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My Summer @ Google: Computer Science Summer Institute
April 1, 2013
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
My Summer @ Google: Computer Science Summer Institute
March 8, 2013
Introduction:
Earlier this week
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. To give you some more insight into CSSI, we're bringing you stories from former CSSI participants through the
My Summer @ Google
series. Today you'll meet Chyheim, a CSSI alum and freshman at the University of California, San Diego who is studying computer science. If you'd like to learn more about CSSI, visit
our website
and apply today!
Coming from a high school that did not offer any computer science curriculum, I saw CSSI as an opportunity for me to learn the essentials and to obtain the skills to succeed in college. The majority of CSSI was dedicated towards teaching us the fundamentals of computer science and programming. In order to get our feet wet we started by learning App Inventor, then we dived into HTML/CSS, Python, JavaScript, and eventually the combination of all of those with Google’s App Engine. On a typical day, we would break away from coding and participate in a few activities and workshops. These ranged from tips on creating a resume and on being successful in a technical interview to a Lego challenge and a social with Google interns. One of the best parts of CSSI was the time I got to spend with my fellow CSSIers in the residence halls. On the weekends off from programming, we had trips planned for Saturdays and then Sundays off to ourselves.
Eventually it became time for us to put all that we had learned together and create a product. Essentially, everything the instructors taught was geared towards providing us with the ability to go on our own and build virtually any web application we liked. And that’s just what we did. Throughout the final week we worked to develop our very own web applications. My team created a web application called Gif.it. Using the Python Image Library and several tools in JavaScript, we constructed an application that allows people to upload pictures and generate their own animated Graphic Interchange Format (GIF) image.
Months after CSSI, I have come to realize that I owe a lot of my current success in college to the instructors and the mentors from CSSI. The exposure I had to concepts such as data types, conditional statements, loops, and arrays, has made it easier for me to grasp them in my programming classes. Aside from technical skills, CSSI has provided me with a large network of friends and professional acquaintances. I have made a number of friends that I continue to keep in contact with for support and advice. I have also gained mentorship from different Googlers that I met through CSSI. The bond that was formed between the students and the instructors made it incredibly hard to say goodbye once the program was over.
CSSI is definitely an opportunity you do not want to miss out on. Moreover, my advice for anyone who meets the qualifications is to APPLY. You should still apply even if you doubt your skill level. CSSI is all about giving students the opportunity to learn more about computer science, therefore only having minimum skills is perfectly acceptable. As long as you convey your passionate interest in computer science through the essays and the interview you should be in good shape. Don’t stress it. You have nothing to lose and so much to gain.
Interested in CSSI? Apply
here
!
Written by:
Chyheim Jackson-Burgess, CSSI Participant
My Summer @ Google: AdCamp
October 16, 2012
Introduction: We continue the
My Summer @ Google
series with a post from Nels, a junior at the University of Minnesota studying operations management, and information systems. Nels recently attended the first ever
AdCamp
, a four day program for rising juniors interested in advertising and sales.
During the school year I know I am going to have a good morning when I am able to get up and eat a bowl of Cheerios before class. Back in May, there was a Wednesday where I completely forgot my cereal, because I was too excited to even think. That morning I had gotten my acceptance email to be a part of Google’s AdCamp program. I may not have gotten my daily dose of oats, but that was the last thing on my mind.
A month prior to that Wednesday, a mentor of mine told me that I should apply for the AdCamp program. I had done a handful of work with Google products in the past, learned to love them, and wanted to get a chance to work with the company behind the magic. I was very quiet about applying, and didn’t mention it to anyone. I remember finally breaking the news to my parents the day I was accepted. I told them two things: “Mom, Dad, I am going to New York for a Google summer program, and I need to go fancy shirt shopping.”
AdCamp is a four-day program for rising juniors at Google’s New York office. Campers are able to learn from seasoned Googlers about the company’s products, and also about the company’s strategies for servicing their clients.
The camp was a healthy balance between work and play. The work happened during the day. Daily sessions were set up as fast paced discussions. We worked closely in teams, and had the opportunity to test our speaking skills in front of the large group. Between our sessions, we were able to explore the office and learn about the hidden perks of being at Google; it only took five minutes of wandering to realize how special Google is.
On the last day of AdCamp we had a case competition. The Googlers presented us with a live case that Google employees were working through. We used all of the tools that we learned at camp, and in under three hours, we created a presentation for a panel of judges. The competition was fierce but in the end our team put together a great presentation and had a lot of fun.
When we weren’t being students, we were tourists. Each night our program leaders would take us out to explore the city. We went on a double-decker bus tour through Times Square & Brooklyn, walked along The Highline park in the Meatpacking District, and went out for an authentic New York style Italian meal (which took a few weeks to fully digest!).
But my favorite part of the trip had to be the people that I met. All of the campers were from different places, and had different stories to tell. By the end of the trip we became a very tight-knit group. If I ever make my way out to either coast, I have a long list of new friends to visit.
The Googlers were also special. The little things were what stood out to me. Every employee was willing to help when I needed it, and they all walked around with a big smile. Our program leaders were amazing. I never felt like I had to impress them. They treated me like a friend instead of a prospect. I am not very emotional, but I gave out quite a few hugs at the end of the trip.
