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October 1, 2008
Frontend web design and backend server programming are enough to make many people's heads spin. However, for Matt Pokrzywa, it was the essence of his highly technical work during his summer internship with Google and the Checkout team. Here is his story in our on-going series about our awesome interns, our Googlers Beta.
"On top of becoming a better programmer, working at Google has made me a better designer and problem solver."
Matt Pokrzywa, Software Engineering Intern
Name: Matt Pokrzywa
Hometown: Pleasantville, NY
Department: Software Engineer - Google Checkout
Education: Cornell University, B.S. in Computer Science 2009
My story:
My internship experience can be best described as "work hard, play hard." Spending this summer at Google has allowed me to work on some really tough challenges and work with some of the smartest people in the world. I was placed on a small team on
Google Checkout
and from the first day onward, I knew the work I was doing was real engineering work that otherwise would have been assigned to a full time engineer. I even joined my team for a week trip to Mountain View to do a technical deep dive with the Google Sites team. While having such responsibilities was difficult and often times stressful, working at Google offered so many ways to break the tension. Whether it was playing ping-pong or Guitar Hero with my coworkers, or getting out to explore Manhattan with my fellow interns, Google provided so many awesome ways to relax and just chill out.
Besides being so much fun, working at Google was a learning experience like no other. I can honestly say I learned more in my 14 weeks here than I did the entire previous school year. I was fortunate enough to be assigned projects that allowed me to explore so many areas of Google technology. I worked with frontend web design, backend server programming, and I actively took part in brainstorming and design sessions to define the future of our product. On top of becoming a better programmer, working at Google has made me a better designer and problem solver in general.
Having interned in other technology companies before, I have to say that the Google internship experience blew all the others away. The quality of the code and the documentation, the brilliance of everyone around you, and the incredibly fun and relaxed company culture is something you'll not experience anywhere else.
Posted by Ann Forbes-Cannon, Intern Program Team
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