Google Student Blog

Google scholarships recognize 84 computer science scholars in Europe, Middle East, and Africa

2013-06-19T09:23:00.000-07:00

Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog

We’d like to recognize and congratulate the 84 recipients and finalists of the Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship and Google Scholarship for Students with Disabilities in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The full list of the 2013 scholars and finalists and the universities they attend can be found in this PDF.

Both scholarships aim to encourage underrepresented students to enter the computing field. The Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship honours the memory of Dr. Anita Borg who devoted her life to encouraging the presence of women in computing; we recently announced the U.S. recipients of this scholarship. The Google Europe Scholarship for Students with Disabilities aims to help dismantle barriers for students with disabilities as well as encourage them to excel in their studies and become active role models and leaders in creating technology.

All of the students receiving the scholarships are pursuing degrees in computer science or related fields at universities across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. This summer, they’ll attend the annual Google EMEA Scholarships Retreat in Zurich, where they’ll have the opportunity to attend tech talks on Google products, participate in developmental sessions, network with Googlers and attend social activities. Notable speakers at the 2013 retreat include Alan Eustace, SVP of Knowledge, Megan Smith, VP of Google [x], and Carolyn Casey, Founder of Kanchi.org.

Applications for the scholarships will be open again in just a few short months. Learn more about how the scholarships impacted the lives of previous recipients:

For more information on all of our scholarships and programs, please visit the Google Students site.

Posted by Efrat Aghassy, EMEA scholarships program manager

Announcing the 2013 Generation Google Scholars!

2013-06-12T06:03:00.000-07:00

The Generation Google Scholarship was established in 2012 to encourage aspiring computer scientists to excel in technology and become active role models and leaders in the field. Every year, high school seniors with financial need who have demonstrated a passion for computer science, technical aptitude, academic achievements, and leadership amongst their peers will be selected as recipients of this scholarship.

We are pleased to announce the 2013 Generation Google Scholars, along with the universities they will be attending this Fall:

Yasmin Adams, Pomona College
Ikechi Akujobi, Stanford University
Megan Gebhard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Diana Hernandez, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Descartes Holland, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Aneesha Kommineni, University of Texas at Austin
Setareh Lotfi, University of Utah
Daniel Mariselli, Amherst College
Karolina Pyszkiewicz, University of Washington, Seattle
Stephanie Yu, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Generation Google Scholars will receive a $10,000 academic scholarship and are attending Google’s Computer Science Summer Institute this summer, in Mountain View, CA or Cambridge, MA.

If you're interested in learning more about our scholarship programs and timelines, please visit our Google Scholarships page.

Posted by Azusa Liu, Student Development Programs

Hacking for change at Google

2013-06-05T08:26:00.000-07:00

Cross-posted from the Google Developers Blog

On June 1st and 2nd, thousands of developers from across the U.S. came together at nearly 100 different locations to participate in the first ever National Day of Civic Hacking. Using public data recently released by the government on topics like crime, health and the environment, developers built new applications that help address social challenges.

At the Googleplex in Mountain View, we hosted nearly 100 developers, statisticians, data scientists, and designers, who stayed long into the night hacking together prototypes that show how data on health and the environment can be used to enrich lives. Fusion Tables and Google App Engine were used to prototype, and groups relied on BigQuery as a workhorse to crunch the biggest datasets. Participants used Google+ Hangouts to connect with hackathons in other states and collaborated with Google Apps and platforms.

Here are a few highlights from the hackathon that stood out as useful, visually stunning, and informative ways to use public data:

Eat Healthy for Less, the winner of our Mountain View hackathon, is a mobile web application that uses the Consumer Pricing Index to suggest healthy recipes that can be made on a budget.
Data+, a reimagining of how we access data, can make exploring public datasets more intuitive and easily understandable for everyone.
Detoxic.org is a web experience and Android app that shows you toxic sites and landfills nearby that you might not know about so that you can take civic action against toxic waste.

Many of the ideas have great potential, and we are encouraging participants to continue their work. We hope that the National Day of Civic Hacking will be a catalyst for innovation in this space, and encourage you to keep track of our tools for civic developers at g.co/civicdevelopers.

Congratulations and thanks to everyone who participated!

Patrick Copeland is director of engineering at Google.org, where he works to build systems that leverage Google's reach to help people around the world.

Posted by Scott Knaster, Editor

Creative Computing Online Workshop: Google CS4HS goes online

2013-06-03T13:51:00.000-07:00

Google’s Computer Science for High School (CS4HS) program traditionally brings computer science workshops to locally train teachers how to incorporate CS and computational thinking into their classrooms. Through partnerships with universities, these workshops have reached thousands of teachers worldwide.

This year, CS4HS is piloting a new online format to allow anyone to participate in a CS4HS event. The first of the four online courses is built on the open source Course Builder platform and is entitled “Creative Computing Online Workshop;” it starts on today and runs for six weeks. We caught up with the workshop’s creator and head instructor Karen Brennan, an assistant professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, to find out more about the project.

Your workshop is called “Creative Computing.” What exactly does that mean?

While I was a doctoral student at the MIT Media Lab, I co-hosted annual Google CS4HS events from 2009 until 2012 with Mitch Resnick -- workshops we called "Creative Computing." The name reflected a desire to broaden the scope of our CS4HS workshops beyond "computer science" and beyond "high school." The concepts, practices and perspectives that people explore in computer science are valuable across disciplines and across ages, and we wanted to emphasize the creative potential for a wide range of young learners. The Scratch programming language, which was developed at the MIT Media Lab, was our primary tool for exploring creative computing.

At Harvard, I have continued my work in supporting educators' explorations with Scratch, and the "Creative Computing" name still perfectly frames how I hope people will think about engaging with computing, computer science, and Scratch.

Does the workshop have a specific audience? Who should participate?

The workshop is designed primarily for K-12 educators. But anyone who is interested in learning more about creative computing with Scratch is welcome to join -- the workshop is not limited to a particular number of participants.

We hope that people from a wide range of backgrounds and settings -- and with varying levels of prior Scratch familiarity and comfort -- will participate.

What is the workshop like?

The workshop is six weeks long, and runs from Monday, June 3 until Friday, July 12. The first three weeks, called Foundations, are an opportunity to develop greater familiarity and fluency with the Scratch authoring environment and online community through a series of scaffolded activities. The final three weeks, called Explorations, are an opportunity to define and pursue a self-directed project (such as designing Scratch activities, documenting your experiences of helping others learn Scratch, or experimenting with advanced features), which you can develop on your own or with others.

Each week is composed of primarily asynchronous interactions, so you can work at your own pace, depending on your schedule and your time zone. The asynchronous components include mini-lectures, activity overviews and walkthroughs, tutorials, and discussion forums -- and will be made available at the beginning of each week. These asynchronous interactions are accompanied by twice-weekly synchronous sessions (a.k.a. "Office Hours"), held on Tuesday evening and Friday morning (Boston time).

You can participate as much or as little as you like during the six weeks -- and all of the resources will be publicly available after the workshop.

This workshop focuses on the use of Scratch. Can you tell me more about what Scratch is and why you chose it for this workshop?

Scratch, developed by researchers at the MIT Media Lab, is a free authoring environment for creating interactive media and an online community for sharing those interactive media creations. Launched in 2007, Scratch is used by hundreds of thousands of people (mostly ages 8 through 18) around the world, and more than 3 million projects have been created and shared through the Scratch online community.

"Creative computing" isn't Scratch-specific -- there are many other great tools that can serve as entry-points for exploring the big ideas underlying creative computing. But Scratch was a natural choice for the workshop because it was designed for a broad audience, with the aim of making interactive media creation accessible to as many people as possible. I was also a member of the Scratch Team at the Media Lab for 5 years, so it is something with which I am familiar!

I also chose Scratch because a new version was recently launched in May 2013. Scratch 2.0 includes a new web-based project authoring environment and many new features (such as cloning, custom blocks, and cloud variables), and the online workshop will serve as an opportunity to explore the new version.

How does someone get involved?

Join us at creative-computing.appspot.com. You can participate as much or as little as you like -- dive into building Scratch projects, connect with others interested in creative computing, or just explore the resources. The Creative Computing Online Workshop facilitation team is excited about working with you and learning from your experiences.

For updates on Creative Computing Online and the other in-person and online CS4HS workshops, join our CS4HS G+ community, open to all students, teachers and other CS enthusiasts.

Posted by Erin Mindell, Program Manager for Education

The Google Anita Borg Retreat APAC: a finalists reflection

2013-05-29T07:06:00.000-07:00

Editors note: Applications for the Asia-Pacific Scholarship will close on the 31st of May, 2013. To apply and for more information, go to: www.google.com/anitaborg/apac

Dr. Anita Borg devoted her adult life to revolutionising the way we think about technology and dismantling barriers that keep women and minorities from entering computing and technology. Even today, her combination of technical expertise and fearless vision continues to inspire and motivate women to become leaders in creating technology.

As part of scholarship that Google dedicates in her name, winners of the award are invited to a retreat which brings young female computer science students together to learn from some of the best minds in the industry and each other.

