The next time someone is going

through the Facebook pages of celebrities like Robert Pattinson or

businesses like Urban Outfitters, they will have one Sacramento

State alumnus to thank for making sure all those pages exist.

Dave Ferguson graduated from Sac

State with a degree in computer science in 1988 and now he is the

engineering manager of Pages at Facebook.

The Pages section of Facebook is all

the sites that belong to any celebrity, businesses or public place.

Ferguson said he joined the Facebook team because he was looking to

work with a large company that will have a big impact on society

and he also wanted make a big impact in the world. Ferguson said he

felt he could do these things at Facebook so it was the perfect

match for him to join their team.

One of Ferguson’s favorite parts

about working for Facebook is the fun working environment. He said

it’s a fun place to work because it is a casual and intense place

to work. Something most people do not know about his job at

Facebook is how small the teams are and the number of people on

those teams who do so much at Facebook.

“I think people are surprised at how

small our teams are, and the number of people who are on the

teams,” he said. “There are seven people who work on the Pages

division of Facebook.”

He began his career at IBM, where he

was making software applications for businesses. Later in his

career, Ferguson started his own company, Ignite Logic, and Google

bought his company in 2004. He worked at Google for four years, and

then left Google in 2008 to take a break for a couple of years. In

2010, Ferguson joined Facebook as an engineering manager for all of

Facebook’s Pages.

Ferguson lives in El Dorado Hills

with his wife Tina and his two daughters, Abby and Emily, but works

also at the Facebook offices in the Silicon Valley. He pilots his

own plane to the Bay Area, where he works at Facebook offices at

the Menlo Park campus and Ferguson also works from his home

office.

Emily Ferguson thinks it’s pretty

fun that her dad works at Facebook. His wife, Tina thinks it is

really great her husband works at Facebook as well.

“It is great to have someone who is

working at the coolest place on the planet,” Tina Ferguson said.

Tina’s friends always ask questions about Facebook CEO Mark

Zuckerberg. “They think it’s great he works at Facebook and they

like that he’s working at a place where most people will utilize

the website multiple times a day.” Tina Ferguson said.

“They think he knows Mark Zuckerberg

really well. He does have meetings with Mark, and they always

wonder what is it like to know Mark Zuckerberg.”

Emily said her friends think it is

very cool her dad works at Facebook. Some of Abby’s friends thought

it was interesting they have actual workers at Facebook.

“When I first told my friends where

he worked, they were like, ‘They have workers at Facebook?’” said

Abby Ferguson.

“I think it’s great because Facebook

is something everyone uses and having a dad (who) works there is

very cool.”

Ferguson’s wife said she thinks her

husband is a very positive person. “He always tends to see the

positive or the good in every situation and in every person and I

think that is a really positive quality he has,” Tina Ferguson

said.

Abby Ferguson thinks her dad’s best

quality is his dedication to his work.

“He is really dedicated and loves

working where he works,” Abby Ferguson said. “He tends to put

everything into what he does and he loves it.”

When Ferguson was a student, he did

a lot of the same things at school many students do today as well.

Ferguson enjoyed hanging out with friends at one of his favorite

hangouts the University Union, – and playing sports like basketball

and baseball with his friends, but he jokes he does not like

exercise, unless it involves competition.

Ferguson said he thinks a lot has

changed over the years since he graduated from college. Ferguson

also said one thing that has definitely changed since college is

technology.

“I feel like it’s different now

because I’m a lot older, and as far as building software, a lot has

changed too,” Ferguson said.

“We had no Internet, and we all

worked on one small computer. Now, all technology has changed in

dramatic ways. Everything is on you.”

Ferguson said his time as a student

at Sac State consisted of help and support he got fromhis

professors, which helped him prepare for the future in his

field.

“We had really good relationships

with our professors,” Ferguson said.

Ferguson said some of his biggest

influences were his professors and people who worked in the

computer industry while he was a student at Sac State. In

Ferguson’s junior year, he had an internship at IBM in Sacramento.

Ferguson said the workers at IBM showed what it was like in the

industry, and doing an internship also helped him in school and

helped boost his GPA to a 4.0.

Ferguson noted one of his favorite

professors while he was student was Martin Meyers, his senior

project professor. He also said Career Programs Coordinator Cici

Mattiuzzi was also a big influence on him during his college career

because she helped prepare him on how to begin his career after

college and start off the right way.

With his busy work schedule,

Ferguson said he always finds time to visit Sac State. He comes in

usually once a semester as a guest lecturer for the students of the

computer science program.

Ferguson said he thinks Sac State

students are just as good as the students who attend thetop

universities like Harvard and Stanford.

“I believe that the top students at

Sac State are just as capable as the other top students at

universities like Harvard,” he said.

Ferguson said his advice to students

at Sac State about college and how to find out what career you want

is to find your passions while in college and be happy with your

career choice.

“When you go through your classes,

find your passion,” Ferguson said. “Don’t limit yourself.”

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Brittany Lambert can be reached at 

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