Summer Technology Internship at Google Hyderabad

When I got my Summer Technology Internship offer from Google India, I was asked by many people to tell the story of how I got there. Like many other techies out there, Google has been my dream company right from the beginning. When I cleared the Google interview, many of my friends reached out to me for tips and guidance for their upcoming interviews. During these conversations, I started identifying patterns and felt like it might be worth cementing the relevant neural connections in my head since I know the struggle of interviewing. It's a tough process and can get a bit strenuous at times I hope this will be useful for you, at least a little.

Read on if you are on the brink of an internship season yourself, or are considering Google India as a potential employer.
So here is my journey…

Oh, one more thing. This is not a guide on how to get a job at Google. Based on my experience, I do not think such a thing exists. It will not describe the interview process in detail (such as the questions asked) nor disclose any confidential information.

The coolest thing about Google is the people and the opportunities for growth. One might be working in any team or product area, but they would always have full access to the learning opportunities at Google. All this was possible because of Google’s focus on personal growth and transparency. Googlers can contact anyone, anywhere else at Google regarding their work and could expect a reply.

Not being from an IIT in India, not many of us get whoopingly handpicked by billion-dollar companies like Google. Yet, something in me told me to go for it, after all, it’s Google, is what I thought.

Somewhere in my mind I knew that I had to try because getting into Google was not impossible. I would have never known the outcome until I tried, kind of like Schrödinger’s cat, and that thought made me uneasy.

STEP 1- Apply on the Google Careers site! Or if you are blessed with a great network, you could apply with a referral too, to get you through the resume screening phase. Fingers crossed, I applied directly to the job posting.

What was unique in me and my application?

In addition to college courses and learning with pros, learning by yourself will be a great asset in your career. Some may say that it is all you need, especially in the world of Computer Science.

If you have a passion for something, self-teaching should come naturally. If you have fun learning stuff, you are where you’re supposed to be.

Going out of your comfort zone will greatly improve your confidence.
It’s about opening your mind and giving you life experiences, both bitter and sweet.

There will always be more talented people than you.
Look up to them and try to catch up.

I learned that networking is important to develop one’s career, irrespective of the field.

STEP 2- Now, a multitude of people think that Google only has a place for the avid coders… Giants like Google have a plethora of roles coming up like Technology intern, Customer Cloud Engineering intern, Business and Sales intern, and the most sought-after Software Development Engineer (these are the ones for undergraduates mainly so you can check the page out and set alerts for interesting roles and location). Selected candidates need to give the necessary test according to the internship, SDE requires a test, while mine went directly from step 1 to step 3 because of a different intern role application.

STEP 3- Sometime around 17th November 2020, I received a call from Google India regarding my application, within 3 weeks of me submitting my application. It was completely out of the blue and I was ecstatic! The first phase was resume selection, which I cleared. We had a 20 minutes chat about my interests and accomplishments so far, and my Google recruiter told me that I will soon be interviewed for the role as my application moves further! I actually told my best friend about it and what he told me was: “go for it!”. Surround yourself with the kind of people that will help you grow.

If you see an opportunity, or if you have the slightest doubt or “what if” in your mind, just go for it.

How I prepared and stayed confident for the Google interview?

In my experience, any interview preparation involves mastering 3 crucial things.

a. Building strong role-related knowledge(the trick lies in mastering the CS fundamentals underneath):
What these colleges and courses had in common is that they teach you a general approach to various subjects. They don’t specialize you.

b. Previous projects in the resume:

Based on my experience, if you ever get the chance to do projects for people and real communities, take the opportunity. It will teach you a lot.

I learned how to build and manage projects and work with people coming from diverse minds. One benefit to it is that you will choose the project you want. You will work on what makes you happy and what you will be happy to show as a work reference. Each experience has taught me tons and I would say that the knowledge I gained at each step has made my journey into Google easier.

c. Company-specific reading:
Reading about the company and preparing specifically for it is generally the most ignored section by candidates and all I can say is, it is one of those sections that can really set you apart from others.

YouTube was my friend during the preparation since I personally grasp things much faster and better in the form of a video as compared to text. Plus it is far better when someone explains things to you instead of you trying to understand them all by yourself. I never imagined in my wildest dreams that within a period of 2 months I would be on the other side working for Google! Miracles do happen :)

The idea here was to watch videos for any concept that you might find difficult to understand or which you may have understood only partially. I am just going to embed some videos which helped me the most and were game-changers for me as they really kept me motivated. But there were numerous other videos that I used to watch just while browsing to get information. You never know which small piece of information might help you where.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKq08EEcL8s_MDN6zuELFtLKe8EdwVuDb

STEP 4- (THE FAMOUS GOOGLE INTERVIEW!)- For my technology intern application, I had 2 interviews taken by different Googlers(for me, the Google NYC office took my interviews around midnight), Role related with questions central to CS fundamentals (Operating Systems, Computer Networking etc) and Leadership, Googleyness interview, each running up to three-quarters of an hour. That was the good part. They were scheduled one after the other. That was the scary part. My first interview was fun, very interactive, and insightful, the second was tricky, as one might expect.

Interviewing is about proving yourself to be a potential candidate. This involves you explaining to them how you have collaborated with others in your past projects. The questions for this section could be either something specific, like a skill on your resume or about a project.
e.g. Could you tell me about a project where you dealt with conflicting views and how you tackled them?

Be true.

Thinking about it, maybe it was what to do. It sounds cliched, but I think this applies to a lot of situations and any job applications. You may talk your way into landing a job by finding the right answer at the right moment to the question “Why should we hire you?” but you would be at risk of not finding the right thing in the end, something that is neither for you or your employer.

• Side Note: I had actually gone through the whole process of resume shortlisting and interviewing for the Cloud Engineering Intern (APAC) region as well but my application could not make it through to the offer letter. Though this made me learn an important lesson, To never give up! And the second time, I went for it with consistent hard work, clarity, and confidence.
  Don't be afraid to start over again because this time, you’re not starting from scratch, you’re starting from experience.

STEP 5- And that was the end of it, I just had to wait for the final decision. Most difficult, the toughest part was to wait for them to update you regarding acceptance or rejection.

I received the call on a Friday, it was 11th December 2020. I was accepted as Google’s next Summer intern! This couldn’t have been better. I had made my parents proud and they were very excited for me!

Luck played a huge part in this and I wouldn’t be writing this if it wasn’t for it. One addendum though:

Be prepared for luck, if it ever happens, make sure you can take your chances.

General tips

• Do not stress yourself.
• Weekends are your best friends! Utilize them the most.
• The recruiter is your friend too, who just wants to know you better and see if you both are landing a perfect fit! Before any interview, feel free to ask the recruiter for the format of the interview, expectations, preparation material, general tips, etc. This will really help you focus your attention on specific things because otherwise, CS is a vast area to tackle.
• Start with the general preparation first i.e. YouTube videos, reading articles, etc. Revise your final notes towards the very end since that will be most effective in your interview.
• Start enjoying the process of learning!
• Sometimes just random net surfing helps. I used to pull up articles of how people cracked their interviews and it helped me on many levels.
• Always think of the worst-case scenario. I used to think to myself, “What will happen if I don’t get into Google?” and the answer was “It's fine. I will try sometime again and keep on trying till I get what I want.” This really calmed me down and made me perform better.

If you have any questions or just want to chat or connect, here is some social network self-advertisement xP:

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Oh, and a side note, stay tuned to my next blog with my intern swag entailing my experience working at Google in July-Sep’21!