We’ve asked to Sarah-Marie Heimlich, a Junior Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship finalist to tell us about the the experience she and her fellow scholars had at the Sydney retreat last year:

"For as long as I can remember, I have loved science and technology. At age three, my favourite toy were a set of LEGO Duplo bricks. I loved just building things and putting things together. By the age of ten I begun programming my LEGO robots and when I made it to high school I joined a robotics team. As the sole female in a large group of boys, you learn quickly to become just “one of the guys.

So when I followed this passion at university I barely noticed I was only one of a handful of girls. When I was selected for the Anita Borg Summit last year, I was excited to be able to spend time hanging out with other geeks. It didn’t really dawn on me until I arrived that everyone there would also be female.

There I was amongst all these others girls who were just as passionate about what I did. For probably the first time in my life, it felt completely ok to be a “one of the girls”.

One of the most important things I gained from the scholarship is that I was able to see I was not alone in my chosen profession - and that there are other women who want long and successful careers with the knowledge that they have the ability to change the world."

Now in its 10th year, the Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship has grown to include Asia, India, Australia and New Zealand. This is the first year it is being offered regionally to Asia-Pacific.

It’s important that this scholarship does more than just help connect passionate females, but that it also inspires a new generation of female computer scientists to continue doing what they love with confidence.

Applications for the Asia-Pacific Scholarship will close on the 31st of May. For more information, eligibility requirements and to apply, go to: www.google.com/anitaborg/apac

For information on the Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship in other regions, see: www.google.com/anitaborg

Posted by Diana Kalkoul, Asia-Pacific Talent and Outreach Programs

Explore more with Mapping with Google

2013-05-28T09:22:00.000-07:00

(Cross-posted from Google Lat Long blog)

From your own backyard all the way to Mount Everest, Google Maps and Google Earth are here to help you explore the world. You can learn to harness the world’s most comprehensive and accurate mapping tools by registering for Mapping with Google.

Mapping with Google is a self-paced, online course developed to help you better navigate the world around you by improving your use of the new Google Maps, Maps Engine Lite, and Google Earth. All registrants will receive an invitation to preview the new Google Maps.

Through a combination of video and text lessons, activities, and projects, you’ll learn to do much more than look up directions or find your house from outer space. Tell a story of your favorite locations with rich 3D imagery, or plot sights to see on your upcoming trip and share with your travel buddies. During the course, you’ll have the opportunity to learn from Google experts and collaborate with a worldwide community of participants, via Google+ Hangouts and a course forum.

Mapping with Google will be offered from June 10 - June 24, and you can choose whether to explore the features of Google Maps, Google Earth, or both. In addition, you’ll have the option to complete a project, applying the skills you’ve learned to earn a certificate. Visit g.co/mappingcourse to learn more and register today.

The world is a big place, we like to think that you can make it a bit more manageable and adventurous with Google’s mapping tools.

Posted by Tina Ornduff, Program Manager

Making an impact as a Site Reliability Engineering intern

2013-05-22T09:10:00.000-07:00

We recently hosted a Hangout On Air to highlight Site Reliability Engineers (SRE) at Google. SRE is comprised of software and systems engineering teams worldwide who are specialists in troubleshooting, tools development and production systems automation. SRE is responsible for ongoing capacity planning to handle Google's rapid traffic growth and global expansion.

Today we’re featuring Ib Lundgren, an SRE intern in our ZRH office, who will tell you more about Site Reliability Engineers and the work they do at Google. Ib received his bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Engineering at Luleå University of Technology in Sweden and will be starting his master’s at UCL after his internship is complete.

What have you worked on as an SRE intern?

SRE interns are involved in a large number of projects and their role in each project can vary tremendously. For me, much of the work SREs do is unlike anything I’d experienced previously at university.

Two good examples were my projects related to monitoring. After the introductory weeks I dug into a migration and refactoring of our threshold based monitoring setup for a specific legacy service. This gave a good introduction to the Google ecosystem.

Later, I embarked on what would become my largest project, the development of a new smart time series analysis system. The purpose of this was to supplement the traditional monitoring by looking for anomalies in trends and classifying their importance based on deviation from the expected, as opposed to deviation from a hard coded threshold.

Another project I was involved in lies in the opposite end of the SRE spectrum, capacity planning. In parallel with my first project I created statistically sound future projections of Bigtable resource usage, mainly disk and memory usage, using an internal forecasting tool. Capacity planning is done per service, as opposed to per team, and my first task was to define these services in terms of Bigtable tables. Then I set up the data extraction pipeline necessary to feed the usage data into the forecasting tool.

What is your typical day like?

My day often starts with skimming through the night’s worth of emails from across the pond. This helps me prioritize what I need to do for the day as a new bug assignment might need urgent attention. I spend part of my day reading and answering code review feedback and bug discussions with various reviewers, usually from my team. This often leads to code needing to be altered, added or removed. When all feedback has been addressed, I move on to the main portion of my daily activities, writing shiny new code.

As an intern you are blessed with much time to focus on one or two tasks without much distraction. The last few months have been almost entirely devoted to my time series analysis project and consequently to finding reviewers for thousands of lines of code. The system was mainly developed by me and it was a great experience to go from an idea of what we would like to achieve, to researching and suggesting possible approaches, to refining the idea and seeing how this new system grew through a large number of iterations, each step with excellent feedback from Googlers both in Zurich and Mountain View.

As a student with experience mostly from the open web and a few article databases, discovering the corporate intranet is similar to finding a new Internet, except you only have a few months to digest all of it! Thus I also try and spend a little time each day to watch tech talks and research libraries, best practices and tools.

Why did you apply for an SRE internship?

I applied to SRE because it would be a great opportunity to grow and gain skills I had not had a chance to develop at university, but in hindsight it really was for the nerf gun shooting, rocket launching glory that is being an SRE.

What’s been your favorite part of the internship?

The greatest part by far about being an SRE intern is seeing the impact you have on your team and other teams you interact with. SREs are constantly working towards eliminating all repetitive work, either their own or in an effort to reduce the workload of others. At first this might come off as a sign of laziness, but it really is about striving to solve new and more challenging problems, not repeating the same job over and over again. As an intern you have time to tackle larger problems the team is struggling to find time for, but is causing them pain on a regular basis. By eliminating that problem and seeing the effect on your team is an opportunity I believe is unique to being an SRE intern.

Also, Google’s food is ridiculously awesome. Of course, with that comes the daily afternoon food crash, which is when I go to the on-site gym =)

Ib and an impressive looking
snowman after a day of skiing in Engelberg

What skills have you gained from this internship?

The culture here is like no other I’ve experienced. From the start I was free to choose from and work on a number of somewhat tersely described bugs. The initial phase of researching the bug and figuring out what a fix might look like took a while and was a big change from previous lab assignments. It would have been much quicker had I overcome my Noogler (term for “new Googler”) fear of making a fool of myself and started asking questions earlier. This was really when I started to understand how things work at Google. Since then, getting started on new projects and over a blocking issue has gone exponentially faster. The mentality of always asking questions, zooming in on your target and polling for regular feedback to see if you are going in the right direction are invaluable skills to have gained.

Engineering wise I’ve learned the value of doing things the right way and not taking short cuts. I was grilled extensively early on in code reviews and after having to defend all my choices I now know to do my due diligence before choosing any specific solution.

Google has been through many intriguing problems, the type of problems usually discarded in text books as so unlikely to happen that you need not bother thinking of them. Here, however, you stumble over these knowledge gems daily as you wander through the vast codebase.

Any advice for people considering applying?

You don't need to be a command line ninja with years of Linux kernel hacking experience to do an SRE internship so don't be afraid to apply, the worst you can get is a no.

What are your plans after your internship is over?

I’m going to do a master’s in the UK and I hope to work full-time at Google once I finish.

Interested in an SRE internship? Applications for our 2014 internships will be available at the end of this summer on google.com/students. You can also take a look at full-time roles posted here.

Posted by Frida Borjesson, College Recruiting Specialist

Congratulations to the 2013 Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholars

2013-05-21T12:36:00.000-07:00

(cross-posted from the Official Google Blog)

Dr. Anita Borg revolutionized the way we think about technology and worked to dismantle the barriers that keep women and minorities from entering the computing and technology fields. In her lifetime, Anita founded the Institute for Women and Technology (now The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology), began an online community called Systers for technical women, and co-founded the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. We’re proud to honor her memory through the Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship, established in 2004.

Today we’d like to recognize and congratulate the 30 Google Anita Borg Memorial scholars and the 30 Google Anita Borg Memorial finalists for 2013. The scholars, who attend universities in the United States and Canada, will join the annual Google Scholars’ Retreat this summer in New York City, where they will have the opportunity to attend tech talks on Google products, network with other scholars and Googlers, participate in developmental activities and sessions, and attend social activities. This year, the scholars will also have the opportunity to participate in a scholars’ edition of 24HoursOfGood, a hackathon in partnership with local non-profit organizations who work on education and STEM initiatives to make progress against a technical problem that is critical to their organization’s success.

