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My Path to Google - Ana Lucero Esqueda Rocha, Customer Solutions Engineer
May 13, 2020
Welcome to the 45th installment of our blog series “My Path to Google.” These are real stories from Googlers, interns, and alumni highlighting how they got to Google, what their roles are like, and even some tips on how to prepare for interviews.
Today’s post is all about Ana Lucero Esqueda Rocha. Read on!
Ana at the Mexico City office.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I am from Aguascalientes, a small town in the heart of Mexico. My parents are my role models! My dad is an engineer and I have always been inspired by his work. I fell in love with programming during my computer science coursework in high school. I immediately knew that I wanted to become a Software Engineer. I received my Bachelor’s degree in Information and Communication Technologies Engineering from Tecnológico de Monterrey campus Aguascalientes.
Even though I have been focused in different stacks of the development process during my career, I developed a passion for frontend development. I am always trying to learn new technologies and stay up to date with frontend frameworks.
When I am not working, I really enjoy doing sports. I love to read, especially historical novels, and I enjoy watching science fiction and suspense series with my husband.
Hanging around the office.
What’s your role at Google?
I’m a
Customer Solutions Engineer
(CSE) on the
gTech team
. I am based in the
Mexico City office
and I work with LCS on the prototyping and development of solutions to solve the unique needs of our largest advertisers. CSE’s are open-ended problem-solvers.
My team along with the teamwork and partnership in gTech are some of the things I like most about my job! You get to work everyday with very talented people, who are also full of new and interesting ideas. The opportunities to grow, learn, and have fun are huge here. The most interesting part of this role is that you are able to work on both parts of the solution, technical and human, which gives you a wider view of how things work from all perspectives.
Team dinner!
What inspires you at work every day?
Working at Google has been one of my biggest dreams! So coming to work is like living that dream everyday, and I am really excited about it. The culture is inspiring and I admire the way Google cares about employees by providing paths to grow, learn, be challenged, and have fun at the same time. Our concern for our users and improving people’s lives also inspires me to come to work everyday and do an exceptional job.
My teammates are like friends, so working together is really satisfying and engaging — I enjoy sharing ideas and solving problems with them.
Can you tell us about your decision to enter the process?
The idea of applying to Google was scary at the beginning. Even though I had prior experience at other companies and I had prepared for other interviews, I was still nervous. I’m so glad I got over that nervousness and took the chance to apply.
When I got the job, I experienced so many emotions — pride, excitement, a little more nervousness, but the feeling of knowing that I was accepted was so satisfying! Accepting the job at Google required me to move further away from my home and family, but I’m excited to live in a new city and for all the opportunities ahead.
Ana’s first day at Google.
How did the recruitment process go for you?
A recruiter contacted me, we had the first call where we talked about the role and the position based in Mexico City. After the call, I was convinced I wanted to apply. There was only one little problem, I was heading to the airport the next day for my honeymoon and I would be away for three weeks!
I was excited to move forward, but nervous that the position would be filled by the time I returned. I explained the situation to the recruiter and she said that she would be happy to wait for me to continue the process. After three weeks, I received an email from her asking if I was back in Mexico — she actually remembered me! (Nashla is amazing by the way!) She helped me start the process, and I was finally selected.
Time for a spin on a gbike.
What do you wish you’d known when you started the process?
I wish I had known that interviewing at Google is not as scary as we might think. Everyone is super friendly and they definitely want you to succeed. Most of the time interviewers do not expect you to create the most optimal solution from the beginning, they know that everything is a process of iteration, improvement, and optimization.
I liked thinking about interviewing as a collaborative process between two or more professionals and not as an exam where interviewers want you to fail. It really helps to be successful. It's helpful to remember that engaging with the interviewers and expressing a clear thought process on how to approach problems can increase the chance to move to the next steps.
Can you tell us about the resources you used to prepare for your interview or role?
To prepare, I used online programming learning platforms like TopCoder, Coderbyte, GeekforGeeks, etc, to practice coding challenges. I also watched Youtube videos and read programming blogs like KhanAcademy, Quora, Pluralsight, etc, to refresh data structures and algorithms, as well as computer science fundamentals. Of course I couldn’t miss the ‘
Life at Google
’ and ‘How to ace the Google interview’ videos on Youtube! Practicing coding definitely helped me to be prepared for the interviews.
