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Google Code-in 2012 contest starts today!
November 26, 2012
Cross-posted from the
Google Open Source Blog
… and Go! The
Google Code-in 2012
contest has officially started! If you are a 13-17 year old pre-university (high school) student interested in computer science who would like to learn more about open source software development while earning cool prizes, sign up on our
program site
today. Students have the opportunity to select tasks from 5 categories (coding, documentation/training, quality assurance, research/outreach and user interface) that are designed by
10 open source organizations
that will provide mentors for the students. Students earn certificates, t-shirts and Grand Prize Winners will win a trip for themselves and a parent or legal guardian to Google’s Mountain View California campus in 2013. Each of the 10 open source organizations will choose 2 of the 5 students that complete the most tasks with their organization as their Grand Prize Winners for a total of 20 Grand Prize Winners for Google Code-in 2012- that’s twice as many Grand Prize Winners as last year!
Last year, 542 students from 56 countries competed in the contest: this year you could be one of the students from around the world learning new skills and making new friends by experiencing the awesome world of open source development.
If you’d like to sign up, please review the
Contest Rules
and
Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQ) on our
program site
. You can join our
discussion list
to ask any other questions. For details on important dates for the contest, see the
calendar
. If you meet the eligibility requirements you can create your account on the
program site
and start claiming tasks today!
Join us today, Nov 26th, as members of Google’s Open Source Programs Office host a Live
Google Code-in Hangout on Air
on the Google Education page at 2pm PST to discuss details of the contest and to answer questions from viewers. If you can’t make the live Hangout on Air it will be recorded and posted on our
Google Open Source Student Programs YouTube Channel
within a couple of days.
The contest ends on January 14, 2013 so start claiming tasks today. Good luck and have fun!
By Stephanie Taylor, Google Open Source Programs
Application tips for the 2013 Google Scholarships in Europe, Middle East and Africa
November 21, 2012
Below you'll find the recording from our recent Hangout On Air where a panel of Googlers discussed the two 2013 Google Scholarships for Europe, Middle East and Africa: the
Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship
and the
Google Scholarship for Students with Disabilities
.
The panel consisted of a former scholarship recipient finalist (now full-time employee at Google) and senior judges who sit on the application review committee. They discussed what we look for when reviewing scholarship applications, what the application process looks like, and general tips for those interested in applying.
Both scholarships are now open and the deadline to apply is February 1, 2013. You can find the application for the Anita Borg Scholarship at
http://www.google.com/anitaborg/emea
. You can find the application for the Scholarship for Students with Disabilities at
http://google.com/studentswithdisabilities-europe
.
Posted by Efrat Aghassy, University Programs Specialist, Europe, Middle East and Africa
Discover the world of open source with Google Code-in 2012
November 20, 2012
Cross posted from the
Official Google Blog
Every time you send a text, check a webpage or post a status update, you’re using open source software. The Internet is made of open source. But have you ever created any yourself? With the
Google Code-in
contest, pre-university students (13-17 years old) can learn more and create open source software that people all over the world can use—and win cool prizes along the way.
Starting Monday, November 26 and for the following 50 days, contest participants will work on fun online tasks for
10 different open source organizations
. Possible challenges include documentation, marketing outreach, software coding, user experience research and more.
Participants earn points for each task they successfully complete and can earn prizes like T-shirts and certificates of completion. This year we’re doubling the number of grand prize winners to 20 talented students, who will win a trip to Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. They’ll spend a day getting a tour of the “Googleplex,” meeting and talking with Google engineers, plus enjoy another full day exploring San Francisco and other surprises.
Some of the 2011 Google Code-in Grand Prize Winners by the Golden Gate Bridge
Last year, 542 students from 56 countries and 360 schools completed 3,054 tasks during the eight-week contest. This year we want to encourage even more students to participate in the contest and learn about open source development. If you’d like to sign up, please review our
Frequently Asked Questions
and the
contest rules
on our
program site
. You can also watch our
screencast
, check out some
sample tasks
from last year’s contest and join our
discussion list
for any other questions. For details on important dates for the contest, see the
timeline
. You can register for your account on the
program site
when the contest opens on Monday, November 26 at 9:00am PST.
Finally, our Open Source Programs team will be hosting a
Hangout on Air
on the Google Education page November 26 at 2:00pm PST to discuss the details of the Google Code-in contest and answer any questions.
We hope you’ll spend your winter (or summer, for our friends in the southern hemisphere) learning about the ins and outs of open source development through hands-on experience. Ready...set...