Find out more (PDF) about our winners, including the institutions they attend. Soon we’ll select the Anita Borg scholars from our programs around the world. For more information on all our scholarships, visit the Google Scholarships site.

Posted by Azusa Liu, Student Development Programs Specialist

A Day in the Life of an Irish New Grad @ Google Dublin

2013-05-20T10:03:00.000-07:00

As part of our ‘A Day in the Life of a New Grad @ Google Dublin’ series we’re highlighting the work of 8 Googlers in our multicultural Google Dublin Office who joined soon after graduating! Today we’re featuring one of our Irish Googlers, Dean, a Brand Account Manager in our Large Client Services Team to give you the inside scoop about his role and top tips for new graduates. If you are interested in working in Google Dublin, check out some of our new grad positions at the end of this post.

Dean & Jack Daniel

Tell us about your path to Google?

Eight years of primary school, Five years of secondary, Four years of University, Six jobs.

I spent ages 3-9 wanting to be in An Garda Síochána (Cop, Policeman, Hot Fuzz)
9-13 wanting to “work with computers”
13-17 wanting to be an Architect
18 back to An Garda Síochána
And finally, settled down in a Marketing degree.

Rule one of Google: Quantify everything, it makes everything look more impressive.

The thing that prepared me most was the numerous jobs I had before joining Google. These included working on my Dad’s factory floor folding shirts or collecting empty pint glasses at the famous Fagan’s pub in Drumcondra, Dublin and working in Marketing for ESB’s Customer Supply team.

Then came my degree. DCU’s Marketing, Innovation and Technology course is honestly one of the best in the country. It offers a great mix of both traditional marketing theory combined with new age technology and offers a deep dive into practical real-world examples.

And after that came, well, Google.

Tell us about a typical day in your life at Google.

My brain doesn’t turn on until around 10:00 am. So up until that point I eat breakfast and plan for the day.

Next, I feed Chadwick, my turtle:

Super Ninja Turtle

After, that I kick it into high gear.

I work in the Branding Team where I’m an Account Manager for a handful of Google’s clients. It’s fast-paced, constantly changing and most importantly, interesting.

I normally start by reading through my inbox, looking for anything urgent that needs to be handled. Which is normally everything. Two pieces of advice regarding email: First, don’t email; try and pick up the phone instead, it solves things faster. Second, say it in 200 words or less. People have a short attention span, so keep it short ‘n sweet.

After that, I could be doing anything from helping a brand manager put together a media plan for a new marketing campaign, right down to giving a training to a digital agency on the “how to” of getting the most out of a YouTube Channel. The nature of branding clients means they have a big focus on Display Advertising and YouTube so one of the best parts of my job is playing around on YouTube during the day. You know those skippable Ads, massive banners on the youtube homepage or the Hunter Shoots a Bear Tipp-Ex Ad? Well that’s what I do.

One thing about working in advertising is the fast pace. With constant product development and market evolution, you are learning on the job all the time. So I spend a large portion of my time in training sessions and reading about new product releases and industry reports. I think that new graduates have a tendency to stop learning once they finish college...I know it sounds a little trite, but you never stop learning.

One fun fact about yourself?
In my final year of college I was the face of DCU’s marketing campaign. Unfortunately Google so far has refused to pay me to model for them.

DCU's most successful Ad campaign ;-)

What career advice would you give to a new grad embarking into the world of work?
I could probably talk for an hour on this one but because I’m rapidly approaching my word count limit, here are my top five:

1. Do your core job really well first. After that, you can start focusing on other stuff.
2. All things have an expert, the trick is to find that person, be nice to them and ask them for help when you need it.
3. Become an expert in something. People will be nice to you.
4. “If all you have is a hammer in the toolbox, everything looks like a nail.” - This is a business saying and there’s nothing wrong with it.
5. The last and probably most important thing to remember is “confidence”. Whether it’s during an interview or doing your job. Having and showing confidence is key.

Interested in working for Google Dublin? Check out our new grad positions today and apply!
EEA work authorization is required for roles supporting EEA markets.

Posted by Dean Magee, Brand Account Manager.

A Day in the Life of a Turkish New Grad @ Google Dublin

2013-05-13T08:53:00.000-07:00

As part of our ‘A Day in the Life of a New Grad @ Google Dublin’ series we’re highlighting the work of 8 Googlers in our multicultural Google Dublin Office who joined soon after graduating! Today we’re featuring one of our Turkish Googlers, Yigit, to give you an inside look into the Associate Account Strategist, Global Customer Services role. If you’re interested in applying for an SMB Sales/Services position, check out our open opportunities at the bottom of this post.

So, tell us about your path to Google?
I grew up in Istanbul, Turkey. I went to the German High School Istanbul and then I studied Economics at Bogazici University. During my final two years at university, I took Japanese courses which helped me to win a Japanese Government Scholarship to study Japanese at Keio University in Tokyo for one year. After Japan, I came back to Turkey and started working at Borusan Mannesmann as an export sales specialist. Then I worked at Philips in Turkey as a management trainee, spending one year in Product Marketing and six months in consumer sales. After Philips, I came to Dublin, Ireland to work at Google’s EMEA Headquarters.

Yigit celebrating at the St Patrick’s Day festival in Dublin!

What is your role at Google?
I am an Associate Account Strategist in SMB (Small and Medium Business) Services for Turkey. Currently, I am helping SMBs in Turkey to optimize their AdWords accounts to ensure their online advertising campaigns produce the best results possible and I also help to solve any problems relating to their accounts. Other projects that I work on include the Google Engage Program, in which I support advertising agencies and educate them to serve their customers better and Ad Review Optimization, which helps to review ads more efficiently. Before I began working on these projects, I was responsible for the Official Inside AdWords Turkey blog. Currently, I also have a “Buddy” role for Nooglers (new Google employees) to help them get up to speed quickly when they start in our team.

How does your role fit in with the larger team?
Our core job is to optimize and troubleshoot SMB AdWords accounts. However, every team member has a side project with a 20% time allocation to be used to contribute to the team in different ways. I use my 20% time allocation to educate AdWords agencies and I try to optimize the ad review process which in turn helps reviewers to use their time more efficiently.

So what does your typical day at Google involve?!

08.00 Trying to wake up
08.10 Still trying to wake up
08.20 Finally waking up (?)
08.45 - 09.00 Breakfast in Google
09.00 - 09.30 I check my customer accounts: before the day really starts, I try to analyze the needs of the customers and see where I can help improve what they are doing and troubleshoot any issues.
09.30 - 12.00 AdWords Account optimization & Troubleshooting
12.00 - 13.00 Lunch with colleagues to enjoy some delicious Google food!
13.00 - 14.00 AdWords Ad Review Process: I check current performance metrics and based on feedback from reviewers, I try to find ways to improve performance.
14.00 - 15.00 Training on new product features: Google AdWords products are being improved almost every day, so we constantly keep up to date on developments.
15.00 - 16.30 Account optimization and Troubleshooting: I try to finish all my accounts before the day ends.
16.30 - 17.30 Google Engage: I help agencies to solve their problems and improve their clients accounts or I prepare a webinar for agency education.
17.30 - 18.00 Buddy time : Support Nooglers for their ramp-up period

What's your favourite Google memory or ‘Magic Moment’?
Instead of a single memory, for me the magic moments happen every time I receive feedback that the improvement I made to an SMBs AdWords account resulted in more sales and revenue for our customer. You can touch people’s lives by improving their account performance and it’s great to get positive feedback from them.

One fun fact about yourself
Thanks to my previous employer I have great product knowledge and know many things about steel pipes, electric shavers, epilators and light bulbs :) Let me know if you consider buying any of these!

What career advice would you give to a new grad embarking into the world of work?
First of all, to study abroad is a very valuable experience, especially if you learn the language and immerse yourself in the culture of the country in which you study. I would definitely suggest studying abroad before graduation.

Second, my advice to a new grad would be to instead of insisting on a single path right after graduation, it’s better to consider all opportunities open to you. In other words, being open to different projects and roles is very important. It helps you to understand what you really want and what makes you happy in your career while broadening your perspective. In my personal story, I believe that having different experiences and roles, both during my studies and my career, paved my way to Google. Even inside Google, mobility among different roles is very important as well.

Interested in working for Google Dublin? Check out our new grad positions today and apply!
EEA work authorization is required for roles supporting EEA markets.

Posted by Yigit Yucel, Associate Account Strategist.

Google on the road: spring 2013 conferences recap

2013-05-09T09:54:00.000-07:00

Google recently sponsored and participated in several conferences, including the 2013 National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) National Conference, the Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research (CRA-W) conference, and the Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing conference.

Each conference had many truly inspirational students!

When asked for advice on how to best take advantage of events like these, one certainly stood out. Come prepared. Take the time to learn about the companies that will be present and what openings they have and have questions prepared about specific roles you are interested in, that way companies can spend more time getting to know you! Some of the common themes and takeaways for students at the conferences included:

Build a support network (classmates, friends, etc)

Don’t be afraid of asking questions and don’t feel like you’re the only person that thinks this is hard

Believe in yourself and do things that speak to your passions

Check out some of the highlights of each event below!

Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing (Tapia) - Washington, DC

In February, Google was a gold sponsor of the 2013 Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing in Washington DC. Named in honor of Rice University professor Dr. Richard Tapia, the conference has become one of the most diverse gatherings of Computer Science students in North America.

This year, a few well-known Googlers were able to be part of the program. Vint Cerf delivered a keynote talk and New York Engineering Director Marcus Mitchell participated in a panel discussion about the future of technology.

Google also hosted a conference session in which a group of engineers came together to give students candid advice on how to launch their CS careers. Taken from their time in college and as Google engineers, they shared personal stories of their own struggles and successes. Google was able to interact with several university groups travelling together and met up with past participants of Google programs like CSSI and Android Camp.

Googlers grabbing lunch with the Georgia Tech group at the Tapia Conference

National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) - Indianapolis, IN

Google was a proud participant of the 2013 National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) National Conference. This year the event took place in Indianapolis from March 27- March 31st. The NSBE conference had over 10,000 participants that came together for the opportunity to attend various STEM related sessions such as tech talks, career development workshops, poster sessions and the annual career fair and the Google booth had over 450 students stop by to chat about our roles & opportunities.

In addition to attending the career fair, several Googlers participated in tech talks and enrichment sessions. Isaiah Greene, a software engineer from our New York CIty office, lead a panel discussion on big data, while others facilitated resume review sessions with students.

One of the highlights of the conference was the opportunity to meet with our selected Google Travel Scholars. Five very talented computer science students came together at the event where we had a chance to celebrate their accomplishments by taking them out to a dinner with fellow Googlers.

Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research (CRA-W) - Boston, MA

Google recently had a chance to participate in the Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research (CRA-W) conference in Boston, Massachusetts April 5, 2013. CRA-W is an action oriented organization dedicated to increasing the number of women participating in Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) research and education at all levels.

This year at the conference, Google partnered closely with Microsoft to put on an all-night dance party for conference attendees to celebrate their achievements. The evening entailed handing out colorful Google swag, classy cocktails, and ending with delicious appetizers and dessert. The women hit the dance floor and didn’t stop dancing till the wee hours of the morning!

Posted by Harrison Shanklin, University Programs Team

Young Innovators @ Google - Noah Levin

2013-05-07T06:03:00.000-07:00

Today's post is a continuation of our Young Innovators @ Google series, where we're highlighting the great work of Googlers who, not too long ago, were students like you. In their short careers, these engineers, designers and product managers have had an impact on Google and our products. For today’s post, we sat down with Noah Levin, an interaction designer at Google.

Tell us about your path to Google.

Noah Levin: I first took interest in design through an early admiration of digital abstract art. I was enthralled with the way that technology could unlock creative expression in a completely new way. Then eventually through reading “Design of Everyday things” and “Don’t Make Me Think”, I learned that design was not just about how things look, but how they work, and I decided I wanted to learn more about the field in school. I also was very interested in musical theater at the time and wanted to attend a college that had both options, so Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in my hometown Pittsburgh, PA was a perfect fit. I studied Information Systems and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) with a minor in Communication Design, and also learned a lot during two summer internships at a small design firm in Pittsburgh. I decided to stay at CMU for my masters degree in HCI, part of which involved an amazing experience designing a cuff-mounted interface for astronauts at NASA in Mountain View. While on the west coast, I had a chance to interview with Google and now I’m loving it here!

Noah was recently featured in +Life at Google's Do Cool Things That Matter series - check out his full feature video below!

What was the first project you worked on at Google?

NL: Before transitioning to work on the Google Search app, I worked briefly on a fun project to help design an interface for related searches and visual refinements. The feature makes it easier to get to the information you are most likely to search for next, based on a wide variety of signals. For example, after searching [van gogh], it’s very likely you may also want to see his paintings, like [the starry night]. This feature still exists today, and is now built into knowledge cards on the search page. Try it out!

In what ways have you been able to innovate at Google?

NL: After just a few months of working here, I found out I'd be working on the Google Search app for iOS. Each day I come into work thrilled to have the chance to design interactions for a product that helps millions of people find the information they need every day, and I’m very lucky to collaborate with such a talented team of engineers to find new ways to make the app more useful, beautiful and easier to use.

Since joining the team, I’ve led the design through four major efforts: redesigning the ipad search experience including new interactions like a sliding web results page to get back and forth between search results and answers faster, redesigning the iphone search experience with a simplified interface and beautiful full screen image results, designing a new voice search experience with text to speech results, and most recently, bringing Google Now to iOS in the Google Search app. I am involved in all stages of the design process, from leading brainstorm sessions and creating sketches and mock ups early on to help define the vision, to refining those ideas using animation and interactive HTML / CSS prototypes, and finally providing high resolution assets and detailed implementation specifications to make the product really come to life.

Also, because Google is such an open and collaborative company, I often enjoy volunteering time outside of my primary project. For example, I worked with engineers to update many of the images we use on Google search to look crisp on high resolution displays and helped unify our navigation across devices including a fun subtle animation for search tools, in addition to spending 20% of my time working with the doodle team. It’s been quite a ride, and I can’t wait to keep building.

What was your involvement in launching Google Now for iOS?

NL: When Google Now launched on Android last year at Google I/O, people really enjoyed how it makes computers do the hard work, empowering you to find the information you need before you even ask. We’ve been collaborating closely with the Android team to think about ways to bring this great predictive information to more people. After spending a lot of time getting to know the product philosophy and current usage patterns, I began sketching, making Photoshop mock ups, and building prototypes to illustrate how this might feel in the context of the iOS app.

The Android team set a new bar for great design with their work on Google Now, so we knew that every moment, every pixel and animation, had to keep that bar high. I worked very closely with our engineers to refine the details to make sure everything felt fast, smooth, and polished. I’m quite proud of how things turned out, and am excited to finally see it out in the world.

What has surprised you most about working at Google?

NL: How much flexibility, freedom, and influence we have building products that reach hundreds of millions of people every day. I guess I expected to be working on small pieces of Google Search with a huge team and largely predefined requirements, but sure enough soon after joining, here I was fresh out of college working directly with just a few engineers and a product manager shaping and defining the best possible search experience on iOS. I was given the freedom to explore all sorts of concepts to figure out what we could do to make search feel fast and delightful, and had an amazing time refining these designs with such talented coworkers.

After we launched the redesign of the iPhone app, I’ll never forget the feeling I had when I first saw someone interacting with it casually while on a bus in San Francisco. They were touching and swiping things that I had once thought about and sketched on a whiteboard. The fact that this sketch can reach across the globe is incredibly eye opening, and really drives you every day to keep doing what you're doing.

What has been your favorite part about working at Google?

NL: There’s a lot to pick from, but I one thing I think is truly unique is how many talented and approachable engineers and designers there are here. I love being able to reach out and have lunch with the amazing people who design products I use every day from Chrome, Gmail, Google Drive, Maps, and my favorite, the lovely and creative folks who make the Google Doodles! I’m proud to now not only call these people my coworkers, but my friends.

Any good stories?

NL: I was shopping at an antique shop in San Francisco and noticed the owner was using the Google Search app on his iPhone. I was thrilled to see that and started chatting with him about it. When I mentioned I helped design it, he said “Oh great!” followed by something I always love hearing from people when I tell them I work at Google, “So I have some feedback for you.” I asked what was up, and he said, “You know... this logo here...” he points at the Google logo, “it just... it looks a little too much like the eBay logo. You should change that.” I hadn’t heard that one before, but happily replied, “You know, I can’t take credit for that, but I’ll pass along the feedback!”

Posted by Sarah Henderson, People Programs Specialist

A Day in the Life of a Belgian New Grad @ Google Dublin

2013-05-03T10:56:00.000-07:00

As part of our ‘A Day in the Life of a New Grad @ Google Dublin’ series we’re highlighting the work of 8 Googlers in our multicultural Google Dublin Office who joined soon after graduating! Today we’re featuring one of our Belgian Googlers, Pieter, to give you an inside look into the Associate Account Strategist, SMB Sales role. If you’re interested in applying for an SMB Sales/Services position, check out our open opportunities at the bottom of this post.

How did you end up at Google Dublin?
I was finishing my masters in European Studies at Vrije Universiteit Brussels when I was contacted by a friend who was working for Google in Dublin. He told me Google was hiring and wondered if I was interested in applying. Since online media and free food are two of my passions I did not hesitate - I applied and was lucky enough to be hired!

Could you explain your role of an Associate Account Strategist a bit further?
I work with the BeNeLux (Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg) markets, so I help Dutch and Belgian customers. As an SMB Sales Associate we aim to provide AdWords customers with free strategic advice to optimize their AdWords accounts. The customers we help are mainly small and medium businesses that do not always have the resources to invest too much time in AdWords so that is why we lend them a hand.

What I love about my job is the fact that you can really make a difference with these companies. Often the tips you give a customer result in increasing sales on their websites; so you can really see what you have accomplished.

The variety of customers is also really amazing. You could be talking to a baker, a lawyer, a flagpole salesman and an insurance company all in the same day. It is super cool to get to know so many business models in such a short period of time.