I left AdCamp with confidence that I could do anything. In four days I built up a wealth of knowledge that I am still tapping into today. AdCamp taught me the skills that I need to thrive in any fast paced environment. Lastly, I learned with a bit of teamwork and a bit of fun - anything can happen.
Interested in AdCamp? Applications will be available
here
in Spring 2013.
Posted by Nels Pederson, AdCamp Participant
My Summer @ Google: A lesson in personal branding at BOLD Symposium
October 5, 2012
Introduction: Over the summer we host a variety of
programs
and internships for
technical
and
non-technical
students. We’re relaunching the
My Summer @ Google
series to give you an inside look at each of these programs, hearing from the students themselves who participated. Today Bryan Dominguez, a current freshman at Cornell University, recaps Google’s
BOLD Symposium for High School
. BOLD Symposium is an enrichment program designed to provide high school seniors with valuable business skills before starting college.
When I found out that I was nominated to participate in Google’s BOLD Symposium, I was ecstatic. I had been interested in Google since visiting the company’s offices in Cambridge, MA with the LEAD Summer Business Institute at Tuck, so you can imagine how excited I was to travel to the office in New York City for BOLD Symposium.
I was the first student to arrive at Google on the morning of BOLD Symposium and I was immediately introduced to
Demian Caponi
, a current employee on the University Programs team and a Cornell alum. It was nice to see that although the Google staff and student body was so diverse, I could still find similarities that brought us together. During the program we did a resume workshop and were given the opportunity to network with Google employees. The excitement that these employees brought to the table truly set the atmosphere for the rest of the day. The wealth of knowledge that they shared with us was beyond anything I could ever illustrate in this blog.
It was all such an enriching experience that to choose one single aspect that I liked the most would belittle the greatness of everything I learned. However, the part that I remember the most would be the personal branding overview and workshop. I learned that personal branding is a part of who you are, like an invisible tag, listing everything you are made of. For me it has been a long time since someone had told me it's important to illustrate yourself in the eyes of others, the way you want to be seen. It is so important to understand, but also easily forgotten. The beauty is that the key to controlling it all comes with knowledge. My personal brand plays a key role in helping me shape the I, who hopes to one day positively impact the world. As I look on to my future at Cornell, I hope to use this new gained knowledge not only in my classroom, but in the new community I hope to surround myself with. It is my duty to act like a lighthouse to my community of equal minded minorities who seek growth, providing them with my little light of knowledge that may one day prove to be bigger than we all might have expected.
My experience at Google’s BOLD Symposium is one that I will never forget. The memory made and knowledge gained at the Symposium is truly one that has opened my eyes to a world that celebrates differences. The beauty of BOLD Symposium is that it places you outside your comfort zone in an environment where knowledge is waiting to be picked up in every corner. Symposium equips you with the tools to be a great leader as you head back to your communities or off to college. As I begin my freshman year at Cornell, I feel confident because I know I have created a personal brand that is true to who I am and I’m ready to put it to the test!
I am honored that the LEAD Program recognized my personal brand and give thanks to them nominating me to participate in the 2012 BOLD Symposium for High School, and thus allowing me to see Google as more than just a search engine but an ever revolutionizing company with endless possibilities to expand.
Interested in BOLD Symposium? Learn more at
www.google.com/students/bold
.
Posted by Bryan Dominguez, BOLD Symposium participant
My Summer @ Google: Inspiring (and being inspired by) more women in technology
October 3, 2012
My most memorable moment of my summer was my first day at Google Japan during Noogler (new Googler) Orientation. There were a dozen people starting that day, and 8 of us were women! I was even more excited to find out that they were still in college, starting an engineering internship through the Google
BOLD Internship
program.
In 2010, I became actively involved with the
Technovation Challenge
, a mobile app development competition for high school girls. Technovation Challenge is a mentoring program and an opportunity for females to explore the world of engineering at a very young age by use of the Android App Inventor.
The biggest hurdle of the program was attracting mentors that were invaluable to the success of the program to connect with the high school girls. When I called out to females in technology, Women@Google had an overwhelming support for the program, bringing over a dozen mentors!
My summer at Google was filled with events that brought women together, from formal dinners to a casual breaks over ice cream, to share their experiences, and help one another. To have the opportunity to work at Google this summer, meant working at a company that supported in the cause to increase mentorship for those that were underrepresented in tech. I feel very fortunate to be able to spend my summer in an organization that celebrates diversity and inclusion and constantly encourages Googlers to support one another.
Over the last two months, I have had the opportunity to meet many successful female Googlers in all levels of the company. Each and every one of them, offered me career advice, and periodically checked in to see how my internship was going. As a Business Marketing Intern for the
APAC Mobile Ads
team, I constantly felt a strong support network, and was provided with many opportunities to challenge myself. In just eight weeks, I was given the support and resources to build two presentation narratives, publish an info-sheet, and create an internal webpage.
