We've moved! Visit
The Keyword
for all the latest stories about
life at Google
and our
student programs
.
Student Blog
Brought to you from your @GoogleStudents friends. From pre-university to PhD (and beyond), we got you.
Diary of a Summer Intern - Jess
August 7, 2012
Hello, internet!
Shameless plug: all of this year’s
Diary of a Summer Intern bloggers
will be hosting a
Hangout on Air
from the
Google Students Google+ page
this Friday. Anyone can watch, so if you’re interested in hearing more from us, come tune in at
11:00am EST
on 10 August. You can also submit and vote on questions for us to answer
here
.
The end of my internship is (sadly) approaching but I’m busier than ever. There’s a poster session happening here next week in which all of the Pittsburgh interns present their projects via poster boards and the rest of the office is welcome to browse and ask questions. I have some experience with poster presentations from science project competitions I was involved in during high school, but they still make me nervous! I’m also working on my projects, of course, and with less than four weeks left, I’m definitely feeling the pressure.
Dan Klein (left), one of my SRE coworkers, talking to me (center)
and my partner David (right, in white) on the boat.
Fortunately, as always, there are always fun things to do around work to help mitigate the stress. Last Thursday, interns and hosts and guests all went on the intern
boat cruise
around the three rivers of Pittsburgh.
Despite living in Pittsburgh for nearly four years, I’d never been on the river cruise, so it was a nice way to spend a relaxing evening. Last Friday there was also an intern picnic over in
Mellon Park
, which is right across the street from Google Pittsburgh’s office. Chef Lee provided the food and it was excellent, as always.
It’s hard to believe that in a month, I’ll be back in school. Working at Google has been a great experience; between the culture, the work environment, the
awesome
products
we
put
out
, and especially the people, who are among the most helpful and intelligent that I’ve met, I’m not surprised that we’ve been called the
best company to work for
. I would love to continue working here, so I’m applying for a full-time position upon graduation. Wish me luck!
I am happy to be returning to
CMU
for my final year, but lectures would be a lot more fun if the professors took a page out of Google’s book and had Nerf fights. Just saying.
Until next time,
Jess
Fun Google fact: On the top floor of the Pittsburgh office, there’s a big cargo net overlooking the floor below that you can hang out on. I’ve brought my laptop there on more than a few afternoons.
Posted by Jessica Safir, University Programs
Diary of a Summer Intern - Jess
July 17, 2012
Hello, internet!
Life at Google is never dull. Since the last time I wrote, I...
attended a social here in Bakery Square with the other Google interns and the
Disney Research Lab
interns
perfected my
latte
technique (thanks to easy access to the espresso machines in the microkitchen down the hall and a few coffee aficionado coworkers willing to show a newbie the ropes)
joined the intern team for an office-wide game of
Wits & Wagers
, and won a copy of the Wits & Wagers board game for coming in second
went to
Eracers
with the rest of the SRE team for a fun team-building offsite
Me cruisin' around the track.
Photo credit: Mark Reis
Our afternoon at Erasers was eventful: we raced go-karts, played mini golf, and playfully antagonized each other in bumper boats. I didn’t realize until a few of my teammates and I were already on the water that the boats had little squirt guns built in...
Tom Black (left), being sprayed mercilessly by me (center), while Ivan Jagger
(right) turns in for a counter-attack.
Photo credit: Mark Reis
Aftermath of the water battle.
Photo credit: Mark Reis
It was a sweltering 35°C out, though, so the resulting water fight was actually pretty refreshing! We all got ice cream en route back to the office, and I’m pretty sure less than half of the team is sunburnt, so I’ll call the trip a success.
It hasn’t been
all
fun and games, though -- I’ve been working hard on my project. I finally settled on the overall design of how I’m going to make the data I’m managing accessible to the people who need it, so now I’m digging in and writing code. As a matter of fact, because I’m now getting close to finishing my first project, I’ve just been given a second one (which is going to be a way to test a part of the
Google Shopping
infrastructure from beginning to end).
Even though I’ve been here for over a month, I still feel like there’s so much to learn. But my coworkers have been both quick to give informative feedback on current design ideas and accessible to bounce new ideas off of (and explain things I don’t quite understand), which has been invaluable while climbing up the learning curve.
Until next time,
Jess
Fun Google Fact:
Google offices offer free freshly-cooked meals to their employees (in addition to the microkitchens, which have lots of snacks and drinks and can be visited at any time). Google Pittsburgh specifically has breakfast, lunch, and dinner available every day. There are plenty of options if you follow a particular diet -- vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, or just trying to eat healthy -- and as someone who is an avid cook, let me be the first to say that the food is consistently delicious.