So, what does a typical day at Google look like?

My alarm goes at 7.45, (I snooze till’ 8.00), take a shower and ride my bike to work with an empty stomach (I get dressed in between by the way!). Breakfast is waiting in one of our four on-site restaurants. I don’t consider myself a morning person, but the amazing breakfast makes starting the day a lot easier.

By 9.00 I’m at my desk, checking my emails and my agenda for the rest of the day. Before noon I have probably called a client or two to advise them on their AdWords account.

Around 12.30 is lunch time. Again, Google really knows how to spoil us with healthy and delicious food, so I really look forward to it.

After lunch I follow up on some emails and reach out to one or two customers. Around 4.30 I go and play my daily game of ping pong with a colleague. On good days I win, but most days I get my bottoms kicked. Nonetheless it is a great way to get ready for the last hour of the day, which I mostly reserve for some administrative chores. After work I go home and cook dinner or, when I’m lazy, I go and have dinner at, surprise surprise: Google.

What is the most interesting project/client that you have had to work with?
Currently I am working with agencies that manage AdWords professionally for their clients. To offer these guys added value requires a lot of preparation on my part since many of the people I talk to have been managing AdWords accounts twice as long as I have. To give these guys helpful advice is a challenge, but it does keep you sharp. I love that these agencies don’t take your advice if you can’t support it with data, so I try to find facts and figures before pitching a product to them. If they implement a feature I have recommended it gives a great sense of satisfaction.

What's your favorite Google memory or ‘Magic Moment’?
Before I came to Google I participated in a rally to Mongolia. During this trip I met two guys that were working for Google in Dublin; we travelled together for a week through the Gobi desert. They got the nickname ‘Dustboys’ because their air filter was broken and they were always completely covered in dust.

On my first week in Dublin someone touched me on the shoulder and asked ‘Hi Pieter, what are you doing here?’ I had no idea who this person was so I was kind of weirded out. Then he said ‘I’m Ryan, from Mongolia, we shot a bazooka together’. Only then did I recognize one of the Dustboys who was now cleanly washed and smelling a lot nicer than in the desert a year before. This was a pretty cool moment.

What career advice would you give to a new grad embarking into the world of work?
Go after the job you want and if you can’t find it immediately, make sure you do something cool with your time (internship, travel, …) so that you don’t get a gap on your CV.

Interested in working for Google Dublin? Check out our new grad positions today and apply!
EEA work authorization is required for roles supporting EEA markets.

Posted by Pieter Boon, Associate Account Strategist.

A Day in the Life of a Danish New Grad @ Google Dublin

2013-04-30T07:06:00.001-07:00

As part of our ‘A Day in the Life of a New Grad @ Google Dublin’ series we’re highlighting the work of 8 Googlers in our Google Dublin Office who joined straight after graduating! Today we’re featuring one of our Danish Googlers, Anna, one of our newest sales rockstars who joined Google in 2012, to give you an inside look into the Associate Account Strategist, SMB Sales role. If you’re interested in applying for an SMB Sales position, check out our open opportunities at the bottom of this post.

Tell us about your path to Google?
I was born in Luxembourg, the country that my Danish mother and Swedish father called home back in 1983. Since then I have lived in Sweden, Denmark, Chile and now in Dublin. My “home” hasn’t got latitude and longitude coordinates, it’s more like a state of mind - I feel at home when I’m surrounded by cultural diversity and inspiring people. I guess I’ve always seen the world as a playground, and I’ve had a strong desire to live abroad. I studied Business, Language & Culture (English and Spanish) at Copenhagen Business School, and in 2011. I went on exchange for a semester at Trinity College Dublin, and I completed an internship at Google Ireland. I was thrilled when Google offered me a full-time job, and I returned to Dublin in July 2012.

Me in the office

What is your role at Google?
I’m a sales rockstar in the Nordic SMB Sales team, and I help Small and Medium sized businesses grow their business with AdWords. Most of the time it feels like I am consulting my clients rather than selling to them - I educate them and share my knowledge about online consumer behaviour and show them how they can use AdWords features and products to reach consumers at different stages in the buying process. I have targets I need to reach each quarter, but it’s really an enjoyable task to be selling Google AdWords! Google is a strong brand, and it’s easy for clients to measure the ROI they get from AdWords.

Photography is one of my passions

How would you describe the Nordic SMB Sales team?
We are small but mighty, and we work smarter, not harder! My colleagues are Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish, and each of us work on growing our respective markets - at the same time we are one Nordic team with a strong sense of unity.

Do you wanna walk a day in my shoes? Lace up! Here we go:

My beauty sleep ends at 07:30am
I cruise to work on my red grandma bike, which I brought with me from Denmark. It takes about 15 minutes to get to work - and all the way I am longing for my breakfast at Google!

Breakfast at 08:30am
Every morning I take a trip down memory lane as I eat my breakfast at Google - the delicious oatmeal porridge with almond flakes and fresh berries totally reminds me of my childhood in Sweden. My adult self craves a steaming hot and creamy cappuccino, and now I’m ready to start my day.

Sales pitching 09:00am - 12:00pm
I usually have 3 calls scheduled before lunch - talking to clients gives me energy, and that’s how I like to start my day. The clients I talk to work with diverse business models, and sometimes I speak to the owner of the company, and other times it’s a staff member. It varies a lot how savvy the clients are, and I adapt to their level to ensure that we are speaking the same “language”. The sales job is really about communicating with people and understanding how they conduct their business to be able to help them get the best possible ROI from AdWords. I believe my work has a real impact - I share my knowledge in online advertising and that helps my clients grow their businesses.

Culinary Delights 12:00pm - 13:00
My lunch time is often equal to networking time. I like scheduling lunch dates with inspiring Googlers from other teams and nationalities. When the weather is good, I take the chance to have lunch on the rooftop terrace, or I visit the local food market close to the office.

Optimizations 13:00 - 15:00
After lunch it’s time for some hands-on work. I’m not only talking to the clients on the phone, I also help them optimizing their AdWords accounts. This involves improving the basic structure of the account, analyzing the data in their account to optimize performance and increase ROI. By analyzing the account I can also identify new opportunities, such as Mobile campaigns, Display Network campaigns, and Remarketing campaigns.

Best practice sharing 15:00 - 15:30
I hang out with some teammates in the “microkitchen”. It’s a very casual meeting where we can snack and recharge energy while we share our best practices.

Constant development 15:30 - 18:00
In the afternoons I like to attend trainings that are arranged by the Google Learning & Development team. These are trainings that are designed to help me improve my sales skills and ensure personal development.

After work: “What’s the Craic?”
That’s Irish for “What’s happening?” - Well typically I go to Bikram Yoga, go out with friends, or dance salsa. I’m a passionate salsa dancer!

What's your favourite Google memory or ‘Magic Moment’?
During my internship in 2011, Eric Schmidt visited Google Ireland and I had the opportunity of attending a presentation where he shared insights about Google’s future business strategy. That is truly a memorable moment in my Google career!

It was a Magic Moment for me when Nikesh Arora announced that Google would bring all sales teams to Las Vegas for a Google sales conference in 2013 - I almost couldn’t believe it!

What career advice would you give to a new grad embarking into the world of work?
Nurture your curiosity, never stop learning, and remember that sky’s the limit!

Interested in working for Google Dublin? Check out our new grad positions today and apply!
EEA work authorization is required for roles supporting EEA markets.

Posted by Anna Nordkvist, Associate Account Strategist.

A Day in the Life of a German New Grad @ Google Dublin

2013-04-25T08:59:00.000-07:00

As part of our ‘A Day in the Life of a New Grad @ Google Dublin’ series we’re highlighting the work of 8 Googlers in our multicultural Google Dublin Office who joined soon after graduating! Today we’re featuring one of our German Googlers, Mengühan, to give you an inside look into the Associate Account Strategist, SMB Sales role. Mengühan began his career with Google as a summer intern and returned to be a full time Googler after his studies!

If you’re interested in applying for an SMB Sales/Services position, check out our open opportunities at the bottom of this post.

Tell us about your path to Google?
I grew up in a small town near Stuttgart in Germany and majored in International Business and Finance at Reutlingen University. During my studies, I completed several internships in industry, consulting and eventually at Google as well. In retrospect, Google was the only place where I was actually looking forward to leaving home to go to work in the morning. For me, it was clear that I wanted to join Google for a full time position after graduating.

Mengühan at the Google Dublin Office

Why Google and not other companies?
That’s easy. At Google, you have the opportunity to work with some of the smartest people. If you are interested in technology, then Google is the place to be. Besides that, the perks are unbeatable with free gourmet food, on-site massages, gym and gaming corners on each floor.

What is your role at Google?
I’m an SMB Sales Associate for the German speaking market. I advise small and medium-sized businesses on their online marketing strategies. This can include finding tailor-made solutions for our clients, helping them navigate through their account or talking about how they can cope with upcoming trends. My role is very entrepreneurial. You can decide how and when you want to work. The flexibility is of course bound to high responsibility, but if you are able to manage and discipline yourself properly, you will do well.

