Google Student Blog: June 2011

Diary of a Summer Intern - Erika

June 29, 2011

at our Mountain View headquartersHakone, KanagawaShinjuku StationLatitudeonsenOwakudani geysers

Icebarじゃ、またね！Posted by Jessica Safir, University Programs Coordinator

Celebrating Pride 2011

June 28, 2011

Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog.legalizationMardi Gras in Sydneysupported Pink Dot in Singaporelgbtmarriage equalitypride 2011partneredIt Gets Bettergross-up on imputed taxes for health insuranceFamily and Medical Leave Actdo the sameGayglers*LGBT stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender but, without letting the acronym get too unwieldy, is also intended to include people who identify as queer, asexual or intersex, amongst others.

Diary of a Summer Intern - Mirna

June 27, 2011

amazing

CodeSearchMunich City CenterEnglischer GartenMarienplatzPosted by Jessica Safir, University Programs Coordinator

Help improve Google products by participating in usability studies

June 24, 2011

Interested in how research contributes to the development our products? Want to be a part of the process? Then sign up to participate in user studies with Google at google.com/usability!

We're looking for people to participate in studies to help us improve existing Google products and test out those that are still in development. Studies include usability research, field interviews and more, and they’re taking place all over the United States. If you are chosen to participate in a study, we always give a nice thank-you gift to express our gratitude.

We conduct both in-person studies as well as remote studies online, so no matter where in the U.S. you’re located there are opportunities to participate in our research. Remote studies involve a Google researcher calling you and setting up a screen sharing session on your computer. In-person sessions often take place in one of our offices, but sometimes our researchers decide to hit the road and visit you wherever you are. A large part of our research happens in our offices in the San Francisco Bay Area in California, the Seattle/Kirkland area of Washington and in the greater New York City metro area, so if you are in any of these locations you’ll have even more opportunities to participate in our research in person.

How have our research participants shaped the Google products you see now? In the months leading up to the launch of Google Instant, researchers on the Search team brought individuals into the usability labs in Mountain View to perform web searches with early prototypes. After the launch of the CR-48 pilot program (the precursor to our Chromebooks), researchers traveled the country interviewing people in their homes and schools to learn how they used these new machines.

As new studies are launched, we contact people we think might be a good match for the topic. You’ll usually hear from us via email, where we’ll tell you the nature of the study, the dates we’re running sessions and include a link to a questionnaire to assess your eligibility. We are looking for people with all kinds of backgrounds, so no matter what your field of study, we encourage you to sign up. Please keep in mind that you may not hear from us right away, and we cannot guarantee that you'll be invited to participate in a study.

If any of this sounds interesting to you, visit google.com/usability to find out more and sign up to be contacted. (You must be at least 18 years old to sign up). If you have any questions, please visit our FAQ page.

Posted by Stephanie Wu, User Experience Research Recruiter

Diary of a Summer Intern - Madelaine

June 22, 2011

Hey guys!

It’s been a fast-paced week, but I’m finally getting adjusted to how things work here in Mountain View. This summer, I will be working on revamping how ads are displayed on Google image search, which means collaborating with people from ads user interface, image search, media ads and other teams. My first few days on the job, I’ve been meeting with people from all these various teams—project managers, engineers, tech leads, and product specialists—to learn what they’re working on and what their responsibilities are. When I’m not finding excuses to ride the awesome Google rainbow bikes around the Mountain View campus, I’m also doing research and reading documentation on how ads at Google work, so that I can understand what everyone is talking about all the time. For example, acronyms such as CPC, ROI, and CTR* all have new meaning to me.

These meetings have also been a great way to orient myself with the Googleplex. It’s a good thing I’ve been running (and biking) from place to place so much because the microkitchens are everywhere, meaning snacks are never more than 100 feet away. However, fitting with Bay Area culture, most of the choices are organic or healthy (I think this week I consumed my daily salary in blueberries and strawberries).

There are also plenty of gyms and fitness classes offered at any hour of the day. Today I tried my first Zumba class, which incorporates cardio with Latin American dancing, during which I realized just how uncoordinated I really am. My northern European heritage did not bless me with merengue hips.

