Sunnyvale Sun Local software engineers stepped outside their cubicles Aug.
14 to build bicycles for charity. While most companies have a team-building picnic with name games, employees of AppliedMicro Circuits Corporation’s Sunnyvale headquarters teamed up to build bikes &mdash but they didn’t know they were building for a cause. At the end of the event, the bicycles were donated to underprivileged children. The event was the brainchild of Paramesh Gopi, president and CEO of the company, who wanted to give back in a way where the employees could get involved. Before the building began, the 140 software engineers answered trivia questions in order to receive bicycle parts. Employees, separated into 20 teams, worked together to hold the bikes steady as others secured a wheel or tightened handlebars.
The team-building activity was also a challenge. The first one to build a bike, fill the tires with air and have it inspected had to ride the bicycle on a challenge course through and around cones set up in the parking lot.