I have had an unforgettable summer experience, and want to thank all the Googlers, both men and women, that have mentored me during my internship. Thank you to my manager Taka-san, Mobile Ads Team, APAC Marketing, and the Boston Forum Team - Yayoi-san, Yuko-san, Jay-san and Brad-san. I have been fortunate to have amazing mentors in my life, and want to return the same to others. I hope that one day every female in every occupation will have a strong mentor that can support them to achieve anything that they desire and work towards.
My summer is over at Google, but my hope to increase mentorship for those that are underserved has just begun.
Posted by Miho Goto, Intern, Google Japan
My Summer @ Google: A unique challenge opens the doors for one Tokyo intern
September 19, 2012
Introduction: Today we're featuring Yamato Kaneko, an intern from our Tokyo office who was given a unique task at the beginning of his internship. Read on to discover what he learned through the process.
The team I've been working on this summer is the Google Technical Services (gTech) team. I was specifically in charge of managing and supporting Google Shopping partners (e-commerce businesses) and Google Books partners (authors and publishers). While I’ve learned a lot from the projects with Shopping and Books team, today I’d like to share my awesome lunch-time-side-project at Google Japan.
When I showed up for my first week, I needed to set up objectives and key results, which we call OKRs, for my internship. Besides the participation in ongoing projects of Google products, my mentor and I added one more OKR: Set up one-on-one meetings with 20 Googlers in 8 weeks and get to know what they do at Google and what they have done before Google.
First, I started talking to Googlers in my team. Although I’ve met them at regular team meetings, we didn’t really have a chance to talk. The one-on-one meetings worked out really well as an icebreaker, and the communication went much more smoothly after the chat.
As I got to know Googlers around my desk, I started reaching out to Googlers in different teams, including Business Development, Marketing, Partner Solutions, Product Management, Software Engineering and so on. Each of these functions manages different products from Search, Maps, Books, Shopping, Ads, to YouTube. Asking hundreds of questions to various teams, I got to know how this company works with different functions and people with various skills and experiences.
It was amazing to see how diverse career paths they have taken before coming to Google. I met a Strategic Partner Development Manager who joined Google Books team from the publishing industry, and a Product Manager who was a consultant at McKinsey. One Googler was a photographer traveling around the battlefields in the Middle East. Another Googler studied films and media in college and joined YouTube to work with creators.
Another thing impressed me was that none of Googlers I contacted declined my meeting requests. Here at Google, there is a term called “Googleyness.” Googley people are creative, passionate about their work, and communicate openly. They are willing to roll up their sleeves to help others and get things done. Everyone of the 22 Googlers I’ve met was truly Googley and helped me to exceed the expectations of this project.
I think the success of this project is also partly because of the Google cafeteria, which allows me to make a meeting into a lunch. Without this great perk that encourages interactions between Googlers, it may not have been possible to set up as many meetings as I have. Coffee breaks at micro-kitchens and events like TGIF were also very helpful to make a casual chat with Googlers I met for the first time. Larry and Sergey must have known what was needed for effective communication, and that’s why they invested in the food facilities.
I spent my summer interacting and learning from more Googlers than I ever imagined. I think I'm ready for the next stage in my career where I can start building my own unique story.
Posted by Yamato Kaneko, Intern, Google Japan
My Summer @ Google: Building more than just apps at Android Camp
September 17, 2012
Introduction: Over the summer we host a variety of
programs
and internships for
technical
and
non-technical
students. We’re relaunching the
My Summer @ Google
series to give you an inside look at each of these programs, hearing from the students themselves who participated. Today John Yang-Sammataro, a current computer science student at Stanford University, recaps Google’s
Android Camp
. Android Camp is a week long interactive program where students work in teams to build Android applications.
When I heard that I had the unique opportunity to have hands on training with the team that builds Android, I jumped at the chance. Nearly everyday for the past two years, I have walked past Larry Page and Sergey Brin's original Google server, which sits in the Huang Engineering Building at Stanford. However, this summer was the first time I visited the Google headquarters that the two famous internet entrepreneurs founded after their time at Stanford. I began the camp aiming to learn as much as I could about Google’s latest cutting edge mobile technology, but came away with a richer experience than I ever expected.
Each day we familiarized ourselves with the Android ecosystem through a whirlwind of workshops and activities. These were paired with daily team breakout sessions during which we applied our new skills to build apps. The Android team is really passionate about what they do. It is quite something else to ask a question about a software platform you are working on and receive a response from someone who can speak in the first person about why they developed the software that way! At the end of the week we presented our apps to a panel of Google engineers for critiques and feedback. I have never learned so much in my life within seven days!
With so much software development, it is hard to believe that we had time to do all the additional activities that the Android Camp team put together. Each day included a unique activity outside of the classroom lessons. We cooked pizzas, sampled delicious food at a different Google cafeteria every night, and even toured San Francisco finishing the evening at a Giants baseball game. Touring Google’s campus, we marveled at beach volleyball during break hours, the company’s fleet of shuttles and bikes, and even a free medical clinic. The genuinely energetic and motivated environment at Google's HQ reminded me that Google company culture is as much a colossal achievement in human resources as its products are technical marvel.
What impressed me most was that the Googlers and fellow campers I met were some of the most interesting and genuine people I have befriended. Each and every person had their own unique story and passion behind what they did. Even after twelve hours of coding and activities each day we would come back to our hotel and delve into conversation, not just about computer science but everything from politics to physics to startups to hometowns and underwater sea cables.