One thing I am getting good at is working the espresso machines. Not only does every micro-kitchen have a commercial-grade espresso machine perfect for crafting your own latte or cappuccino, they’re also stocked with local Third Wave coffee beans. No barista experience? Never fear, there’s a video on the Google internal network of Four Barrel baristas demonstrating how to perfectly grind, brew, and steam. With caffeine this tasty, no wonder everyone here is so productive.

Thanks for reading - more news next week!

-Madelaine

Random Google Fact: No Name Cafe (one of many on-site cafes at the Mountain View headquarters) serves oysters for lunch on Fridays, which I found out too late last week.

*Cost per conversion, return on investment, click-through rate

Posted by Jessica Safir, University Programs Coordinator

Diary of a Summer Intern - Nancy

June 17, 2011

Nancy on her first day as a BOLD intern

Hi everyone,

I am officially a “Noogler”—Google speak for a new Googler. After a three-day orientation and my first week in the office, I have already realized that working at this company is everything I could ever expect...and more.
The week began with BOLD (Building Opportunities for Leadership & Development) orientation, where I received lots of information on how to prepare for and what to expect this summer as an intern. Aside from the official orientation sessions, the University Programs team made sure to schedule plenty of social activities for all of the interns. My personal favorite was the “Googley” cake-decorating contest (see picture below).

The “BOLDers” make up a diverse group in many ways. I have only met around 70 of the almost 300 interns so far; yet from that group I have already gotten to know junior olympians, CEOs of companies, and even a three-time Oprah contestant! We will be participating in leadership and development activities every week together as well as attending social offsite events (like a San Francisco Giants baseball game). As interns we also have the opportunity to join Google’s recreational sports teams, take group fitness classes, attend tech talks and more.

Nancy and other BOLDers at the cake decorating contest

Now that orientation is over, the real work begins. As a People Operations intern this summer, I’ll be working on the Projects & Communications team within the Benefits group. In a nutshell, I’ll be working on multiple marketing communications projects to communicate Google’s global health and wellness initiative for employees. I’m excited to build my skill sets and learn more about Google’s internal operations.
At the end of the day, it’s easy to see that Google is a company fully committed to your professional and personal growth. As I start working on my projects, exploring all of the benefits and perks the company has to offer and connecting with other Googlers, I find myself wanting to spend the whole day here at the Googleplex—this place is unreal!

Ciao, everyone! Talk to you all soon!

-Nancy

Fun Google Fact: On the Mountain View campus, Google sets up small garden plots outside of some of the office buildings for growing herbs, vegetables and more. Half gets donated to an organization and the other half Googlers can take home.
Posted by Jessica Safir, University Programs Coordinator

Diary of a Summer Intern - Erika

June 16, 2011

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Arial} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia; min-height: 19.0px} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Arial; min-height: 18.0px} p.p4 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Arial; color: #041a99} span.s1 {color: #041a99} Introduction: Now that you’ve met the interns who will be featured this summer, let’s jump right in to see what they’ve been up to. Erika will kick things off and give us a sneak peek into her first few weeks as an intern in the Google Tokyo office.
Hey everyone,

This week marks the end of my first month as an associate product management (APM) intern on the Geo team in the Google Tokyo office. So much has happened over the past few weeks and I can’t believe things have been moving along so fast. At the beginning of May, I packed up two suitcases and moved from Colorado to Japan for the next three and a half months. I was a little overwhelmed to be moving to a foreign city, but looking back on my first month with Google, there’s no doubt that it was a worthwhile move.