I also had some interviews with my friends. This helped me understand how a real interview could be and how I could improve my work under pressure since interviewing can be stressful! I’m grateful that there are tons of online resources to prepare for interviews!
Do you have any tips you’d like to share with aspiring Googlers?
Never give up! If you want it, it will happen. Prepare before the interviews — practice, practice, practice! It is also very important to learn from rejections and not to be afraid of them. Focus on what you are best at and do it!
Ana with an Android statue at the Mexico City office
Latin America scholars reflect on experience at Google Scholars’ Retreat
November 14, 2013
Each summer we host a Scholars’ Retreat where Google scholarship recipients are invited to a Google office to celebrate their accomplishments, interact with fellow scholars, and hear talks from Google engineers. In addition to inviting our scholars from universities in the US and Canada, this year we also invited our scholarship recipients from Latin America. We spoke with three of these recipients to hear about their experiences.
Thanks for joining us! Can you introduce yourself?
Daniel
: My name is Daniel and I’m studying computer engineering at Universidad de Santiago in Chile.
María
: I’m María and I’m studying software engineering at Instituto Tecnológico de Buenos Aires in Argentina.
Fernando
: I’m Fernando and I’m studying computer systems engineering at Universidad de los Andes in Colombia.
Tell us a bit about the Latin America Scholars’ Retreat that you participated in. What was that like?
Fernando
: Before the Google Scholars’ Retreat in New York City, the scholars from Latin America were invited to a “mini summit”. There were 13 students from Chile, Colombia and Argentina and I have to say it was a humbling experience. I met startup founders, hackers, musicians, ex-professional soccer players and skillful engineers writing awesome programs.
María
: We started the morning with breakfast then participated in a scavenger hunt through Midtown working out riddles in teams while getting to know places such as Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Central Park.
Daniel
: Then we got a tour of the Google NYC office and it was really incredible to see firsthand that everything that is said about the "Google way" of working is true: the atmosphere is relaxed, there’s free food everywhere, and the office space is built in very ingenious ways. “They know exactly how to keep developers happy!” is what many of us said. In addition to the office tour, the mini summit included sessions on how to improve our resumes, and a career panel with engineers and interns from Google, which was incredibly motivating. They spoke about the work and the professional and personal growth they had experienced. It was great to hear from them on what they did and how they came to Google.
What was your experience like once the official Scholar’s Retreat began?
Daniel:
After the mini summit we officially began the Google Scholars’ Retreat. Now we were with all Google scholarship recipients from across North America! We let go of the Spanish language and began to speak English.
Maria
: Welcome speaker Alfred Spector gave us sincere advice on how to face our careers. Later on, we also took a “True Colors Personality Test” to help us to get to know ourselves better, to be aware of our strengths and weaknesses. Then we gathered with more scholars of the same color, laughed at our weaknesses and realized we could complement them with other people’s abilities.
And that was just day one! What activities did you do on the second day?
María:
The second day started with a talk by a Googler who addressed how Google can fight real problems in society such as human trafficking. I have always been concerned about issues like this so when the talk began I just couldn't believe the world that was being opened to my eyes in just less than an hour. I was surprised about Google's diversity and how that helps us to see things we wouldn’t notice in different backgrounds, as a Googler from a career panel said a few hours later.
Daniel:
One of the activities I enjoyed the most on the second day was the technical interview workshop. We simulated a real technical interview where we were split into groups of four or five accompanied by a Google engineer. We worked on whiteboards to solve algorithmic interview problems. We did the best we could to come up with an acceptable solution and learned a lot about what the engineers look for when interviewing candidates.
...and that wasn’t all, right?
Daniel:
Nope! On Friday, we participated in 24 Hours of Good, a hackathon that focused on providing support to various foundations. It was very fun and motivating to be working with such exceptional people. The results of this session were very good projects and lots of fun. I went to sleep with the satisfaction of knowing that I did something to help!
What’s one thing you learned from attending Scholars’ Retreat?
Fernando
: One of the biggest takeaways for me was realizing how much Google motivates you to think big. The engineers and interns that we met were pushing code that affected millions, even billions of users. You really have to solve big problems and that means coming up with smart solutions. It also means that your users have different languages and cultural backgrounds, so you also have to have a global mindset.
Daniel:
What I took away from this experience is this -- if you love something, do it passionately! Everything else will come on its own.
