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Code Jam Finals: Watch live on Friday, August 11

August 10, 2017

Watch this year’s Code Jam Finals livestream Friday, August 11

From April through June, tens of thousands of Code Jammers battled through programming challenges involving pancakes, French cuisine, unicorns, medical nanobots, and the scheduling difficulties faced by new parents, to name just a few. Our contestants came from all over the globe, from Saudi Arabia to Svalbard, using programming languages ranging from C++ to Go to LOLCODE.

For the first time, we included some Distributed Code Jam problems in which our system could not be trusted! For example, in one problem, contestants knew that asking a machine in our system for a certain piece of data would make that machine start behaving as if it were broken, but they did not know which piece of data would cause this to happen, and they had to figure it out via experimentation and then work around the issue. But this didn't faze our contestants, who are becoming more comfortable with distributed programming each year.

When the dust settled after our last online rounds, we had 26 Code Jam finalists and 21 Distributed Code Jam finalists. On August 10 and 11, these expert coders will compete for five-figure cash prizes in our onsite World Finals at Google's Dublin, Ireland office.

In the Finals, competitors face five or six very tough problems that often require markedly different approaches and insights. Gennady.Korotkevich of Belarus has won the last three years' Code Jams, but he will have to work hard to overcome rivals like the Philippines' kevinsogo, who beat Gennady in this year's semifinal Code Jam Round 3. And that's to say nothing of the 24 other strong contestants, who are eager to unseat the two favorites!

Google's Distributed format is relatively new and rare on the competitive programming circuit, and it tests a somewhat different skillset. South Africa's bmerry, who has won every Distributed Code Jam contest so far, will be looking to ‘three-peat’ as champion. This year, for the first time, Bruce has the unenviable extra challenge of contending with Gennady in the Distributed final round. Four other contestants qualified for both tournaments, so for the first time it is possible that someone could take both titles in the same year.

You can experience the magic of the World Finals by watching the livestream of the Code Jam contest on Friday, August 11. Our veteran Code Jam author (and Google infrastructure engineer) John Dethridge will return as a commentator, and he will be joined by Dublin-based ads site reliability engineer Rita Lu. John and Rita will talk the audience through our competitors' backgrounds and general Code Jam strategy, and they will provide a live analysis of the results as they roll in. The standings can change in the blink of an eye, and it is not uncommon to see critical submissions in the last few moments of a round!The livestream will also feature interviews with Googlers from Code Jam — be on the lookout for an interview with this year's three Code Jam interns; they’ll share accounts of what the #GoogleInterns experience is like. We hope many of you will join the Finals excitement by tuning into the livestream, watching the scoreboard unfold at g.co/codejam, and asking live questions on social @CodeJam (we promise to answer as many as we can). We'll see you there!

My Path to Google: Anastasiya Bortnyk, Global Customer Experience team

July 28, 2017

Welcome to the fifth installment of our blog series “My Path to Google.” These are real stories from Googlers 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 Anastasiya Bortnyk . Read on!

Can you tell us a bit about yourself? Originally I am from a small town in West Ukraine called Lutsk. Early on, I knew that I wanted to run my own business some day (following the example of my father who was an entrepreneur in the IT sector), so I studied International Business at the National University of Kyiv. In addition to my coursework, I was constantly involved in student projects. I also started working part-time in Sales and Marketing for IT companies in Kiev before graduating.

What’s your role at Google? I am an Associate Account Strategist within the Google Global Customer Experience team. Day-to-day, I help Google customers resolve any technical issues they face while advertising with our online advertising platform AdWords and help them optimize their return on investment. However, the work is not only about interaction with clients directly. We have lots of different projects to dive into. For example, I am also in charge of Customer Education and am leading Online Mobile Academy, which aims to help our clients adapt to the quickly developing mobile landscape.
I really enjoy the freedom we have here at Google. We can each spread ideas, initiate new projects or get involved in existing ones we’re interested in. This is very beneficial in terms of professional and personal development. I really value the amount of learning opportunities I get on a daily basis.

What inspires you to come in every day? Google’s culture and diversity inspires me most of all. It’s a pleasure to work with people who are all so interesting and different. There is also a huge variety of different opportunities here which, for me, is crucial because I work best when I can constantly switch up my routine. Being able to shape the job how you see fit really makes it a lot more interesting and rewarding.

