I am delighted to say that for the summer of 2020 I will be a STEP Intern at Google. Due to Covid 19 I will be experiencing my internship at home which is not what I was expecting but will hopefully still be an exciting and educational experience.
I decided to detail my experience of applying for the internship.
1. The Questionnaire
Google had my CV on file as I applied to their Women Techmakers Scholarship. Because of this I was approached by a recruiter who asked me some questions. These questions were really easy as they were just general questions about myself and my coding experience, these questions were to see if I was ready for an internship or if Google had a program that could help me get ready for an internship at Google. Once I had sent off my answers the recruiter got back to me the next day and informed me that she thought I would be a great fit for the STEP internship and then asked me to talk with her over Google Hangouts. This was a quick meeting and just told me about the next steps for applying to the Internship. Later I got another email from the recruiter informing me that from this point on in the process I would have a different recruiter handling my application and good luck!
2. The Technical Interview
With my new recruiter I set up two back to back 45 min technical interviews. I knew that if I was to have any hope that I would have to study for these interviews but I had not thought ahead and I had scheduled my interviews for two days after my college Christmas exams had finished. I did the best I could though, my commute to and from my exam were filled with watching videos on different types of data structures so that I would know how to use them if they came up. The day before my interview I did some sample questions that I had been sent but the more I did the more I realised how little I knew so I gave up on that pretty quickly and looked over some more data structures. During my first interview I was incredibly nervous and made a few mistakes that I corrected myself on. I also had to ask how to add data to a certain type of data structure because I had no idea, thankfully my interviewer was really nice and helped me out. I was also able to show them that I could learn on the job as I used the same data structure in the next question using what they had helped me with. For my next interview my adrenaline was pumping and I was a lot more excited than nervous. The second interview went a lot smoother but I did make a few mistakes. After the interviews it was a waiting game to see if I had passes because everyone was on holidays over Christmas.
3. Host Matching
Early in January I got an email from my recruiter saying I had passed my interviews. I was shocked. I didn't think I would have a hope after making the mistakes I did but I wasn't going to question my recruiter to make sure there hadn't been a mix up. I had a video call with my recruiter and she explained the next steps with me, I was nervous because I didn't have my internship yet but I was so close I had to keep going even though I was afraid of failing. I had to fill in a really detailed form asking about my language preferences, my interests, where I would like to work. Then shortly after I was told that a team would like to interview me. I was excited and when the thirty minute interview came around I felt prepared. When the team only spoke to me for ten minutes I was disappointed because surely that meant that they didn't think I was a good fit for them and that they didn't want to waste time talking with me. I was about to walk my dog to cheer myself up when I got an email from my recruiter saying that the team wanted to offer me the position. I was elated, I couldn't believe it. I had gotten a job at Google one of the places people only dream of working at. I immediately said yes to the offer and the rest is history.
I am starting my Internship in two weeks time. I am incredibly excited to meet the people I will be working with and to get my project. Hopefully I'm not going to feel like a fish out of water but even if I do I know that I can work through it and I will learn a lot from some talented programmers. I am really grateful to have gotten this opportunity but what I have learnt already is that the only way you can get anywhere is to try even if you think you have no chance.
I decided to detail my experience of applying for the internship.
1. The Questionnaire
Google had my CV on file as I applied to their Women Techmakers Scholarship. Because of this I was approached by a recruiter who asked me some questions. These questions were really easy as they were just general questions about myself and my coding experience, these questions were to see if I was ready for an internship or if Google had a program that could help me get ready for an internship at Google. Once I had sent off my answers the recruiter got back to me the next day and informed me that she thought I would be a great fit for the STEP internship and then asked me to talk with her over Google Hangouts. This was a quick meeting and just told me about the next steps for applying to the Internship. Later I got another email from the recruiter informing me that from this point on in the process I would have a different recruiter handling my application and good luck!
2. The Technical Interview
With my new recruiter I set up two back to back 45 min technical interviews. I knew that if I was to have any hope that I would have to study for these interviews but I had not thought ahead and I had scheduled my interviews for two days after my college Christmas exams had finished. I did the best I could though, my commute to and from my exam were filled with watching videos on different types of data structures so that I would know how to use them if they came up. The day before my interview I did some sample questions that I had been sent but the more I did the more I realised how little I knew so I gave up on that pretty quickly and looked over some more data structures. During my first interview I was incredibly nervous and made a few mistakes that I corrected myself on. I also had to ask how to add data to a certain type of data structure because I had no idea, thankfully my interviewer was really nice and helped me out. I was also able to show them that I could learn on the job as I used the same data structure in the next question using what they had helped me with. For my next interview my adrenaline was pumping and I was a lot more excited than nervous. The second interview went a lot smoother but I did make a few mistakes. After the interviews it was a waiting game to see if I had passes because everyone was on holidays over Christmas.
3. Host Matching
Early in January I got an email from my recruiter saying I had passed my interviews. I was shocked. I didn't think I would have a hope after making the mistakes I did but I wasn't going to question my recruiter to make sure there hadn't been a mix up. I had a video call with my recruiter and she explained the next steps with me, I was nervous because I didn't have my internship yet but I was so close I had to keep going even though I was afraid of failing. I had to fill in a really detailed form asking about my language preferences, my interests, where I would like to work. Then shortly after I was told that a team would like to interview me. I was excited and when the thirty minute interview came around I felt prepared. When the team only spoke to me for ten minutes I was disappointed because surely that meant that they didn't think I was a good fit for them and that they didn't want to waste time talking with me. I was about to walk my dog to cheer myself up when I got an email from my recruiter saying that the team wanted to offer me the position. I was elated, I couldn't believe it. I had gotten a job at Google one of the places people only dream of working at. I immediately said yes to the offer and the rest is history.
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