After a week of Android Camp I now have a technical familiarity and high level understanding of not only the Android ecosystem, but the wide array of open source software and public Google APIs that might take me months to learn otherwise. Now I am planning to build the main Android app for the company I am interning with this fall and our Android Camp team, Object Oriented, is working to launch our app on Google Play in a couple months. However, what I will keep for years to come are the memories of late night conversations woven about life,
Dalvik
, and underwater sea cables and the friendships with the people who started them.
Thank you to the Android Camp team and my fellow campers. You made Android camp an unforgettable experience.
Interested in Android Camp? Check back
here
in early 2013 for next summer’s application.
Posted by John Yang-Sammataro, Android Camper
Apply today for Google's Engineering Practicum Internship Program
September 14, 2012
Introduction: Over the summer we host a variety of
programs
and internships for
technical
and
non-technical
students. We’re relaunching the
My Summer @ Google
series to give you an inside look at each of these programs, hearing from the students themselves who participated. Today Jeanette Miranda, a current computer engineering student at Brown University, recaps Google’s
Engineering Practicum
internship program. Engineering Practicum is a summer internship for rising juniors that provides skills-based training, mentoring and professional development. Applications for Engineering Practicum are available
here
and the deadline to apply is October 15, 2012.
Being a technical intern at Google is truly a unique experience. For the summer, you are an engineer at Google. You are responsible for your project, and expected to complete it at a caliber appropriate for Google. You are going to learn, learn, and just when you thought you had begun to master something -- learn some more. It is an incredible, challenging, and engaging experience.
For me, being in Engineering Practicum was just as challenging, and even more incredible and engaging. I had first heard about Engineering Practicum through an email my school’s computer science department sent out with opportunities in industry. On a whim, I decided to apply - why not? It was early in the year and it was a chance to work at Google. Little did I know what an amazing program I had stumbled upon.
The Engineering Practicum internship is a 12-week program specifically designed to support the development of young computer scientists and to encourage diversity within the field of computer science. You are still a technical intern - but with the added support of being in a pod of two to three interns, a great series of lectures to address the difference between coding for a university class and for production, and social events for a close-knit, smaller group of interns who are also rising juniors.
This past summer, Engineering Practicum brought nearly 100 rising juniors to four different offices around the country for a summer of coding, learning and fun. The projects covered topics from Google+ to Maps to backend tools for developers and more. My project for the summer was developing and implementing an algorithm to turn video footage into motion thumbnails. Imagine taking a video of a pitcher throwing a baseball, and creating a single image with the pitcher captured at multiple stages of throwing the baseball. Over the course of the summer I worked on developing this algorithm, and testing it on a variety of different footage. In the last week, I wrapped up the project by giving a presentation to my team.
But for me, Engineering Practicum was about more than just my project - it was about having the experience of Google's engineers accessible to you as an undergraduate who had only completed two years of college-level computer science. This was shown in everything from the pod structure with two hosts for the summer, to having a mentor, to weekly lectures by engineers on everything from designing services meant to run around the globe, to testing production code. It was also a great opportunity to meet students from universities all around the country who not only pursue the same course of study as you, but also share your interests.
Together, all of this created an amazing summer experience. From getting to know my hosts, podmate and mentor, to submitting code to the code base, to figuring out how to tackle challenging technical problems on my own, to spending time with other interns - I felt I was exposed to the different sides of working at Google. I'm returning to school a more experienced programmer and a more independent learner, eager to study the many new areas within computer science and engineering that I have discovered.
Interested in Engineering Practicum?
Apply today!
Applications are due by October 15, 2012.
Posted by Jeanette Miranda, Engineering Practicum intern
My Summer @ Google - BOLD Immersion
October 28, 2011
Introduction: We wrap up the
“My Summer @ Google”
series with a post from Kalyne, a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania who attended
BOLD Immersion
in New York City this summer.
Take a second to do a Google
search
for the BOLD Immersion Program.
Kalyne presenting to fellow BOLD Immersion participants
You’ve probably already found out the logistical information. Like how there are 100 students selected to travel to the Google offices in New York or California for one week each summer as pre-interns, and that the main goal of the program is to immerse you in Google’s culture through work projects, seminars and activities. The information you’ve found introduces the skeleton of this program. Allow me to bring it to life.
I had the opportunity to go to the New York office in July, and my weeklong experience was nothing less than amazing. You often hear about the unique culture at Google and it’s easy to be skeptical. You really must see it for yourself! From the fun and collaborative environment to the “to die for” food in the cafes, everything is set up in a way that promotes interaction and ensures fun. In the NYC office, there was a huge game area, a massage room, scooters for people who like riding around the office more than walking, a gym, and a free snack bar on every floor.
The part that stood out the most to me was the casually dressed employees. It felt so comfortable and real. I love the fact that Google prides itself on the work ethic of their employees, not how fancy their suits are. I also noticed the genuine enthusiasm of every single leader in the program. They were excited about their job, this experience and, most importantly, delighted about teaching and sharing it with us. The passion that they have for Google shined through every activity and in every piece of advice they gave us. In our free time, I got to connect with the leaders and the other students on a different level. We went to an Italian buffet, a movie theatre, bowling alley, and strolled through Times Square.