By Stephanie Taylor, Open Source Programs
Check out the recording from our Technical Internships Hangout On Air
November 14, 2012
Last week we hosted a Hangout On Air with a few of our current technical interns and intern hosts. They talked about their experiences as part of the internship program at Google and gave us a sneak peak into what the program is like. You can watch the video from the Hangout on Air below and learn more about available internship opportunities in our North America offices at
google.com/students/intern
.
Posted by Jacqueline Pan, University and Intern Programs
Launch Your Career - Apply for an internship at Google in Europe, Middle East and Africa
November 8, 2012
It’s that time of year when most of our summer interns have returned back to campus, and we begin our search for the next class of technical interns who are ready to make an impact in 2013. It’s also a nice time to reflect on all the fun intern activities that have taken place such as hiking trips in the
Swiss Alps
, riding segways through
Munich
in the rain and visiting salt mines in
Krakow
.
In addition to all the fun, interns in EMEA contribute to large scale projects, help launch products and features, attend seminars, take part in competitions, meet lots of smart people from all over the world and sometimes, get to witness a little bit of history through the first
intern exchange visit
with CERN!
Interns in EMEA have the opportunity to work in 12 different countries and take part in different programs to suit their skills and background. This year we introduced
STEP
(Summer Trainee Engineering Program) internships for engineering students
who have completed the first year of their university studies. The program is based in London, Munich, Krakow and Zurich. Applications for the 2013 STEP internships
(formerly Engineering Trainee Summer Program)
are now open, check out the
application page
on Google Students site for more information.
In addition to STEP, there is a specific program for students who study computer science at an African University. The Africa Trainee Program is based in Zurich and is an opportunity to spend the summer working with engineers and program managers on the Emerging Markets team. Franklin Ochieng, an intern from this year’s class, shared his experience as an intern in the
Diary of a Summer Intern
series and had this to say:
Here at Google, I have learnt best practices, I have learnt to optimize, I have learnt to secure, I have learnt to design, I have learnt foresight, I have learnt teamwork, I have learnt to pay attention to detail. I've seen my code improve tremendously throughout the summer thanks to this review process. Basically, I have learnt to code like the professionals, like a real programmer.
Applications for this program are also open now, check out our
application page
for more information. You must be a student and you must be studying at a university based in Africa.
If you are interested in becoming part of any of our intern programs in EMEA,
apply
here for our 2013 internships. You’ll have the chance to work on impactful projects and have a world class internship experience!
Posted by Emma Edwards, College Recruiter - Europe, Middle East and Africa
My Summer @ Google: Summer Trainee Engineering Program
November 7, 2012
As the last of our EMEA Summer Trainee Engineering Program (STEP) interns finish up for summer 2012, we sat down with two of our London based interns to discuss their time at Google, what their plans are for the future and quizzed them for more insights into STEP for next year’s students! We’re also pleased to announce that applications are available for
STEP 2013
.
Tell us your name, university, major and any other relevant background info.
Elena: My name is Elena, I’m currently going into my second year at
Bucharest University
, studying computer science. The last relevant thing I did prior to STEP was a Girls Programming Camp at college. I first started programming in high school but participated in mathematics competitions before that.
Mariana: My name is Mariana, I’m currently going into my third year at the
Politehnica University
in Bucharest, studying computer science. In high school I was really into mathematics and physics, but now l enjoy informatics, the logic behind it, as well as solving problems.
How did you find out about the STEP Internship?
Elena: Actually this is funny. I accidentally saw a friend like a link to
STEP
applications on a social network and didn’t expect to get a response so quickly after applying!
Mariana: I saw an email from a Google Student Ambassador at Politehnica and applied, as I thought this internship suited me very well.
Why did you apply?
Elena: I already had lots of plans for the summer but I thought it would be interesting to do interviews and have the experience of doing some phone interviews at Google!
Mariana: I thought it would be nice to apply for an internship at Google. The perception is that for standard internships, you need to be in your 4th year or beyond but this internship is targeted at students in the earlier years of their studies. It sounded great so I thought, why not apply?
What did you do during your time at Google?
Elena: I worked on the Mobile team and did lots of coding! I worked on re-writing some code, refactoring as well as implementing a UI!
Mariana: I worked on Geo, mainly on front end work. I also learnt to interact with loads of people in different areas as the project used lots of different technologies.
What was your favourite part?
Elena: Absolutely everything ...well, after finishing reading tutorials! The first two weeks were overwhelming and tough, but after that I found my feet.