Can you tell us about your decision to enter the process? Where I come from, my peers and I always thought Google was unreachable, only for genius engineers. I dreamed about working here, but never thought about it too seriously. In my case, it was actually Google who bumped into me. I received a letter to apply for the Google Adcamp program, which was designed specifically for students interested in business and marketing. Thankfully, I was selected to attend and take part in this program. It opened my eyes to what Google was looking for; I saw the roles were reachable, and I definitely wanted to work here!

How did the recruitment process go for you? I was contacted very shortly after the AdCamp program, and the process was smooth, yet challenging. I had rounds of interviews, each of which was different in nature. The questions weren’t easy, but they were very interesting.
I was not able to come for interviews onsite, so I did them over Google Hangouts. However, at that time I was living in the student dormitory, so I was also worried about that. I asked my roommates to give me privacy, and I even set up a cool background, but right at the end of one of the interviews, my internet failed, so I had to do half of the interview without video. It was a disaster back then, but in hindsight, it’s pretty funny :).

What do you wish you’d known when you started the process? I wish I knew back then that Google is not only about programming and coding. There are so many opportunities for business or humanities graduates here as well. If I had known that before, it would have changed my perception much earlier.

Can you tell us more about the resources you used to prep? I was lucky to attend AdCamp because it gave me a lot of insight into Google and how to get hired here. We had sessions telling us about the recruitment process, and we even had a mock interview. However, before interviewing, I also researched all Google blogs, read articles about interviews, and of course stories of people who had already interviewed at Google.

To finish, do you have any tips you’d like to share with aspiring Googlers? Find and reach out to Googlers if you know any. For me, the most valuable thing was a chance to speak to people working here before starting the process. Not only can they then refer you, but they can also share best practices, give you tips, and tell you more about the job you’ll be applying for. It’s also not a disaster if you initially get rejected. I know people who didn’t make it the first time, but persisted, remained positive, and ended up getting the job later on. Want to follow in Anastasiya’s footsteps? Check out our Students site.

Google Travel Grant Application: 2017 Grace Hopper Conference — Apply Now!

July 6, 2017

As part of Google's ongoing commitment to increase the number of women in engineering, we are excited to offer travel grants to the 2017 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference taking place in Orlando, FL from October 4-6. Once again, this year’s conference will offer incredible opportunities for mentoring, networking and career development.
University students and industry professionals in the US and Canada who are excelling in computer science and passionate about supporting women in tech can apply for a travel grant to attend the 2017 Grace Hopper conference.
The Grace Hopper Travel Sponsorship includes:

Conference registration

Round trip flight to Orlando, FL (from within the US or Canada)

Reimbursement for ground transportation to and from the airport and the hotel

Arranged hotel accommodations from October 3-7

$75 USD reimbursement for miscellaneous travel costs

A fun event specifically for travel grant recipients on one of the evenings of the conference!

Please apply here by Monday, July 17. The Grace Hopper Travel Sponsorship winners will be announced by mid-August.For questions, please email ghctravelgrant@google.com.

Attention Graduates! Take Your Content With You When You Graduate

June 22, 2017

Graduation is an exciting time: You’re packing everything up and starting your next chapter in life. Still, it can be stressful if you’re trying to download and save all of your digital files before you leave school.
We’ve got your back with a new tool that makes it easy to copy and transfer the emails and content you created with G Suite for Education to a personal Google Account. From term papers you spent months writing to email threads with classmates, you can move it all to your personal account before you graduate, in less time that it takes to pack the car. Just a heads up that his tool is only available if your school administrator has allowed it and you can learn more about that here.
GraduationGIF (3).gif

All you need to transfer your content is a personal Google Account. Don’t have one? Visit accounts.google.com/SignUp to create one for free now.
Move your digital life in a few clicks After you log into your school account, go to the transfer tool. There, you’ll be asked for your personal Gmail address so that the tool can transfer everything over to your own Google Account. Your Google Account’s free Gmail address will be your username followed by @gmail.com.
After you’ve provided your personal Gmail account address, copying and transferring your email and content is a snap -- just follow these four easy steps:

Select “Get code.”