Erika hanging out at the kotatsu in the webmaster corner

After my plane landed at Narita International Airport in Tokyo, I moved into my new apartment and the next day—despite my jetlag—I got right to work at my new internship. The Google Tokyo office is located in the 54-story Mori Tower building. Besides the incredible view, working in the city’s fifth tallest building has other perks as well—whenever I get lost walking to work (which I still do, even one month in), it’s incredibly convenient to be able to look up, spot Mori Tower hovering over the other buildings and easily find my way to the office.
Since I am the first ever APM intern in the Tokyo office, getting settled in entailed a lot of trial and error, as well as a lot of hand-waving and charades to overcome the language barrier. I also got used to being greeted with a quizzical, “We have interns?”, since the idea of an internship is still a relatively new concept in Japanese society. The most exciting part of my first few days was meeting and going out to dinner with the Geo team. Bonding with the team early on helped me get familiar with not just my fellow Geo colleagues, but also the wide range of Geo projects going on here in the office.
I am working with the Maps Personalization team to create an individualized Google Maps experience for every user. Recently, we launched My Places which allows users to easily re-find and organize locations that are important to them. It was a really awesome to be able to dive into a project from the get-go and see the product launch within one month of my internship! Another really cool thing about my project is that the Maps team is spread out across several offices worldwide. It’s incredible to see people from different time zones working and communicating so well on a daily basis.
Outside of work, there is still more fun to be had. There are a lot of after-work clubs in the Tokyo office, including the ramen club, juggling club and ping pong club. I recently joined the climbing club and we go rock climbing or bouldering once a week at various gyms scattered throughout the city. It’s a great way to meet fun people from around the office while exploring new areas of Tokyo.
私はGoogleが大好き！
-Erika
Fun Google Fact: Google offers many ways to bring employees closer together. On Tuesdays, we have a Mystery Lunch event where people from all over the office meet outside the cafeteria and draw a random card from a deck. We then find the other three people with the same card number and all enjoy lunch together. It’s a great opportunity to step out of your usual lunch circle, meet Googlers outside of your department and enjoy interesting conversation over lunch. Google’s Mystery Lunch tradition is a tasty way to make friends and was even aired on NHK TV, Japan’s national broadcasting company.

Posted by Jessica Safir, University Programs Coordinator

Young Innovators @ Google - Manas Tungare

June 14, 2011

Introduction: We recently launched Young Innovators @ Google, a new blog series highlighting the great work of Googlers who, not too long ago, were students like you. In their short careers, these engineers and product managers have had an impact on Google and our products. For today’s post, we sat down for a few questions with Manas Tungare, a software engineer at Google, who recently helped launched Voice Search for desktop.

Tell us about your academic background and your interest in HCI.Manas Tungare: Before I joined Google in 2009, I was at Virginia Tech getting my Ph.D. in human-computer interaction (HCI), and before that, a master’s in computer science (CS) from Georgia Tech.

I was drawn to HCI after encountering one badly-designed user interface after another. I figured I'd enjoy working in a field within CS where I'd get to design innovative user interfaces and implement them as well. As part of my Ph.D. program, I took psychology courses to understand how humans process information, and that knowledge has been tremendously useful for creating the kind of minimalist UIs for which Google is well-known.

Why Google? What makes working at Google unique?

MT: There are several reasons why I joined Google, the most distinguishing of which has nothing to do with technology. During my first internship at Google, when I was a Ph.D. student, I came to understand and appreciate the Google culture. It's a different way of thinking: engineers here think big. If a certain feature calls for a few hundred thousand machines, no one blinks. If a feature requires a hundred cars roaming the streets of the world taking pictures and capturing terabytes of data a month, no one blinks.

Secondly, like Google, I strongly believe that software is a tool that empowers people. And, like Google, I believe that to do this, it must be free. Not only do we release a lot of our internal tools as open source libraries, but we also liberate our users' data so they are free to move to a competitor whenever they choose.

What was your first project at Google, and what impact did it have? How has your role evolved since then?

MT: Soon after I joined, I started work on what eventually became Google Instant. I was the sole engineer/prototyper on that project for several months, along with my manager, Othar Hansson, who came up with the original idea. I created several tens of prototypes; some of them were incremental changes over previous ones; others were completely different in appearance and functionality.

Once the company decided to launch Google Instant, I shifted away from my role as a prototyper to become part of the expanding engineering team responsible for the launch. I worked with several talented front-end engineers to implement features in a way that would scale to Google's billions of users (as opposed to my earlier prototypes that were not designed to scale).

When Google Instant launched in September of 2010, it was noted as the biggest change to the Google search results page in a decade. Being able to view results while typing means that users can refine their queries to get better search results, and now have to wait less to complete their tasks. It was incredible working on something so cutting-edge for my first project as a Noogler (a term for “new Googler”) with the support of other seasoned engineers.

It’s great that you got to run with such a huge project right off the bat. Since then, in what other ways has Google encouraged you to be innovative?

MT: Google is very open to bottom-up innovation. My manager and I would approach random Googlers with the constantly-evolving prototype, and this let us gather early feedback which influenced the design. The final product went through several iterations based on all the internal responses, and each aspect of the user interface is carefully tuned to preserve the qualities that Google is known for — minimalism, speed, and simplicity.