Mariana: I loved meeting new people and finding out about their projects. I also enjoyed working on a visual project and to see people excited about some aspects of my work during my final presentation was great!
What did you get out of STEP? What skills did you gain?
Elena: I enjoyed learning from hands on experience rather than only doing coursework. It was great to learn more about Google specific technologies and new concepts like version control. I also got a taste of managing a healthy work-life-balance.
Mariana: I learnt what writing good code is all about. I also learnt how to apply the things that I learnt and discussing different methods with others was also fun.
What are the next steps for you?
Elena: I’m going back to university and would like to do a summer internship every year from now.
Mariana: I’m going back to my 3rd year and looking forward to a graphics course and catching up with friends. I’m also actually looking forward to homework and coding assignments. Hopefully next year I’ll be back at Google!
Do you have any advice for anyone considering applying to the STEP Internship?
Elena: Yes: once you find out what team you will work with, read as much as you can beforehand.
Mariana: Just APPLY. Send your CV - don’t think too much about it and you will be fine :)
Posted by Farrah Djohan, Intern Programs
Upcoming Hangout on Air: Technical Internships at Google
November 6, 2012
Our interns explore new ideas, accelerate the launch of new product features, and are big contributors to Google. Technical interns are embedded in every major engineering team at Google where their impact is unconstrained by titles.
Now you can learn more about our Technical Intern Program in North America this
Friday, November 9th at 10 am PST/1 pm EST
on the
Google Students page on Google+
. Current interns and intern hosts will talk about their experience and give you a sneak peak at what our intern program is like.
Haz question? You can submit your questions and vote for previous ones here: http://goo.gl/En9Kd or post your question and the hashtag #GoogleInternHangout on Google+ or Twitter. Can’t catch it live? No worries, we will upload the recording to the Google Students YouTube Channel: http://goo.gl/xaAIo.
Learn more about our Technical Internship opportunities at
google.com/students/intern
.
Posted by Jacqueline Pan, University and Intern Program
s
Upcoming Hangout on Air: 2013 Google Scholarships for Europe, Middle East and Africa
November 1, 2012
Following our
2013 Google Scholarships in EMEA announcement
, we’re hosting a
Hangout on Air on Monday, November 5 at 16:30 GMT
(find your local time
here
) from the
Google Students page on Google+
to help prepare interested applicants. This Hangout on Air will feature a panel of former scholar recipients who are now Google engineers as well as two judges who sit on the application review committee. We’ll be giving general tips on what we look for when reviewing applications, answering questions about the application process and sharing experiences about the retreat.
You can submit your questions and vote for previous ones
here
or by using the hashtag #emeascholars on Google+ or Twitter. No worries if you can’t watch the Hangout live - we will upload the recording to the
Google Students YouTube Channel
.
To learn more about the EMEA 2013 scholarships programs please visit:
http://www.google.com/anitaborg/emea/
http://www.google.com/studentswithdisabilities-europe/index.html
Posted by Efrat Aghassy, University Programs Specialist, Europe, Middle East and Africa
My Summer @ Google: BOLD Immersion
October 25, 2012
Introduction: We continue the
My Summer @ Google
series with a post from Moses, a sophomore at Dartmouth College. Moses recently attended the
BOLD Immersion Program
for Freshmen.
Most people have heard of Google, but did you know that each summer Google selects rising college sophomores to immerse themselves in the Google way of life for a week? My path to the BOLD Immersion Program for Freshmen was far from conventional. I was told to apply by a senior mentor at school, who made me promise that I would research the company and send in an application. To do my research, I actually had to “Google” Google! Soon thereafter, I decided to apply, but with Google being so popular and me having little-to-no experience with computer science, I did not expect my interest to be reciprocated.
To my surprise, I was accepted into the program! Immediately I became nervous. What did I expect from a week at the center of the Internet world? How could I prepare for something like this? What would the other participants be like? I began to try and guess answers to my own questions. I decided I would have to wear a suit and tie, pretend to be well versed on all things computer science, be able to analyze Google stock trends, and memorize the biographies of Larry and Sergey.
Of course, all of my assumptions were false. BOLD Immersion was about exposing students to a talented and diverse community, learning about the technology industry from a non-technical point of view, and growing my skills. There was also a case study, and after being briefed each group set out to invent a marketing campaign. A few days later, we presented our work to a panel of judges.
What most impressed me at Google was the quality of the people. It took a short conversation with any one of my fellow participants to realize that he or she was talented and intelligent. And the Google employees were a more experienced version of our group – incredibly genuine, outlandishly charismatic, and encouragingly creative. Though I have always heard people say it’s important to love what you do, seldom have I seen this in action. The people I met at Google truly love their jobs; Google fosters a certain atmosphere that transforms a “job” into a “calling,” and your “coworkers” into “friends.”