Sales is in my opinion the best place to acquire the skills you need for a successful career in any corporation - communicating professionally on a high level (mostly with CEOs), working towards targets/objectives and, of course, building great relationships with your customers.

How does your role fit in with the larger team?
As a salesperson at Google, you have a lot of responsibility, towards both your customers and Google. Google’s revenue is generated from AdWords which means we in the sales teams play an important role as our work enables our colleagues from other teams to work on cool new products and innovation.

The most amazing part of my job is that I advise mainly small businesses. Most small businesses cannot afford to hire a marketing professional so they rely on me to be their Chief Marketing Officer. It’s just great to talk to young entrepreneurs about their goals and ambitions and their strategies to compete in the market.

Tell us about a typical day in your life at Google.

Here’s a typical day for me:

7:30: Start of the day
My smartphone’s alarm is ringing - let´s snooze for five more minutes, and then five more, and then again.. nope, I’m not a morning person. I love the snooze alarm function. Finally, I get up, and I’m already excited about my breakfast at work: Waffles with Nutella and freshly-squeezed orange juice. Epic!

8:45: Emails
After my delicious breakfast and espresso to kick-start the day, I go to my desk and check my emails. I have set several labels in Gmail, so I know what to look for.

9:00: Appointment scheduling
It’s time to schedule some appointments with my customers. German customers are very active in the morning so, with the support of a nice cup of Maroccan Mint tea, I am usually able to schedule around three client appointments.

10:00: Customer calls
Between 10 am and 12 pm, I usually have my first scheduled calls with customers. I take about 20 minutes to analyze the accounts to find optimization potentials. Early in the call, I try to understand the business model, the market, the competitors and so on. It’s always extremely interesting how people make money.

12:30: Lunch
I love sushi, so today I decide to meet with a friend at the Earth Cafe where they have a sushi bar. Salmon Mango Maki and Tuna Nigiri, I love it. The black forest cake for dessert of course, feels like home.

13:00: Customer calls
After around 1pm, I usually have some other calls. Customers tend to be more relaxed with a full belly after lunch. Of course, I do, too.

15:00: AdWords campaign creation
Sometimes the campaigns of customers have to be built from scratch. That’s when we have our creative time. While my music is cranked up in my headphones, I think about a proper structure for the customer’s account - i.e. which customer groups to target and which online marketing channels to utilise. For instance, I like creating banner ads with the AdWords ad builder. It makes you feel like a designer.

16:30
In the evening, I usually have some time for personal projects, such as writing this blog post.

18:00
The best way for me to finish a day is to power out myself in the Google gym.

What is the most interesting project/client that you have had to work with?
That’s difficult. I have talked to many clients that were very interesting. Once, I talked to a the CEO of a start-up that provides a car sharing service in Munich and it was one of the first of its kind in Germany. You can basically pick up a car anywhere with your member card and pay on a per minute basis. I’ve always thought that car sharing is the next big thing in public transport. Hearing the strategy and data behind the concept from the CEO was very exciting.

Have you done a rotation onto another team? If so, can you tell us about that?
I did my internship last year on the same team but for the Turkish market, as I am of Turkish heritage. It’s unbelievable how customers differ. Turkish customers have to build up a personal relationship before you can give them any suggestions on their work. German customers usually cut straight to the chase. Hard to say what I would prefer, sometimes I want to chat, sometimes just do my work.

What's your favourite Google memory or ‘Magic Moment’?
At Google, magic happens and is created on a daily basis. I know that sounds cheesy, but that’s actually what makes everything “Googley”. During an internal social engagement activity called Age Engage, I taught a senior citizen how to use a computer, the internet and a social media site in order to stay in contact with his grandchildren. He, in exchange, shared personal and very interesting aspects of his life with me. Personally, I found that magical.

What career advice would you give to a new grad embarking into the world of work?
Take a short break. I took one month off to travel after graduating. It really helped me to get a new and fresh view on everything and my life. After that, I would plan over some months for the application process. Don’t go for the first offer, get some options by applying to many companies and then decide for the place that suits you best. For me, it was Google. I love to work in a technology company with a young and dynamic working environment. Google facilitates the lives of so many people every day - that’s amazing. I would say, choose the job you really want, not the one you think will bring you the most money. Good luck!

Interested in working for Google Dublin? Check out our new grad positions today and apply!
EEA work authorization is required for roles supporting EEA markets.

Posted by Mengühan Ünver, Associate Account Strategist.

Google Student Ambassador Program in Latin America - 2013 Launch!

2013-04-23T12:04:00.000-07:00

During the first week of March 2013, Google invited 49 students from 32 universities and campuses from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru to participate in our second annual Google Student Ambassador Program in Latin America. With only 19 students last year, the Google Student Ambassador program more than doubled in size and added a new country to the mix! Ambassadors are given the unique opportunity to serve as liaisons between Google and their campus for the academic year, holding workshops, trainings and events with their university community around Google’s core products, programs and initiatives.

In order to perform their role as Ambassadors most effectively, we invited our stellar new class of students to pack their bags and make their way to Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina and largest Google office in South America, to attend our annual summit.

The summit included a jam-packed two-day agenda full of workshops and trainings that provided a unique networking opportunity by bringing all of the students from the region on-site. Students were not only exposed to Google’s tools, products, programs and technologies by over 20 Googlers, but were given resources to enhance their professional development that they could take back to their peers as well. Additionally, many Ambassadors enjoyed their first visit to a Google office, where they were introduced to our unique, collaborative work environment and given an opportunity to meet our hard-working sales, marketing and Developer Relations teams and learn about their day-to-day.

Ethan Cohen delivers an interactive training on G+

Highlights included interactive, thought-provoking sessions where students would break out into groups to “hack” answers to potential challenges on campus, collaborating and networking with Argentine Googlers during office “merienda”, and lots of color as students sported cultural and school spirited clothing each day of the event. Whether Ambassadors were brainstorming use of Hangouts in the classroom or discussing

And the fun wasn’t confined to the office - Ambassadors got the chance to explore the city, were treated to a classical Argentine meal and tango show, and had to put their learnings to the test at Tango classes!

Ambassadors celebrating in the Buenos Aires office

By the time the Ambassadors danced their way to the stage during the graduation ceremony, it was evident how close they had become to one another and how much they had learned during the summit. Many of the newly appointed LatAm GSAs described this opportunity as one of the most rewarding, empowering experiences of their life, which we were thrilled to hear. We only anticipate great things on campus from our LatAm GSAs in 2013!

Posted by Sarah Henderson, Student Development Programs

A new kind of summer job: open source coding with Google Summer of Code

2013-04-22T13:25:00.000-07:00

(cross-posted from the Official Google blog)

If you’re a university student with CS chops looking to earn real-world experience this summer, consider writing code for a cool open source project with the Google Summer of Code program.

Over the past eight years more than 6,000 students have “graduated” from this global program, working with almost 400 different open source projects. Students who are accepted into the program will put the skills they have learned in university to good use by working on an actual software project over the summer. Students are paired with mentors to help address technical questions and concerns throughout the course of the project. With the knowledge and hands-on experience students gain during the summer they strengthen their future employment opportunities in fields related to their academic pursuits. Best of all, more source code is created and released for the use and benefit of all.

Interested students can submit proposals on the website starting now through Friday, May 3 at 12:00pm PDT. Get started by reviewing the ideas pages of the 177 open source projects in this year’s program, and decide which projects you’re interested in. Because Google Summer of Code has a limited number of spots for students, writing a great project proposal is essential to being selected to the program. Be sure to check out the Student Manual for advice.

For ongoing information throughout the application period and beyond, see the Google Open Source blog, join our Summer of Code mailing lists or join us on Internet relay chat at #gsoc on Freenode.

Good luck to all the open source coders out there, and remember to submit your proposals early—you only have until May 3 to apply!

Posted by Stephanie Taylor, Open Source team

A Day in the Life of a Dutch New Grad @ Google Dublin

2013-04-19T08:34:00.000-07:00

As part of our ‘A Day in the Life of a New Grad @ Google Dublin’ series we’re highlighting the work of 8 Googlers in our Google Dublin Office who joined soon after graduating! Today we’re featuring one of our Dutch Googlers, Janna, to give you an inside look into the Associate Account Strategist, Global Customer Services role. If you’re interested in applying for an SMB Sales/Services position, check out our open opportunities at the bottom of this post.

Tell us about your path to Google.
I grew up in Holland, where I did a Bachelors degree in Social Sciences. I then went to the London School of Economics (LSE) where I completed a masters in Organizational and Social Psychology. Upon graduation I spent a year working in sales and marketing in London. One day I received an email from a fellow LSE graduate who told me that Google was hiring. I applied - thinking that at the very least I’d get some good interview experience - and two months later I moved to Google’s EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) HQ in Dublin!

How do you explain to your grandmother what you do at Google?
I’ve tried that before! My core job is to support AdWords advertisers - well in my case, Dutch speaking advertisers. So I help them via email, phone and chat to develop good advertising strategies and to solve any problems they may run into.