BOLD Immersion students listening in on one of the Googler panels
In addition to the fun activities they planned for us, I learned a lot about myself and even more about what Google has to offer me through the workshops, the Googler panels, and the one-on-one talks with employees and executives from various areas within the company. Every person who presented openly shared their story and was more than happy to answer any questions.
The case study was our main project and took up most of our time. We were tasked with creating a marketing strategy that would effectively promote Google’s
Enterprise
products to minority-owned businesses. After being briefed, we broke up into groups and conducted extensive research over the next couple days using whatever resources we could find, including Googlers themselves. The best aspect of the groups was that everyone brought something different to the table. We came from a variety of schools with a range of majors and interests, a fact that gave each group more perspective. After three days of preparation, each group pitched their marketing campaign to representatives from the
Accelerate
team, an initiative that strives to make “Google’s products a comprehensive value-driven solution for underrepresented and emerging audiences.” The top teams were awarded gift cards from Southwest Airlines; my group was runner-up!
This program did so much more than just introduce me to Google’s culture; it brought out the “BOLD” in me. I learned how to effectively work with different personality types in a productive manner. I now treat my resume as a living, breathing document. I also have an incredible and supportive network of people. The immersion program gave me a true taste of the magic that is Google. I can only hope that I have the opportunity to continue learning and working with them through the
BOLD internship
.
Posted by Kalyne Coleman, 2011 BOLD Immersion participant
My Summer @ Google - Freshmen Engineering Practicum
October 7, 2011
Introduction: We continue the
"My Summer @ Google"
series with a post from Tasha, a rising sophomore studying computer science at New Mexico State University. Tasha (who you may remember from a previous
post
) was a part of this summer’s Freshmen Engineering Practicum internship program.
Every morning, I would jump out of bed, excited that I was actually an intern at Google and I could not wait to see what amazing things the Googleplex had in store for me. As I arrived on the Google campus, I would grab breakfast and head to my desk, where I was surrounded by my four fellow interns: Ashley Sarver, University of Florida; Enrique Sada, University of Texas at Austin; Erica Hansen, Carnegie Mellon; and Mario Villaplana, Stanford. The five of us made up the first class of the Freshmen Engineering Practicum internship program.
Tasha (center) with the other Freshmen Engineering Practicum interns.
Freshmen Engineering Practicum is a ten-week internship program that is designed to give rising sophomores the opportunity to experience what the atmosphere and working environment is like at Google. The participants are assigned a project to work on for the entirety of the internship, to be completed alongside an existing team of other Googlers. The program also pairs each participant with a Google engineer mentor who can provide guidance and advice, both technical and non-technical.
We worked closely with the mobile search team on iOS UI test automation for the Google Search app. Over the course of the summer, the main focus of the project was to decrease the amount of time it took to manually conduct regression tests. Our job was to not only turn each manual test case into an automated test that could perform on its own, but make it so that several automated tests would run consecutively. By the end of the summer, we had automated our goal of about half of the test cases that we were given, and with our command-line tool we could actually run the tests in mere minutes instead of hours!
At the conclusion of the program, I had gained this sense of confidence that I was ready to go back to school and rock all of my classes with all of my the new and improved skills that I learned over the previous ten weeks. First of all, working with a team taught me that good communication becomes essential to the team’s success. I believe that our team worked really well together and our success was dependent on the sharing and communication of information, ideas, or problems relating to the different aspects of our project. Furthermore, being in a team environment improved my people and teamwork skills, which I know will benefit me in the future. Additionally, I learned that products like Google Docs, Calendar, and Gmail make it very easy to collaborate with team members, and I definitely plan on utilizing those tools for group projects during the school year.
Each day of work was more exciting than the previous. One of the best parts was that my summer experience was not only full of work, but it was also full of fun! Playing ultimate frisbee with the Google ultimate interns and fun events like the intern boat cruise were only a couple of the epic activities that I got to experience. Along the way, I met so many incredible people and formed many unforgettable friendships. Freshmen Engineering Practicum made my summer phenomenal, and I can’t wait to see what the future has in store!
Posted by Tasha Nesiba, 2011 Freshmen Engineering Practicum participant
My Summer @ Google - FUSE
September 30, 2011
Introduction: We continue the
“My Summer @ Google”
series with a post from Emily, a sophomore computer science and psychology double major at St. Mary's College of Maryland who recently attended
FUSE
in New York.
The anticipation beforehand was almost unbearable—to be completely honest I had been waiting for FUSE since the day I got home from
CSSI
last summer. I remember texting and writing letters to my CSSI friends, how excited I was to finally see them again and be back in a place that I wish I had never had to leave: Google. I was also looking forward to meeting new people, having new experiences and learning new things. I knew FUSE would give me lifelong experiences and lifelong friends.
FUSE was a weeklong adventure in programming, in learning our way around New York City, and in fun. And it all starts on day one. The first day our hosts handed out some Google swag and took us on an office tour. From being in the Mountain View office last summer and the New York office this summer, my idea of a real workplace is completely skewed. When I think of “the office,” I think of awesome cafes, game areas, tables with Legos, completely colorful cubicles, bikes and scooters and on top of that, all the great benefits that come with the job, such as free food, rides to work, laundry, gym and all sorts of other things. As my dad always tells me, I better realize that every job isn’t like this. I’m lucky!