Posted by Jessica Safir, University Programs
Diary of a Summer Intern 2012 - Jess
June 27, 2012
Introduction: Last week
you met the interns
who we're featuring in this year's edition of
Diary of a Summer Intern
. To officially kick the series off, Jess Virdó talks about her first few weeks as a Google intern.
Hello, internet!
The end of my first month at Google is rapidly approaching and yet it feels like I’ve just arrived. Now more than ever I feel like the old saying is true: time flies when you’re having fun! Until the end of August, I’ll be interning in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at Google’s
Bakery Square office
. I’m already familiar with Pittsburgh because I’ve been a student at
Carnegie Mellon University
for the past few years; I love this city, and Google was my top choice company to intern with, so to say I’m excited to be here is an understatement.
Jess dual wielding her Vigilon and Maverick
REV-6, aiming at Jenn Evans (out of frame)
Photo credit: Jason Parker-Burlingham
I’m working with the SRE (
Site Reliability Engineering
) team this summer. SREs are responsible for making sure that Google’s infrastructure is running smoothly. That is, they make sure all of Google’s services -- things like Gmail, Ads, Search, and many internal services -- are running reliably and quickly. My project deals with managing data about internal services running on some of our servers. As a consequence, it’s a little difficult to talk about the specifics here, but over these first three and a half weeks I’ve been focusing on learning about the tools I’ll be using, working on the design for my project, and socializing with my team members and other Googlers.
One thing that has really stood out to me since beginning my internship is that everyone I’ve interacted with has been exceptionally friendly and helpful. Starting out in a new company is always a little nerve-wracking and overwhelming, especially when you have a lot to learn, but so many Googlers (even ones not on my team) have gone out of their way to assist me and make me feel welcomed.
Until next time,
Jess
Fun Google Fact:
Nerf fights are an everyday occurrence in the office. When I arrived at my desk in Bakery Square on my first day, a welcoming crew gave me my Noogler (Google-ese for “new Googler”) balloon and a Nerf gun. My team provided me with a second Nerf gun -- and immediately used my balloon for target practice. A well-aimed dart is a playful way to catch the attention of someone across the hall or just to have a little fun!
Posted by Jessica Safir, University Programs
Labels
A Day in the Life of a New Grad in Google Dublin
7
AdCamp
2
AdMob
11
Ambassador Program
14
APAC
7
Appy Trails
28
Back to School
4
Better Know a New Grad
1
Better Know an Intern
15
Better Know an Office
4
Black History Month
10
Caitlin Talks to an Engineer
9
Chrome Extensions
3
Chromebook
1
College Tips by Google
1
Community
14
Conferences
16
consortium
1
CSSI
5
Day in the Life
2
deSTEMber
1
Development Programs
1
Diary of a Business Associate Intern
1
Diary of a Summer Intern
41
Diary of a Summer Intern - Erika
9
Diary of a Summer Intern - Franklin
3
Diary of a Summer Intern - Jess
3
Diary of a Summer intern - Luke
3
Diary of a Summer Intern - Madelaine
4
Diary of a Summer Intern - Pablo
3
Diary of a Summer Intern - Rio
4
Diary of a Summer Intern 2012
18
Diary of an MBA Intern
2
Education
19
EMEA
47
Europe
8
Events
13
Exploring Design at Google
4
GHC15
6
Going Green
6
Gone Google
2
Google Code University
1
Google Code-in
1
Google Games
3
Google Japan
1
Google Lime Scholarship
1
Google on campus
2
Google Online Marketing Challenge
10
Google Science Fair
2
Google.org
1
Google+
6
Googlers
14
Googlers Beta
11
Grace Hopper
11
GradTips
9
Hangouts On Air
21
Inside ITRP
6
Intern Insights
31
Intern Program
72
Interns Making an Impact
7
Interviews
1
Jobs
5
just for fun
30
K-12 (Pre-university)
14
LATAM
3
Life at Google
17
Middle East
1
My Path to Google
45
My Summer at Google
15
My Summer at Google 2012
10
North America
4
Office Environment
4
Open Source
9
PhD
7
Products
94
Programs and Competitions
116
Recruiter Tips and Tricks
15
Rice Plus
4
Scholarships
56
Search
1
STEM
2
STEP
1
Student Tips
15
Students
13
Summer of Code
1
Teach Parents Tech
10
Tech Students
3
Tips and Tricks
27
Women in Engineering
21
Young Innovators
10
YouTube
3
Archive
2020
Jul
May
Mar
Feb
Jan
2019
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2018
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2017
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2016
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2015
Dec
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2014
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2013
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2012
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2011
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2010
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2009
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2008
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Feed
Follow @GoogleStudents
Interested in opportunities and programs for students? Visit
google.com/students
.