In addition, I fulfill several roles on the team. For example, I’m responsible for the content on the Dutch AdWords Help Center. It is my job to make sure that all articles posted are up to date and correct. I also evaluate and monitor the customer-interactions of some of my colleagues to ensure they meet Google standards. Every few quarters we change roles within the team, so that everyone has the chance to learn new skills.

Lots to learn, it seems?
No day is the same! This quarter I have been selected for a 50% rotation which I am really excited about. This means that I will spend half of my time with a different team within the organization to gain new experiences. I joined the Staffing Team. This team falls under the People Operations Group and is responsible for hiring the next generation of Googlers into the organisation. During my rotation, I’ll be developing my project management skills and I’m looking into creating some impactful process improvements for them.

So you’re keeping busy?
Yes, believe it or not, in between our regular foosball competitions we do actually get some work done in the end! And now that we have a miniature golf course on our floor, there’s yet another opportunity for me to broaden my skills set!

Interested in working for Google Dublin? Check out our new grad positions today and apply!
EEA work authorization is required for roles supporting EEA markets.

Posted by Janna Walvoort, Global Customer Services.

MENA 2012 Google Student Ambassador Program: Do Cool Things That Matter!

2013-04-17T08:34:00.000-07:00

Cross-posted from the Google Arabia Blog

The Google Student Ambassador Program is an opportunity for university students to work closely with Google, develop their professional skills, and collaborate with people from around the region who are excited about technology, or eager to learn. The 2013 application for the Middle East and North Africa region is now open, and the deadline to apply has been extended to April 24.

Since the start of the 2012 academic year, the MENA Google Student Ambassadors held many successful events, spanning 11 countries and 80 universities in the Middle East and North Africa. The events, ranging from training workshops to casual meetups, served to educate their respective university communities about Google products and programs relevant for students.

Among the successful events were campaigns to enrich the Google Maps content of their countries using Google Map Maker. The Ambassadors collected thousands of edits through these ongoing campaigns, and it’s still growing.

The Google Student Ambassadors (GSA) in MENA have also succeeded in holding social media awareness events, introducing new features of Google+. One of these events hosted none other than G+ Ambassador, Myriam Fares at AUL in Lebanon, along with Wael Fakharany, Google’s Regional Manager for Egypt and North Africa. Hundreds of attendees watched as Myriam Fares introduced G+ features, including Hangouts, and talked about how it helped remove the barrier of distance between her and her fans around the world.

Myriam Fares hosts G+ awareness event

But GSA activities aren’t just limited to campus. During his recent visit to Palestine, President Obama asked to meet with active youth to understand the problems, challenges, as well as youth initiatives in the region. Local NGO’s nominated eight students to represent their country to the US delegation. Among the elite eight was Akram Dweikat, Google Student Ambassador and Google Developer Group (GDG) leader in Nablus. Akram was selected because of his numerous activities in the field of technology as a GSA, a GDG leader, and even before that as an NGO volunteer.

Akram meets with President Obama

During his meeting with President Obama, Akram spoke about the GSA and GDG programs and related events, including StartUp Weekend Nablus and other events he held on campus. He talked about how investment in entrepreneurship, new business ideas, and development would help build a better future for those in Palestine. Though support for these initiatives is still much needed, programs such as the GSA and GDG enable communities to learn from one another and share valuable experiences. They also help to highlight and enrich the skills of the talented youth in the region - creating a gateway for university students to discover their hidden potential, challenge themselves in the field and get recognized for their hard work and ultimately do cool things that matter!

If you want to join the fun - and are currently studying for your masters or bachelor degree in a university in the Middle East and North Africa with at least one more academic year ahead of you - this is your chance to be part of history and become a 2013-2014 Google Student Ambassador.

Deadline for registration has been extended to April 24, 2013, so apply now!

To learn more about the program, please watch this video for the 2011 Google Student Ambassador Training, or check our our previous blog post.

Posted by Rana Ahmed, University Outreach Coordinator, MENA & Rania Hadi, Outreach Manager, MENA

A Day in the Life of a Norwegian New Grad @ Google Dublin

2013-04-16T08:47:00.000-07:00

Håvard at the Cliffs of Moher

What is your role at Google?
I work in SMB Sales where I help small and medium sized Norwegian advertisers develop and follow through on their online advertising strategy. The ability to work with small and medium companies to help them grow their business was something that really attracted me to Google in the first place.

How does your role fit in with the larger team?
The team I work in is called SMB Sales Nordics. As the name suggests, it is a cross-nordic team, made up of people from all the nordic countries. There are about 20 people on the team all handling different markets and responsibilities, but we work together and report as a truly Nordic team.

Tell us about a typical day in your life at Google
Wake up at 6:30am
I like to get up early in the morning. While walking to work, I listen to audio-books, especially historical biographies. Churchill, Napoleon, you name it, I like to walk to work with these guys.

8:00 - 8:30 Breakfast
Everything you have heard about food at Google is true and more! It all begins at 8am when a delicious breakfast is served. I like to have eggs in the morning, usually coupled with some bread and a glass of cold milk (nordic style!).

8:30 - 9:30 Emails
I take the elevator up to my desk (fastest elevator in Ireland, true story) to do some typing. The first thing I do every morning is clear my inbox.

9:30 - 11:00 Advertiser time
After sorting my emails I usually spend time reaching out to my clients. It can be everything from developing an email, to making phone calls and even having a live Hangout with advertisers where we go through the different opportunities open to them.

11:00 - 11:30 Team Huddle
We usually have a huddle around 11, where we spend some time updating each other on what we are working on.

11:30 - 12:30 Lunch
Lunch at 11:30...I know! We Nordic people like to eat early, so we usually go for lunch around this time. Usually I have lunch with Googlers from my team, but I also try to meet up with people on other teams.

12:30 - 15:00
After lunch I spend my time checking emails again and following up on whatever needs it. When that’s done, I tend to spend my time building advertising campaigns or attending meetings.

15:00 - 15:15 Break
I make sure to take a proper break around this time to go to the micro-kitchen to have a snack and a coffee with some coworkers.

15:15 - 18:00ish Meeting time
The rest of the day is usually a mix of meetings, and following up on projects that I have taken on.

What is the most interesting project/client that you have had to work with?
When we set up my current role for Norway. I was the first person to work on wide scale sales towards Google’s SMB clients in Norwegian media-agencies, and it has been a great ride to see what works and what doesn't work.

What's your favourite Google memory or ‘Magic Moment’?
My favourite Google memory was when I got to be an art-teacher for a day at an inner city children's school. Google is a very socially responsible company, and we set aside time every year to give back to the community. To teach art to 9 year olds was an experience I will never forget!

One fun fact about yourself?
Me and my brother once had this crazy idea of starting a country-and-western themed bar/restaurant in our home town back in Norway. We had an awesome time doing it!

What career advice would you give to a new grad embarking into the world of work?
Try to find a company that matches your values and what you find important. I don't think it’s possible to do great work unless you really believe in your employers core mission and values.

Interested in working for Google Dublin? Check out our new grad positions today and apply!
EEA work authorization is required for roles supporting EEA markets.

Posted by Håvard Nyberg, SMB Sales

A Day in the Life of a Danish New Grad @ Google Dublin

2013-04-04T08:47:00.000-07:00

Today we’re launching ‘A Day in the Life of a New Grad @ Google Dublin’, a new blog series highlighting the work of 8 Googlers in our Google Dublin Office who joined straight after graduating!

The Googlers you’ll read about work in the tallest office block in Ireland, located on Barrow Street, the "Silicon Valley" of Europe. As Google’s Headquarters for sales in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Googlers in the Dublin Office work with a broad range of businesses and markets – small businesses, multinationals, AdWords, AdSense, Display, Mobile advertising and more. Google Dublin is our third largest office in the world, made up of thousands of Googlers from over 65 countries, speaking over 46 different languages on a daily basis. The work that our Googlers do in this office are as diverse as the number of nationalities represented there!

We will feature a different Googler in the office and talk to them about what their day to day life at Google encompasses, their background and what they love about working for Google. For our first post, we hear from Christopher, a Global Customer Services Associate.

Visit Google for a day with Christopher
Meet Christopher - who has packed his suitcase and moved to Dublin from his home in Denmark to work in Google's European headquarters. With a background from CBS (Copenhagen Business School) and an entrepreneur's interest in innovation and online. Is Google the right place to nurture such passions - even when it's your first full time job after university? Christopher describes his daily work and what it’s like to work with over 3000 other young people from around the world in an industry that is constantly changing.

Christopher working at Google Dublin Office

So Christopher, tell us a bit about your background?
My background is from CBS (Copenhagen Business School), where I took a bachelor's degree in Business Administration and Economics and a master’s degree in Management of Innovation and Business Development, with a semester spent at Renmin University of China in Beijing. My fascination for online and e-commerce derived mainly from my entrepreneurial project Steel - a niche online store that sells everything from viking to samurai swords. My current job at Google is my first full-time job.

What does an average day at Google involve for you?
I work directly with Google AdWords everyday. I am a single piece of a carefully composed puzzle where I support small and medium sized businesses and their online advertising with AdWords. It can include everything from solving technical problems to advising our advertisers on their online marketing strategy and how they can launch the perfect AdWords campaign.