Check your personal Gmail inbox for a confirmation email from Google. In the email, select “Get confirmation code.” A new tab will open with your code.

Return to the Transfer tool page (make sure you’re still logged into your school account) and enter the code from your Gmail account, then choose “Verify.”

Choose the content you'd like to transfer, then select “Start transfer.”

If you want to transfer files that were shared with you (but that you don’t own), add those files to Drive on your school account so they can be transferred with the rest of your files. We suggest you do this before beginning your transfer. After you’ve started the transfer process, your files may start appearing in your personal Google Account within a few hours, but may take up to a week. When everything’s been moved over, you’ll get an email at your personal Gmail address telling you it’s all done. Got questions? Check out this handy Help Center article. We hope this helps you take your schoolwork and digital memories with you as you head into the wide world that awaits after graduation. Congrats — we look forward to hearing about all the amazing things you'll do next!

My Path to Google: Jon Wiley, Director of Immersive Design

June 16, 2017

Welcome to the third installment of our blog series “My Path to Google.” These are real stories from Googlers 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 Jon Wiley. Read on!

Can you tell us a bit about yourself? I’m a native of Austin, TX, where I received a degree in Theatre from the University of Texas. While performing improv and sketch comedy on Austin's famous Sixth Street, instead of waiting tables I honed my web design skills. Eventually that paid the bills better than comedy and, following several years of professional design experience, I convinced Google to hire me in 2006.

What’s your role at Google? I'm the Director of Immersive Design for Google. I lead the team of UX (user experience) designers, UX researchers, and UX engineers in creating great products for VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality). Our team is responsible for things like Google Cardboard, Tilt Brush, Earth VR, Tango, JUMP cameras, Google Expeditions, and the Daydream VR platform and Daydream View VR headset.

What inspires you to come in every day? Time is our most precious resource and it's nearly impossible to get more. I think the ultimate goal of technology is to give people more choices about how they can spend their time. I see the work I do at Google as expanding that choice. For example, before working on VR I worked on Google Search. With Search, if we could provide a better answer, faster, we could give back a little bit of time to that person — time they could use for other important things. With VR and AR, I think we can (within a decade or so) dramatically improve people's productivity with computers, thus giving them back quite a bit of time.

Can you tell us about your decision to enter the application process with Google? I'd been designing for Web for nearly a decade when I decided to apply to Google. It had never really occurred to me that I could work at a company like Google, but I realized it didn't hurt to apply.
Once I started going through the process (building up my portfolio and resume), I realized that I actually had a lot to offer. So I approached the interviews confident that I had what it takes, but also thinking it was a long shot anyway. I took the application very seriously, but I was pretty sure I wouldn't get it even so.
Part of my doubt was that I didn’t feel strictly qualified. The role typically called for a degree in computer science or human-computer interaction. I had a degree in theater. I knew I had the skills and experience, but I lacked the degree. And I wasn't sure how strongly Google felt about that. How did the recruitment process go for you? Everything went about the way I expected from having read about it. Short phone call with a Googler, a design exercise, surprise at being invited to interview in person, interviewing with several Googlers.
Early on I was asked for my GPA. My GPA was not good (under 3.0) so I sent it along, but I also wrote what amounted to an essay on why my GPA was low. I'd spent much of my time in college creating and building independent and successful things. For example, I co-created what was, at the time, the world's largest improv and sketch comedy festival. I wanted to show that I was much more than a score.
I never heard if that essay made a difference or not. Probably didn't hurt. :) Today, GPA isn't nearly as emphasized as it was when I was hired 10 years ago because we've learned that there are much better signals.
One other thing — my last interview of the day was really difficult. The interviewer asked some very challenging questions. I left feeling like I'd done well right up until the end, then bombed. It was stressful. But then I reminded myself that I'd never dreamed I'd have gotten as far as I did in the process and I went and had a cheeseburger at In-N-Out and felt much better.
What do you wish you’d known when you started the process? I read every single thing I could about the interview process before I went through it, so there were no surprises.
Do you have any tips you’d like to share with aspiring Googlers? My very best interviews, both as the interviewer and interviewee, have always been when we get on a topic that the interviewee is very excited about (that's relevant to the role). Google is a good place for folks who are really, really interested/excited about a thing and can basically talk forever about it. I think that's what ultimately got me the job and why I've been successful - I'm just super excited about the details, tools, and challenges of user experience design.
Visit google.com/students to learn more about life at Google and our opportunities for students. Be sure to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and G+!

