. “And a lot of them are making decisions about where they’re going to work when they graduate in the next couple of weeks.”
—Staff writer Radhika Jain can be reached at radhikajain@college.harvard.edu.