María:
I would like to share a final thought that came to my mind in a moment at 24 Hours of Good when my group and I were in silence coding in our laptops trying to solve an apparently “impossible problem” just a few hours before deadline. At that silent moment the only thing you could hear was laughter from fellow scholars. That means “zero stress” — people were enjoying themselves and having fun. Indeed, our group was relaxed despite having to solve a lot of things in such little time. We were happy, united and motivated, knowing that we could do anything we wanted, we had everything we needed: it was just up to us.
To learn more about opportunities at Google for students in Latin America, visit google.com/students/latam.
Posted by Jessica Safir, Tech University Programs
========================================
Los académicos de Latinoamérica reflexionan sobre sus experiencias en el Encuentro de Google Académico
Cada verano, somos anfitriones de un Encuentro de Académicos en el que se invita a los becarios de Google a una de nuestras oficinas para celebrar sus logros, interactuar con otros académicos y participar en presentaciones realizadas por los ingenieros de Google. Además de invitar a los académicos de universidades de los EE. UU. y Canadá, este año también invitamos a nuestros becarios de Latinoamérica. Hablamos con tres de ellos para que puedan compartir sus experiencias.
¡Gracias por estar con nosotros! ¿Desean presentarse?
Daniel
: Mi nombre es Daniel y estudio ingeniería en informática en la Universidad de Santiago, en Chile.
María
: Soy María y estudio ingeniería del software en el Instituto Tecnológico de Buenos Aires, en Argentina.
Fernando
: Soy Fernando y estudio ingeniería de sistemas y computación en la Universidad de los Andes, en Colombia.
¿Por qué no nos cuentan un poco sobre el Encuentro de Académicos de Latinoamérica? ¿Cómo fue?
Fernando
: Antes del Encuentro de Académicos de Google en la Ciudad de Nueva York, invitaron a los académicos de Latinoamérica a una “mini cumbre”. Había 13 estudiantes de Chile, Colombia y Argentina y, debo decir, fue una gran experiencia en humildad. Conocí a fundadores de emprendimientos, hackers, músicos, ex jugadores profesionales de fútbol y habilidosos ingenieros que escriben increíbles programas.
María
: Comenzamos el día desayunando y, luego, participamos de una búsqueda del tesoro por el centro de la ciudad, resolviendo acertijos en equipos y visitando lugares como el Rockefeller Center, la Catedral de St. Patrick y el Central Park.
Daniel
: Luego hicimos un recorrido por la oficina de Google de NYC. Fue realmente espectacular poder ver en persona que todo lo que se dice sobre la “metodología de trabajo de Google” es cierto: la atmósfera es relajada, hay comida gratis en todos lados y el espacio de oficina está distribuido en forma muy ingeniosa. Muchos de nosotros dijimos: “¡Saben exáctamente cómo mantener felices a los desarrolladores!”. Además del recorrido por la oficina, la mini cumbre incluyó sesiones sobre cómo mejorar nuestros currículum y un panel de carreras con ingenieros y pasantes de Google que fue increíblemente motivador. Hablaron sobre el trabajo y el crecimiento profesional y personal que experimentaron. Fue excelente escuchar de su boca lo que hicieron y cómo llegaron a Google.
¿Cómo fue su experiencia una vez que comenzó oficialmente el Encuentro de Académicos?
Daniel:
Después de la mini cumbre, comenzó oficialmente el Encuentro de Académicos de Google. ¡Estábamos con todos los becarios de Google de Norteamérica! Dejamos de lado el idioma español y comenzamos a hablar en inglés.
Maria
: El orador de bienvenida, Alfred Spector, nos dio un consejo sincero sobre cómo enfrentar nuestras carreras. Más adelante, tomamos una “Prueba de personalidad de verdaderos colores” que nos ayudó a conocernos mejor, a ser conscientes de nuestras fortalezas y debilidades. Luego, nos reunimos con más académicos del mismo color, nos reímos de nuestras debilidades y nos dimos cuenta de que podíamos complementarlas con las habilidades de otras personas.
¡Y eso solo fue el primer día! ¿Qué actividades realizaron en el segundo día?
María:
El segundo día comenzó con una charla dada por un Googler sobre cómo Google puede luchar contra problemas reales de la sociedad, como el tráfico de personas. Siempre me preocuparon este tipo de asuntos, así que cuando comenzó la charla no pude más que maravillarme ante el mundo que se abrió ante mis ojos en menos de una hora. Me sorprendió la diversidad de Google y como eso ayuda a ver cosas que no podríamos detectar en otros contextos, como dijo unas horas más tarde un Googler del panel de carreras.