Announcing the 2017 Google Scholarship Recipients!

May 24, 2017

Since 2004, Google has awarded almost 2,500 scholarships to students from underrepresented groups in technology to inspire and help them become future leaders in the field. We are excited to announce this year’s Google scholarship recipients in the US, Canada, Europe, the Middle East and Africa!
These students come from diverse backgrounds, are passionate about technology, and have proven themselves as leaders and role models within their communities. By supporting these students with an academic scholarship and a trip to Google for the annual Scholars’ Retreat, we hope to not only support their academic pursuits but also empower Scholars to encourage and inspire those around them.
We recently selected recipients from the following scholarship programs:

Women Techmakers Scholars Program (US, Canada, and Europe, Middle East & Africa)

Generation Google Scholarship for high school and university students from underrepresented backgrounds in computer science

Google Lime Scholarship for students with disabilities (US/Canada) and Google Europe Scholarship for Students with Disabilities

Google Student Veterans of America (SVA) Scholarship for student veterans

Congratulations to the 2017 recipients of these scholarships who represent 88 universities in 19 countries. These students will join a community of Google scholars who are actively changing the diversity status quo in the tech industry. We can’t wait to see what the future holds for these exceptional students!
Click here to see the full list of winners.
Stay tuned for our announcement of the Women Techmakers Scholars Program for Asia Pacific.

Black History Month Pay It Forward Challenge Winners

May 16, 2017

This spring we announced Google’s annual Black History Month “Pay It Forward” Challenge as a way to recognize individuals who are making a positive impact in the Black community, while also remembering those who have paved the way in the past. We received many inspiring applications filled with personal stories and determination — a reminder that there’s always time to make a difference (even as a busy college student!). We’re excited to share the work of our three winners, and hope that you feel inspired too. On to the winners!

Meet Calvary Rogers

Calvary Rogers

Calvary believes that “we let injustice win the day when we conclude that there is nothing we can do about it.” When confronted with an incident of on-campus threats targeting Black freshmen students, he knew that his only choice was to take action. As Co-Chair of UMOJA, an umbrella group that serves to unite all students that identify with the African Diaspora at the University of Pennsylvania, Calvary planned a university-wide town hall where Black students voiced their concerns with administration, each other, and the nation as a whole. While documenting the administrative actions students wanted to see (and starting the conversation about what change would look like), Calvary and his peers realized that what they needed most was to learn from the past.
Through UMOJA and the Africana Department, Calvary is developing a database that will function to individually archive student activism initiatives and institutional/administrative feedback across universities in America in order to maximize social progress and institutional breakthroughs. By archiving Black history at universities and their surrounding communities across America, he believes that we can better learn how to ameliorate both the experiences of Black students and citizens across the world (and how they respond to them).
“When we step aside and hear the voices and stories of underrepresented groups to understand their circumstances on a human level, we dramatically shift the dynamics of our community… in doing so, we unify, gain courage, and learn new ways to advance our fundamental humanity in ways that work for everyone.”

Meet Kielah Harbert and Wilglory Tanjong

L-R: Wilglory Tanjong; Kielah Harbert

Co-winners Kielah and Wilglory are also familiar with the importance of sharing and disseminating information as a way to empower marginalized students. After submitting their college applications, they realized that without the help of the Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America (LEDA), they may not have been able to successfully apply to universities around the country. This led them to wonder: do students who do not have the help of LEDA (but were just as qualified and worthy) have the resources that they needed to prepare and apply to college?
#Admitted, Kielah and Wilglory’s new book, provides those resources. It offers information that is largely unavailable to socio-economically disadvantaged Black youth by serving as a guide that empowers, gives positive representation, and inspires readers to reach higher by providing them with the guidance they need to succeed. Additionally, the guide teaches students how to self-advocate, think critically, and navigate the many obstacles they will face as low-income students who care about education.
“In a world where Black youth are depicted as gangsters and thugs in mass media, and forgotten communities have little or no positive role models in positions of influence, #Admitted shifts the narrative. We show them, through positive representation, that they can be successful through education — we tell them, they can.” -- Kielah Harbert
How can you help? Calvary encourages you to join the conversation by sharing your stories and experiences with activism and how they have tapped into untouched areas of social justice by utilizing people and/or organizations who have walked their paths before them. If you’d like more information on helping UMOJA, head to the request form. Wilglory and Kielah urge you to buy copies of #Admitted for youth in your community, spread the word to others, have the duo speak to students, and lastly, support their summer "I Can Too" project.
Together with Calvary, Kielah and Wilglory, we can give voices and resources to all students both now and in the future.