During FUSE, we spent our days learning different programming languages and tools. One day it was HTML 5, another day AppInventor and another AppEngine. Our main project for the week was to code an app in 12 hours during our Thursday night hackathon. We also broke away from the computer side and learned about interviewing, sat down with engineers at Google to ask questions about what it was like to work there, and got the chance to explore NYC.
Before the all-night hackathons, though, we had a couple of nights to get to know each other. We went on a scavenger hunt in New York City, which was so much fun! We were given tasks through a phone and once we completed one, we’d get another. It was a great bonding experience and one of my favorite parts of the program (although it’s hard to pick just one!). Another day we went bowling and visited the elevated High Line park, snapping tons of pictures along the way. Most nights, after getting back from Google we would go out into Times Square and do lots of exploring. We also made it to the Metropolitan Musuem of Art, Rockefeller Center and Central Park in our time before the hackathon.
Our hackathon (or “Camp Hack”), was probably the best part of FUSE. Our mission: code an app uses social media in 12 hours and then give a presentation to a bunch of engineers about it after being up all night. We started at 8 pm Thursday night and finished 8 am Friday morning. >
It started off well, with raffles, music, campfires, laughter and fun-- and then the bugs hit: code that was working suddenly wasn’t, energy levels were suddenly low, people had no idea what they were doing and how to fix it. It was a long night to say the least! But, as all good engineers do, by the time 8 am rolled around the next morning we had anywhere from semi-working to fully working code that we were able to present. It was a one-of-a-kind experience, and a good one—it even included watching the sunrise over the Manhattan skyline at dawn.
Because of FUSE, I can say that I’ve coded a working app and I know what direction of computer science I want to go into (human-computer interaction). I have a group of mentors I can ask questions and bounce ideas off of, an idea of what an engineering working environment might be like, and what the interviews to get me there might consist of. Because of FUSE, I have a group of friends unlike any other group of friends I’ve ever had that all share one special, passionate interest.
I’ve been Googled. Well, that’s how I put it. More than once I’ve been called the “Google girl,” famous for walking around my small campus with my Google backpack proudly on my back. I’m the first one the girls on my field hockey team come to for computer help. It’s because of my summers at Google that I am so infatuated with computer science, because if it wasn’t for CSSI and FUSE for opening up my eyes to computer science and all the things I could do with it, I would probably still be a biology major.
Computer science is the future and is going to change the world, and I honestly can’t wait to be a part of it, because the change starts now with me and the FUSErs who I spent the best week of my summer with.
Posted by Emily Stumme, 2011 FUSE participant
Technical internships at Google: apply today
September 21, 2011
This summer was one of our largest technical internship programs yet, with over 200 schools represented globally and over 1,000 interns in North America alone. In addition to working on challenging technical problems, the summer interns went indoor skydiving, got groovy on boat cruises and pulled all-nighters developing awesome apps at social hackathons.
Google interns work year round on a wide array of projects ranging from developing watermarking methods in Google Translate, to working on Google APIs Console, to creating spam filtering systems for Google Voice. Google offers internships throughout the year and we’re excited to announce the opening of our
technical internship opportunities
for winter and summer 2012.
To go along with this announcement we’re launching a
video series
to highlight the work that some of our interns did this summer. All of our interns have the opportunity to contribute in a number of ways by developing products that make a difference and are used by millions of people. This video series is just about that. Watch for yourself (we’ve included two of the videos in this post) to hear how Google interns made an impact this summer, and we hope you’ll
apply here
for 2012.
Interested in non-technical internships at Google? Stay tuned for the launch of the applications for the summer 2012
BOLD
internship program!
Posted by Jacqueline Pan, University & Intern Programs Coordinator
My Summer @ Google: Scholars' Retreat
September 19, 2011
Introduction: We continue the
“My Summer @ Google”
series with a post from Daisy, a first year Master's student studying Electrical Engineering at McGill University who attended the Scholars’ Retreat at Google in Mountain View, Calif. this summer. You can also read Daisy’s post in
Technophilic Magazine
.
It was July 27 when I landed in San Francisco, not as a tourist but as a woman in computer engineering. As finalist of the
Anita Borg Scholarship
, I found myself at the Googleplex for a retreat in the gorgeous city of Mountain View, Calif. For three days, I visited the Google campus, went sightseeing and attended talks by Googlers.
Day one was introduction-and-ice-breaker day at Parc 55, the lovely San Francisco hotel in which Anita Borg scholars were housed. I had the opportunity to also meet winners of
other scholarships
such as the American Indian Science and Engineering, Hispanic College Fund, Lime and United Negro College Fund Scholars. I had an amazing time meeting this many geeks in one place and having discussions in the hotel about issues dear to our hearts such as vi vs. emacs and Mac vs. PC.