Googlers are encouraged to come up with ideas outside their area of work, and build prototypes or demos to sell the idea to management. The 20% time that Googlers are allotted to work on non-primary projects is pretty well-known outside Google. In addition to that, some teams — like ours, Search Features — take a week off every year, and let engineers and designers regroup outside their regular work teams and try to solve real users’ problems with innovative user interfaces.

Every once in a while, our team holds mock-a-thons, where we are encouraged to present our designs for making some aspect of Search work better than it does now. We identify the major pain points that we have personally encountered and come up with solutions to fix them. Some are minor tweaks; others are major redesigns. After measuring the impact to users carefully, (mostly to ensure that our intuition is correct, and that we are not, in fact, making the user experience worse with a new feature), the feature goes live to all of our users.

Any fun Google stories you’d like to share?

MT: The first time we showed an early Google Instant prototype to senior Search engineers, one of them commented that if we decided to launch it publicly, we would have to build at least two more datacenters to handle the additional traffic. He said this so casually, like one of us saying we’d have to buy a new computer because the old one was a little slow. An entire new datacenter just so you could launch a new feature? Wow.

There are several subtle angles to this comment: first, he said this without flinching, in a matter-of-fact way. Building two new datacenters for a new feature isn't something I would have expected someone to say that way. Secondly, being able to create a new feature that has such a high footprint is both exhilarating and humbling. Only at Google would this conversation take place with such enthusiasm and little hesitation!

What are you up to now, and what do you see yourself doing at Google next?

MT: I'm having fun building new things that can be launched to millions of users! After Google Instant, I worked closely with Google researchers specializing in voice recognition & speech technologies. They were keen to add speech recognition capabilities to Google Search. When they approached the Web Search team, I agreed to work with them to launch this feature. And after just a couple of months, we launched Voice Search on Chrome for your desktop, as announced during this morning's media event with the other new search features. Now you can talk to your computer to search in addition to typing out your query.

Posted by Jessica Safir, University Programs Coordinator

Better Know an Office: Seattle/Kirkland

June 13, 2011

Welcome back to our newest series, Better Know an Office. Inspired by Steven Colbert’s Better Know a District, this recurring series will take us to different Google offices around the globe to learn what makes them tick.

In this month’s installment of Better Know an Office, our travels take us to the Seattle area—home of Nirvana, the Space Needle, and lots and lots of coffee. The area is also the home to a big contingent of over-caffeinated Googlers who work in not one, but two offices in the area. That’s right, the second edition of Better Know an Office is a two-for-one-deal as we learn about Google offices in both Seattle and Kirkland!

Googlers hanging out on a dock near the Seattle office.

But don’t think these offices are clones of each other. Seattle is located right along the water next to one of the city’s most popular kayaking areas. The office keeps its own fleet of kayaks so Googlers can literally walk out the door and start paddling down the Ship Canal and head for Lake Union. For those who prefer to keep their feet on dry land, zip over to Kirkland and check out their rock climbing wall. Regardless of your hobby, if being outside is your thing, then the Emerald City area is pretty tough to beat. With more than 700 high-tech companies in the Seattle area alone, the city has become a hub for an extraordinarily strong and innovative tech industry. With all of this economic growth and energy, it’s no coincidence that Seattle has one of highest percentages of college graduates amongst major U.S. cities.

Rock climbing at the Kirkland office.

With so many fun things to do in these offices and the surrounding area, what exactly do Seattle/Kirkland Googlers work on? “Asking what everyone does here is like asking what everyone at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View does,” says Scott Silver, Kirkland Site Director. “You can’t pinpoint just one thing.” Some of the better known projects here include Google Talk, Google Maps, Web Apps, and Chrome.

We sat down with Scott Shawcroft, a Software Engineer on the Maps team, who works on developing the way Google Maps looks and interacts with 150 million users worldwide. One recent project the team tackled was creating the bike layer of Google Maps so that when a user wants biking directions, the map emphasizes biking-related attributes and gives lower priority to other information that drivers find useful. Scott is just one of the many young engineers working in the Seattle/Kirkland offices who finds the atmosphere relaxing yet inspiring. “The Seattle area has a great technological undercurrent that isn't as obvious as the technology presence in the Bay Area. It’s easy to meet others in the industry here, but it’s still easy to get away and relax”.

