Google Student Blog: Daniel connects Googlers across the world

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Daniel connects Googlers across the world

December 9, 2008

Ever wanted to know more about working in the "real world" besides what your parents and friends have told you? Do you have to be a gifted golfer to succeed in the corporate world? Will you have to become a business casual dresser? Most importantly, will you be challenged in a collegial, collaborative environment? Here is your opportunity to learn from Googlers across the company and around the globe who aren't that much older than you and are excited to share their stories about working at Google. Read about their experiences growing sales teams that generated hundreds of millions of dollars, performing stand-up in front of a thousand coworkers, and developing technical systems with JavaScript and Python. Here is the first of our 20,000+ part series about our Google employees, our Googlers.

Name: Daniel Helmhold
Department: Online Sales and Operations (OSO) – AdWords Acquisitions Team

Education: UC Davis, International Relations and Spanish
Background: 4.5 years at Google

My story:
Since first going abroad to study in college, I've had a passion for travel and exposure to other cultures. This interest ultimately led me to study International Relations and Spanish. So when I started working at Google, I was excited to seek out international professional experience. Soon, I started as the OSO Ambassador to Dublin in Q1 of 2006. I helped launch our European Inside Sales Team, and I knew I wanted to help give other Googlers the opportunity to have a similar experience through the Ambassador Program.

Since then, I've worked as global co-chair of the Ambassador Program, which has helped send over 100 Googlers to offices world wide over the past 2+ years. The program is now established in Mountain View, Ann Arbor and Boston in the US as well as Sao Paolo, Buenos Aires, Dublin, Wroclaw, Hyderabad, Gurgaon, Beijing, Hong Kong, and Sydney. As OSO grows, the Ambassador Program gives us an opportunity to erase the distances between offices by connecting Googlers in-person around the world, and letting them find innovative ways to address a variety of challenges.

While my involvement as a coordinator of the Ambassador Program has never been my core job, it's always been a very important part of my life at Google and a project I look forward to staying involved as long as I'm here.