During dinner at the hotel, we met
Marissa Mayer
, Vice-President of Location and Local Services at Google. She shared her thoughts on recent advances in image recognition made in the larger field. Nowadays, researchers would like to do image recognition using only a person’s face (or even or portion of it) instead of also looking at other features such as the color of their clothes in different pictures and matching them. She also touched upon text translation and how it has significantly improved over the last few years. Now we can even translate texts from a right-to-left language to an up-down language. After dinner, I caught up with Marissa Mayer to get thoughts on
Google Plus
:
Q: How is Google Plus a different social network?
A: What we have done with Google Plus is design a system that we feel is a better model of real-world interactions. In the real-world, you don’t say everything to everyone all the time. We really feel that it’s important to decide who you share something with and we have achieved that with the concept of
Circles
. So, you can assign people to categories such as family and close friends. You can decide how broadly you want to share things with circles and we think that is one big advance.
Q: What is Google Plus’ differentiating factor?
A: We have interesting features like the video chat
Hangouts
which are very popular, but the biggest differentiating factor is your ability to control what you share and to scope sharing in a way that matches circles.
Q: What would you say about the privacy policy of Google Plus?
A: We give people a lot of control on what they share and our model feels more natural since it reflects what they do in everyday life.
Q: How does it feel to be a woman at Google?
A: I don’t think of myself as a woman at Google but as a geek at Google! So it’s a great place to be at if you’re a geek like me. I love trying out the latest gadgets and talking with my colleagues about things like 3D modeling and that’s really what brings us together.
On day two, we set out to Google Headquarters in Mountain View. Once there, we found cheerful Googlers and a colorful campus. There were gardens maintained by Googlers as part of their hobbies and amidst those gardens, you could also see sculptures and, of all things, mini bicycles. These are used by Google employees if they need a quick ride from one building to another.
Then we had a series of presentations. One of them was by James Gosling, the creator of Java. Since Java is the first language most of us are introduced to, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to have a chat with James Gosling:
Q: Why is Java considered good as an introductory programming language?
A: There are two sides to Java. One is that it is pretty easy to learn; you can start with baby
steps. The other is that when something goes wrong, it fails early and reasonably predictably.
Q: What about using C++?
A: With languages like C or C++ the problem is that when something goes wrong, it usually manifests itself in a very strange way and it is very difficult to figure out what is going on. When you are teaching, being able to have something that is comprehensible is good.
Q: Some people are suggesting using Pascal as a first language. What do you think?
A: In a sense, Java is a lot like Pascal in that it was also used in teaching. The problem with Pascal is that once you learn it, what can you do with it? The role of Pascal was limited to a teaching language. What is interesting about Java is that it works both ways: it can serve as a teaching language and you can use it to get a job! Once you learn the basics of Java, you can do many exciting things like incorporate graphic libraries and databases.
One thing that I should mention is food.
Google has many cafeterias on campus. Each has its own theme: Chinese, Indian, Healthy, Not-so-healthy! At lunch, I had the opportunity to speak with Robin Jeffries, who focuses on UI at Google. She had known Anita Borg in person so we had the chance to learn more about the woman who inspired this scholarship. Anita Borg created
Systers
, a mailing system to keep women in computing connected with each other and encourage more women to enter the field. Robin is now the “chief cat herder” for Systers and she thus continues Anita Borg’s endeavour to promote computing to women.
To conclude the day, we had dinner at Bocce Café, a fancy Italian restaurant in San Francisco. Both the food and the discussions with Google employees were delicious.
Day three was highlighted by the scholar’s poster session. It was our time to shine and showcase our research. I saw very diverse projects within computer science and engineering and this was another great chance to get to know each other’s passions in greater detail.
Our feeling at the end of the retreat was unanimous: we had to stay in touch. Thus, we had a brainstorming session with scholars and organizers to find ways to stay connected as we are spread across the continent. The Google Scholar’s Retreat is an intelligent endeavour to bring technologically-driven students with various skills and expertise together.
Overall, I had the chance to meet and talk to many Googlers while at the retreat and all were eager to share their experience at Google. “We work hard but we play hard” seemed to be a common motto.
Posted by Daisy Daivasagaya, 2011 Scholars’ Retreat attendee
My Summer @ Google - Engineering Practicum
September 16, 2011
Introduction: What better way to tell you about Google’s summer programs and internships than to hear it from the students themselves? We continue this series with a post from Mark, a junior at Carnegie Mellon University who was a part of this summer’s
Engineering Practicum
internship program (formerly known as BOLD Practicum). You can
apply here
to be considered for this year’s Engineering Practicum internship program. Applications are due by October 15th.
The Engineering Practicum internship program is a unique 10-week program created to encourage the development and diversity of future computer scientists. This summer Engineering Practicum brought 62 rising juniors to four different offices around the country. I first heard about it through a program that I attended last summer, called
Google FUSE
. During FUSE, 50 rising sophomores were invited to the Seattle and New York offices to get to know Google. We toured the office, learned about some Google products, had a beach barbecue and had a great time.
When I applied for Engineering Practicum during the following fall, I already had a high bar set. Could this experience maintain the sense of fun and energy that we had in Seattle? You bet it could. Over the summer, we experienced the smorgasbord that is Google. We participated in the crazy and exciting product launches, such as
Google+
. We attended talks by head figures of the company and even danced 80's style with Senior Vice President Alan Eustace on a boat cruise in San Francisco. And through our projects and time there, we made a lasting impact on the company and a lasting network with each other.