Daniel:
Una de las actividades que más disfruté el segundo día fue el taller de entrevistas técnicas. Simulamos una entrevista técnica real en la que nos dividimos en grupos de cuatro o cinco personas acompañadas por un Googler. Trabajamos en pizarras resolviendo problemas algorítmicos típicos de las entrevistas. Hicimos lo mejor que pudimos para encontrar una solución aceptable y aprendimos mucho acerca de qué buscan los ingenieros cuando entrevistan a candidatos.
Pero eso no fue todo, ¿cierto?
Daniel:
¡No! El viernes participamos en “24 Hours of Good”, un hackatón que se enfoca en proporcionar soporte para varias fundaciones. Fue muy divertido y motivador trabajar con personas tan excepcionales. Como resultado de esta sesión generamos muy buenos proyectos y nos divertimos mucho. ¡Me fui a acostar con la satisfacción de saber que hice algo para ayudar!
Si pudieran elegir una cosa para contarnos que hayan aprendido en el Encuentro de Académicos, ¿cuál sería?
Fernando
: Una de las mejores cosas, para mí, fue darme cuenta de cuánto te motiva Google a pensar en grande. Los ingenieros y pasantes que conocimos estaban creando códigos que afectan a millones, miles de millones de personas. Uno realmente tiene que resolver problemas grandes, y eso significa encontrar soluciones ingeniosas. También significa que los usuarios utilizan diferentes idiomas y provienen de diferentes trasfondos culturales, así que uno debe tener una mentalidad global.
Daniel:
Lo que aprendí de esta experiencia es que si amas algo, debes hacerlo con pasión. El resto llegará solo.
María:
Me gustaría compartir una reflexión final que se cruzó por mi mente durante “24 Hours of Good”, cuando mi grupo y yo estábamos en silencio, creando códigos en nuestras laptops e intentando resolver problemas aparentemente “imposibles” solo unas horas antes del plazo final. En ese momento de silencio, lo único que se podía escuchar eran las risas de otros académicos. Eso significa “cero estrés”, las personas lo estaban disfrutando y se divertían. De hecho, nuestro grupo estaba relajado a pesar de tener que resolver muchas cosas en tan poco tiempo. Estábamos felices, unidos y motivados sabiendo que podíamos hacer lo que quisiéramos, teníamos todo lo necesario: solo dependía de nosotros.
Para obtener más información sobre las oportunidades que Google ofrece a estudiantes de Latinoamérica, visita google.com/students/latam.
Publicado por Jessica Safir, Tech University Programs
Calling All Student Developers in South America and Mexico -- Register for the 2013 Torneo Universitario de Apps!
July 24, 2013
Have you ever thought about creating an app to improve the way your community lives or accesses information?
This year, students in South America and Mexico have a chance to think of their city as an interface, and help shape their city’s infrastructure by joining the
Torneo Universitario de Apps
, or the TuApp tournament, run by Cursor Lab. At Google, we’re big on iterating and innovating, so that’s why we’re corporate sponsors of this year’s TuApp tournament. We want to encourage students to think about how they can reshape and impact their communities by developing a mobile application that will improve the lives of their citizens.
The TuApp tournament has been continuously scaling over the last three years within Chile and due to its ongoing success, it is open to students from across South America and Mexico for the first time this year. The tournament is an exciting opportunity for students to meet other student developers in the region, while gaining hands-on programming skills in an environment that encourages teamwork and creative thinking. The tournament will feature teams of two to four, where each team builds smart applications for the benefit of their cities. Participation in such competitions is a great resume booster too!
Teams will be judged on criteria such as originality, design, and functionality, and the twelve teams of finalists will be flown to Santiago, Chile to present their work to a panel of judges and peers! There is no cost to participate, and copyrights belong exclusively to the students as developers. The three teams who create the most impactful app will win bragging rights, and
cool devices
on which they can continue to build and improve their applications!
Registration for teams
is open now through August 15th. Things kick off with the opening ceremony on August 31st and participants will code through November. The finals and closing ceremony will take place in Chile in December. We encourage all South American and Mexican students to
learn more
and
register now
for this exciting learning opportunity!
Check out this video overview of the 2012 tournament highlights. Only more to come for the 2013 tournament, so register now!
Posted by Stephanie Chan, LatAm Tech University Programs Team
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