My Path to Google: Adriana Jara, Software Engineer

May 10, 2017

Welcome to the second installment of our blog series “My Path to Google.” These are real stories from Googlers 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 Adriana Jara. Read on!

Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

I grew up in a small rural town in Costa Rica called Candelaria de Naranjo. I grew up surrounded by coffee plantations and nature. I used to help my family during the harvests and always joke that in spite of knowing the coffee making process from bean to cup, I must be one of the very few software engineers who doesn’t drink coffee! After high school, I moved out of my small town to go to the Universidad de Costa Rica for college, where I graduated with a Bachelor in Computer Science.

Besides being a software engineer at Google, I'm a dancer. I've been doing contemporary dance for 12 years, and I also practice salsa and West African dance. Dance has helped me see the world from a different perspective. It helps me clear my head and make better decisions as an engineer.

What’s your role at Google?

I'm a software engineer. I recently transferred to the Shopping Syndication team, where I hope to make shopping ads outside of google.com more useful and less annoying!

What inspires you to come in every day?

The people I work with. I also thoroughly enjoy solving problems, especially problems that have impact on our users. It’s rewarding to work with so many inspiring people to help make our users’ lives easier. I'm excited about connecting people with opportunities, and sharing the advantages that our products bring to more users.

Can you tell us about your decision to enter the process?

It started with Gmail when I was in college. I very clearly remember opening my Gmail account and being so inspired by the people that changed how we do email (something that I thought was fine as it was). They made it so much more intuitive and effective that I remember thinking to myself “I want to work with people like that, people who don't take the status quo for granted, people who wonder how can we do better."

About 8 years later, I got the first email from an @google address (my recruiter’s) and got so excited about the chance to work with the people I had always admired. I never thought I could make it from my small town to the Googleplex. I never thought I would end up working in a place where you can impact millions of users around the world.

How did the recruitment process go for you?

I was super excited to even be in a Google office for the interviews, but at the same time, I was scared to death of the possibility of having to move by myself to a whole new country and start a different life. I remember my first phone interview didn’t go so well. At that point, I was losing hope, but got a surge of strength thinking “I’m a good engineer and I want to work at Google, but I’ll be fine even if it doesn’t work out.” The burst of confidence seems to have helped — I did well on my second interview, came onsite for interviews, and now I work here!

What do you wish you’d known when you started the process?

I had the perception that Google was only looking for geniuses who knew everything and could come up with the best solutions in minutes. I wish I could go back in time to tell myself how wrong that perception is—it would’ve definitely removed at least a bit of the pressure of the interviews.

Now as an interviewer myself, I’ve realized that Google engineering interviews are basically just conversations about solving problems. Essentially, they go like this: If we were to work on [x] problem together and given [y] set of tools, how would you approach it? Had I known that this is the actual approach, I think I would've been more relaxed going into the process.

Can you tell us more about the resources you used to prepare?

Various coding exercises, an algorithm class (there are a lot of those on Coursera and other education sites), and a whole lot of practice. I knew several people who were also interviewing and we shared resources we found, did 'code reviews' on challenges, and did mock interviews together.

I also absolutely loved the ’How To’ videos from the Life at Google channel on Youtube.

To finish, do you have any tips you’d like to share with aspiring Googlers?

Don't be afraid to try! There is nothing to lose by trying. If you want to work at Google, go ahead and apply. Prepare yourself for the interviews by sharpening your knowledge of data structures, algorithms, and coding. If you try and fail, don’t give up! There are many factors that might lead to a failed round of interviews—everyone has bad days—so prepare yourself and try again.

Visit google.com/students to learn more about life at Google and our opportunities for students. Be sure to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and G+!

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