This could be you!

Sounds like a good place to be a Googler to us....and the way we hear it, Seattle/Kirkland has some great opportunities for students looking to be part of some big projects in these beautiful offices while living in one of North America’s coolest cities. If that sounds like your cup of tea (or espresso), make sure to apply today!

If pictures weren't enough, here's an inside look at the Seattle/Kirkland offices from Googlers themselves:

Stay tuned for the next edition of Better Know an Office!

Posted by Ryan Hundley, University Programs Coordinator

Managing a hectic schedule with Google Calendar’s appointment slots

June 6, 2011

appointment slotsAppointment Slots

If it’s a public event you can also direct people to the Calendar ‘s public appointment page URL, which can be found at the top of the appointment block details page. If it’s a private event you can invite specific guests.

Once you’re done filling in the details, just click Create Event, and voila...managing your time just became a whole lot easier.

The appointment slots feature is starting to roll it out widely today and should be available for everyone within the next few days.

Posted by Bernadette Shepherd, Google Calendar Team

After the award: students and mentors

June 6, 2011

(Cross-posted from the Official Google Research Blog)Robert HundtIn Jason’s wordsIn Robert’s words2011 Google FellowshipsherePosted by Leslie Yeh Johnson, University Relations Manager

Diary of a Summer Intern - 2011

June 3, 2011

Schools may turn into ghost towns over the summer, but at Google offices around the world, that description couldn’t be further from the truth. Interns are flooding in full of energy and excitement ready to get started on their summer projects. To give you an inside look at the day-to-day activities of a summer intern, we’ve decided to start up the second annual “Diary of a Summer Intern” series. The wait is finally over, so here's a first look at our featured interns!

Nancy Adriana Torres

Nancy just finished her junior year at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she’s studying business administration with concentrations in international business and marketing. She also has a Hispanic studies minor. This summer she will be working as a BOLD Intern in People Operations in Mountain View. Nancy spent the past year studying and traveling in Europe and Asia. She enjoys dancing, volunteering and writing/blogging.

“I can’t wait to be a part of Google’s unique company culture! I look forward to meeting and connecting with the talented, diverse network of people that make up the company’s entrepreneurial environment.” -Nancy

Madelaine Boyd

Madelaine studies computer science at Harvard University and just got back from a semester abroad in Hong Kong. This summer she will be an associate product manager intern on the Image Search Ads team in Mountain View. Madelaine enjoys running, cooking, sailing, traveling and yoga.

“Why am I excited to intern at Google? Two and a half words: self-driving cars.” -Madelaine

Mirna Ayman Bouchra

Mirna is in her second semester of the Infotech Masters Program at the University of Stuttgart where she’s studying computer hardware and software engineering. She received her bachelor’s degree in computer science from German University in Cairo. This summer she will be a software engineering intern on the CodeSearch team in Munich. Mirna enjoys traveling, learning new languages, listening to music and aerobics.

“I was really happy to get accepted for the internship. I'm learning a lot every day, enjoying the environment and getting to know such inspiring people.” -Mirna

Erika Yamasaki

Erika just finished her junior year at the University of Pennsylvania, where she is studying computer science. This summer she will be working as an associate product manager intern on Google Maps on the Geo team in Tokyo. Erika enjoys snowboarding, swimming and exploring new places.

“I am thrilled to be working for Google this summer, especially in the Tokyo office. I have already had the opportunity to meet people from all over the world and am very excited that I get to work with such open-minded and passionate people. I look forward to being a part of the Google community and can't wait to see my product develop throughout the launch cycle.” -Erika

Posted by Jessica Safir, University Programs Coordinator

Student Blog

Diary of a Summer Intern - Erika

Celebrating Pride 2011

Diary of a Summer Intern - Mirna

Help improve Google products by participating in usability studies

Diary of a Summer Intern - Madelaine

Diary of a Summer Intern - Nancy

Diary of a Summer Intern - Erika

Young Innovators @ Google - Manas Tungare

Better Know an Office: Seattle/Kirkland

Managing a hectic schedule with Google Calendar’s appointment slots

After the award: students and mentors

Diary of a Summer Intern - 2011

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