An average day consists mostly of troubleshooting and consultation via email and / or phone in my support role. In addition, I have specific specialist roles in my Nordic team, making the daily work even more fun and interesting. I am a Nordic Analytics Specialist, which is my favourite role. Google Analytics is a free program that analyses the behavior of users on a website. I firmly believe that the analysis of this data can make a business’s website much better and can be used to improve advertising campaigns to reach new heights. In this regard, I support the Nordic team solving difficult Analytics challenges and I organize Analytics trainings.

Furthermore, I am the Nordic contact for one of our charitable programs, Google Grants which is where charities can apply to get free advertising with Google. It was in this role that I got my first major assignment to schedule Denmark's first ever Google Grants event. My manager gave me complete autonomy to plan, coordinate and organize the event. There was no micro-management and in November 2011, representatives of 18 charities appeared for an exciting day of “Google AdWords” at Google's new Copenhagen office.

I am also the editor of the Danish AdWords Blog where my next little project will be to write an Analytics blog post to help users to get more out of their Analytics accounts. Finally, I have helped to build a Danish learning portal that will aid new and inexperienced AdWords advertisers and this will launch soon.

These different roles keep my daily work fresh and give me a feeling of making a difference.

Can you tell us about your team mates?
I work among a team of incredibly talented people. Google's absolute force (besides the amazing food and future swimming pool) - are the people they hire. Most of whom are in the same situation as myself: they have moved from friends and family to pursue a passion for innovation and entrepreneurship merged with the online world.

My colleagues are also my new friends. Since moving to Dublin, I have met some of the most interesting and talented personalities I've ever encountered. It sounds like a cliche, but I can honestly say that I look forward to going to work every day and being motivated and challenged by people with very strong qualities. Each one of my teammates are all similar in terms of mindset, ambition and motivation despite having come from very diverse backgrounds. Amongst my closest colleagues is a Finnish fashion blogger from Aalto School of Economics in Helsinki and a Swede with a qualification in evolutionary anthropology from the University of Oxford outside of London. Everybody is unique or "Googley" as we say, whether they come from Ireland, Israel or Italy. This sheer diversity has helped make Google Dublin a truly unique place to work (in addition to the on-site masseuse, PlayStation rooms and the minigolf course that is ten feet away from my desk!).

What does your future hold?
What the future holds is hard to say, but it looks very interesting. I think that “being online” is a concept that is gradually disappearing as we are constantly “connected”. Whether it's on the laptop at work, on your smartphone on the go or on the tablet at home. Whether you’re looking for information about the program you’re watching on one of YouTube's millions of channels, needing to find your way in your self-driving car or keeping in touch with your global network via video chat, you are constantly "plugged in". Google dares to think bigger than most companies, and does everything possible to motivate employees to do the same - even as a new grad! I feel very privileged to be part of this.

Interested in working for Google Dublin? Check out our new grad positions today and apply!
EEA work authorization is required for roles supporting EEA markets.

Posted by Christopher Brixen, Global Customer Services Associate

My Summer @ Google: Computer Science Summer Institute

2013-04-01T11:36:00.000-07:00

Introduction: Earlier this month we launched the application for the Computer Science Summer Institute (CSSI), a three-week summer program for graduating high school seniors who are interested in studying computer science. Today through the My Summer @ Google series, we're bringing you another story from former CSSI participant, Alice. Alice is a CSSI alum and freshman at the University of California at Berkeley studying computer science. If you'd like to learn more about CSSI, visit our website and apply by April 7th.

I have always been inspired by how computer scientists such as Larry Page and Sergey Brin have changed the world through technology, and I thought it would be cool to spend my summer at Google. Although I was quite interested in computer science, I was actually uncertain whether or not I could pursue it. I had never programmed before CSSI, and I had this misconception of computer scientists being expert hackers (which I wasn’t) who played video games for most of their time (which I didn’t). Therefore, attending CSSI seemed like the perfect way for me to not only experience what it is like at Google, but also learn more about computer science and find out if it is right for me.

On the very first day of CSSI, the instructors told us we would learn how to program in two weeks and build a web application by the end of the program. I could not believe my ears. For someone who had never even typed a single word in any programming language before, building a web application in one week was unimaginable. For the first two weeks we learned a new topic each day. First it was App Inventor, then it was HTML, Javascript, CSS, Python, and AppEngine—basically everything we needed to build a web application.

At the end of two very intense weeks of training, we were ready to take on the big challenge of creating our first web applications. We were divided into groups, and immediately began working together. What I really liked about the projects was that we could do anything we wanted. This made the process extremely enjoyable because everyone was so excited about what the group was creating that we all worked tirelessly together to make our web applications the best they could be. We also received lots of support from interns and other Googlers who not only helped us debug our programs but also showed us the master ways of doing things. Finally, after a week of frantic programming, we finished our web applications and presented them to Googlers around the world (thanks to Hangouts!). It was truly an amazing feeling to realize what everyone achieved in three weeks and to have our web applications tried out by other people.

CSSI was life changing for me because it helped me discover my love for computer science and convinced me to pursue the field. It really opened up the door to a whole world that I had never dared to enter, and showed me how beautiful computer science is. Learning how to make web applications has given me the power to create anything I want, and since the program ended I have built several web applications myself to solve some of my problems. The Googlers and fellow CSSIers I met have taught me how to tackle problems in different ways and have inspired me to be the programmer I am today.

Interested in CSSI? Apply here!

Posted by Alice Jia Qi Liu, CSSI Participant

Taking a shot with Google — an engineer's perspective

2013-03-27T09:15:00.000-07:00

Nik talks with students at the Google booth
Photo: Mikael Hansson/InfoTech Umeå"

Recently I returned from helping represent Google at the DataTjej conference in Umeå, Sweden. A national conference for female students studying IT, DataTjej has been an annual event for the last 15 years, with lectures, workshops, and networking events for the ~ 120 conference goers.

I was able to spend a lot of time talking to the attendees, both at the Google booth and at the conference dinner, and was regularly surprised during those conversations as person after person told me that they'd be too afraid to even apply for a role at a company like Google, never mind actually going through the interview process.

I told everyone who said this the same thing, and I'm sharing it now in the hope that it might help change your mind if you're feeling the same way.

When you're interviewing at Google, we want you to do as well as you possibly can, so we do our best to make sure that that's possible. We don't ask trick questions, or look for ways to trip you up; our interviewers want to see you at your very best. The very worst that can happen is that we decide not to hire you (or you decide not to join us).

Nik presenting at DataTjej

So if you're at all interested in the opportunity to work on world-changing projects with computing infrastructure that spans the planet then I'd really encourage you to apply (see http://www.google.com/students and http://www.google.com/jobs for details). You've got nothing to lose.

Posted by Nik Clayton, Site Reliability Engineer

Become a Google Student Ambassador at your university in the Middle East and North Africa

2013-03-21T09:37:00.001-07:00

Cross-posted from the Google Arabia Blog

Google is committed to supporting the education of future leaders and innovators in technology and business all over the world. As part of Google’s efforts to empower students in the Middle East and North Africa - and help them make the best of Google’s technologies and prepare for their future careers - we are glad to announce that the application process is now open for the Google Student Ambassador Program for the 2013-2014 academic year!

The Google Student Ambassador program is an opportunity for active students to enhance their professional development and soft skills, to meet and collaborate with some of the most interesting people in the region, and to have fun introducing Google products to their fellow students through holding events on campus.

Google Student Ambassador applicants should be pursuing a bachelor's or master's degree — all majors are welcome to apply! They should also be passionate about Google technologies and actively involved in their school communities.

We are particularly excited to be working on the Google Student Ambassador program this year - our 3rd year in MENA. The students have unrivaled passion and energy that they can’t wait to share with their colleagues - have a look here at our first GSA summit in MENA.

If you think you have what it takes to become a Google Student Ambassador, make sure to Register Now!

Posted by: Rania Hadi, Outreach Manager, MENA

Applications available for the Google Student Veterans Summit

2013-03-19T10:59:00.000-07:00

At Google, our goal is to create a diverse workplace that represents our users. We work in teams to do cool cool things that matter and know you do too. Members of the Veteran community have demonstrated a commitment to the core values of impact and collaboration. We want to celebrate this commitment by giving veterans an opportunity to refine, build and practice these skills at Google. With this in mind, our team is pleased to announce that the 2013 application has launched for the Google Student Veterans Summit.

Up to 30 U.S. student veterans will be selected to attend an all-expense-paid program at Google’s Mountain View office from July 15-16, 2013. The summit will feature a professional development curriculum geared towards veterans’ transition into the workplace. Through networking opportunities with Google’s Veteran community and exposure to the business side of a technology company, participants will gain access to our company’s culture of impact and collaboration.

Please review the Google Student Veterans Summit website for more details. The deadline to apply is Friday, April 26, 2013 at 11:59 p.m. PST. All decisions will be communicated to applicants in June 2013.

Questions about the program can be directed to studentveterans@google.com.

Posted by Vic Alonzo, University Programs