At its core, the Engineering Practicum is a technical internship. It's ten weeks among Google engineers: walking in their shoes, eating their cake, riding their bike, and wearing their hats. When we arrived, we were split up into 2-3 person pods, and then given a host who would direct and oversee our project. The projects were diverse—in Mountain View alone we had teams in many major areas such as search, ads, and maps. I and two fellow interns worked on the Gmail performance team. After settling in and learning about Google's infrastructure, our hosts gave us our project, which was to develop new tools to analyze patterns and anomalies in computer performance data. We spent our summer researching methods and developing these tools. Though we tested these tools on Gmail data, potentially they could be used by many other teams. In our final week, we wrapped up the project by giving a short presentation.
The Engineering Practicum program was about more than the project. Every week we would attend talks on topics ranging from how Google services operate at a global level, to exciting new technologies such as HTML5. Also, although not required, we were free to attend any of the talks open to Google employees, and some of my favorite moments were spent listening to talks from huge figures in the industry, such as
Chee Chew
on leadership,
Peter Norvig
on AI, and of course
Larry
and
Sergey
at the weekly all-hands meeting. And when I wasn't solving challenging problems or listening to great talks, I was out having fun with fellow Engineering Practicum students.
All of this added up to an amazing experience. By the end, not only had I learned a great set of technical practices, I was left with a collection of unforgettable moments with a group of unforgettable people. Going into my third year of college, I now have a concrete experience in computer science, which makes what I’m learning in the classroom all the more tangible.
Posted by Mark Perez, 2011 Engineering Practicum participant
My Summer @ Google - CSSI
September 9, 2011
Introduction: What better way to recap Google’s summer programs and internships than to hear it from the students themselves? We begin this series with a post from Gabe, a freshman at the University of Southern California who recently attended Google’s
Computer Science Summer Institute
in Mountain View, Calif. CSSI is a three week program for incoming college freshmen interested in studying computer science. They come in with little to no prior programming experience and leave having built a fully functional web application. To read more about this year’s program check out this feature from the
Official Google Blog
.
I admit it—CSSI absolutely ruined me: The program skewed my perception of what working life was supposed to be (monotonous) and crushed any uncertainties I had regarding my future in computer science. CSSI made computer science three-dimensional by bringing the possibilities within the field to life. It accomplished this through a rigorous curriculum that involved creating interactive mobile and web applications, learning about Google’s initiatives to help increase diversity in computer science, receiving lots of Google swag, going on field trips around the Bay Area and attending panels where we heard from accomplished speakers from major companies in the industry. Google makes a real impact on a massive audience, and my experience there made me excited about the prospects and opportunities that lie ahead.
I probably should have known that my time there would be the only three weeks in my life that I’d get up before 8 am eager for lessons, running on snacks from the microkitchens until we returned to our rooms back at Santa Clara University and resumed work with our late night coding parties. When I first read about CSSI on my high school’s AP Java mailing list, I don’t think I could have envisioned a fraction of what it entailed. We were constantly applying what we learned at the Googleplex, where the Google engineers guided us through AppInventor, HTML, CSS, Python and various other tools for web application development. They never assumed that we had extensive experience with programming and readily shared their comprehensive knowledge, never forgetting to constantly push us to reach the answers for ourselves. As we spent our last days in the vibrant workplace at Google’s headquarters, now equipped with the skills to develop web applications, we worked in teams on interactive websites that would be our final projects.
Starting with the first career panel and lasting throughout the session there was a recurring theme that permeated the group—follow your passion. It was pretty obvious that Googlers were practicing what they preached, too, since it seemed like everyone at Google loves what they do. That mantra, “follow your passion,” was the reason behind every single one of us enjoying our work. We were given the freedom to construct applications that interested us and would be used practically by ourselves and others, and even within our teams we were able to work on the aspect of programming that we preferred, be it the aesthetic side of HTML and CSS, the logic in Python or even a mixture of both. It was great to be given such autonomy and allowed to run with our ideas.
During programming breaks, there were plenty of activities, like sharing late night snacks, hanging out in the common rooms, touring San Francisco on the intern cruise, biking around the Google campus and playing frisbee on the beach in Santa Cruz. None of these would have been half as enjoyable without the people, and the diverse perspectives that they represented. Perhaps what impressed me most about the program was the intellectual curiosity of my peers and also the Google engineers, who were unfazed by our questions about how to implement our complex ideas. The mentor buddy I was paired up with, a Gmail performance team leader, was not only a great technical teacher, but a great role model: I could see that he had a genuine and sustained interest in learning and taking advantage of opportunities. Ultimately, the biggest prize I walked away with was the connections I built with the people, who share a burning interest in technology.
Yes, CSSI ruined me, in the sense that it uprooted my doubts in the impact of computer science, and replaced it with concrete evidence of the positive influence it has on society. It spurred me to always expand upon my current knowledge, and left me with a voracious hunger for innovative technology that can revolutionize the world.
Posted by Gabe Lew, CSSI 2011 participant
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