I learned so much about who I am. I learned how to communicate effectively and navigate through a cloud of unknowns to answer a question or solve a problem. I learned how to accept and decline propositions, all the while maintaining respect and order. Most importantly, I learned how to be an effective member of any organization: be that my athletic team, the clubs that I am a part of at school, or the workforce of which I will soon be a full time member.
Google is a unique company because I see it not as a technology company, but as a people company that just happens to focus on technology. I left Google after a week with more knowledge than I could learn at many summer programs. The fellow Immersion participants became friends who I now contact whenever I am close to their schools or hometowns. Though there was a case study competition, I am more than content with the knowledge, the bonds, and the experience and I consider myself and every group winners.
I hope future college freshmen apply for this program. Participants will learn so much about Google and themselves, and will meet an amazing group of people. My one piece of advice: please be yourself because it's your uniqueness that can help transform you into a potential Googler!
Interested in BOLD Immersion? Applications will be available
here
in March 2013.
Posted by Moses Adubi, BOLD Immersion Participant
Apply now to Google’s diversity talent programs - don’t miss out!
October 24, 2012
We're pleased to announce that we’re accepting applications for CodeF, TechAbility and Top Black Talent, which are all part of Google’s diversity talent programs in the UK and Europe. These programs are designed to provide career insights and mentorship for undergraduate and postgraduate students from underrepresented groups throughout the region.
Each program consists of an exclusive one-day career insight event with technical and business challenges, networking opportunities and an eight week, one-to-one mentoring relationship with a Googler. We’ll help you develop skills and industry knowledge for both technical and business careers at Google and beyond.
CodeF
is for female computer scientists. Last chance to apply online for
UK CodeF
is October 28, 2012. We are accepting applications for
Germany/Switzerland CodeF
until November 11, 2012.
TechAbility
is for disabled students interested in technical or business careers at Google. This effort is in partnership with
EmployAbility
. We’re currently accepting
applications
from across Europe until October 28, 2012.
Top Black Talent
is a UK-based program for black students interested in technical or business careers at Google. This effort is in partnership with
ACS
and
Rare
. We’re accepting
applications
from now until November 14, 2012.
For more information about diversity at Google please visit
google.com/diversity
.
We look forward to receiving your application!
Posted by Clare Bass, Diversity & Inclusion, Europe, Middle East & Africa
Google helps bring Israeli-Arab students and industry professionals together in the first Nazareth Hackathon
October 22, 2012
Google’s R&D Center
in Israel recently co-sponsored Hackathon@Nazareth, a 48 hour long hackathon style event, partnering with
Tzofen
, a non-profit organization that aims to integrate the Israel-Arab community into the high-tech industry.
This Hackathon was the first of it's kind to be held in Northern Israel and the first one aimed to bring Israeli and Arab developers together. For the first time, we got to see the real talent behind the Israel-Arab tech community. Over 60 Arab Israeli computer science students, computer scientists and developers from schools such the
Technion
,
Haifa University
,
Hebrew University
and
Tel Aviv University
got together for 48 hours to turn ideas into reality. During the event, the students finally had the chance to turn their academic knowledge into innovative new software products, experience teamwork and create a new network with both Arab and Jewish experienced engineers.
Yossi Matias
, Managing Director of Google's R&D Center, opened the event with a warm welcome speech to more than 80 attendees. Later on, the students pitched their ideas to the crowd and picked 14 ideas to work on during the event.
The positive energy and the mentors helped keep the participants coding all night long, which allowed them to build web and mobile applications based on their own ideas. Just before saying goodbye, all the teams presented their
project demos
before a panel of distinguished judges from the Israeli
startup scene
who gave them constructive feedback on their demo. Some of the more promising ones were
theFridge
, which allows roommates to maintain their household easily and efficiently and
AroundRoid
, an application that combines task management with location-based services.
Costa Touma, a full-time software engineer at Google who participated as a mentor at the event summed up this experience with the talented students: “The event's highlight was the team spirit. Everyone who participated gained something while at the same time helped put Nazareth on the tech map for a brief weekend.”
This event triggered a greater interest in planning more coding events in the region. Our
Google developer communities
will be planning more events in Nazareth in the future. For more information related to developers activities in Israel, check out our
GDG ISRAEL G+ channel
.
Posted by Efrat Aghassy, University Specialist for Israel
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