What Google computer scientists do can vary hugely. With a mission to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful, in its 20 years Google has changed the way we interact with our digital world.
Since Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded the company on 4 September 1998, Google has become a global company employing around 85,000 people worldwide.
During that time, the company transformed workplace culture and its name even became a verb!
Code is key
As a company that’s passionate about pushing the boundaries of digital technology, it’s no surprise that Google is excited about encouraging everyone to learn to code, and what Google computer scientists do is changing so rapidly.
“We really encourage everyone to learn to code,” says Sally-Ann Williams, Engineering Community & Outreach Program Manager at Google.
“Learning to code offers the widest possible career path, as code and computer science touches every industry and even careers that don’t exist today. CS + X is the key to unlocking an amazing future, working on big problems and making a difference in the world.”
What are Google careers really like?
Get a behind-the-scenes look at 6 Googlers and find out why working at Google is so awesome.
Marie-Claire Dean
Google mapper
This designer helps shape Google Maps to make our lives a whole lot easier.
“Maps is an iconic product – it’s a real thrill to deliver something that you see people talking about and using.”
Joël Sunray Kalmanowicz
Charitable coder
This Google product manager is taking every available opportunity at Google to make a charitable impact with his tech skills.
“I find it really inspiring to make a direct impact.”
Tom Wright
Self-taught coder
Tom Wright, Site Reliability Engineering Manager at Google, describes himself as “a tinkerer who became obsessed with coding”.
“I’m surrounded by people from different backgrounds, which brings a unique perspective – every day is a learning experience and a privilege.”
Adrian Arumugam
Global Googler
Adrian re-booted his career goals at Google, and learned the value of adaptability along the way.
“Every day, when I see the sheer scale of Google’s massive networks and systems… it’s mind-boggling! I just can’t help take a step back and admire what we do.”
Deepa Kurian
Productivity pro
This Google engineering manager has strong communications skills thanks to some epic worldly experience.
“The experience and understanding of different cultures is critical for working in a global company.”\
Fontaine Foxworth
Tech translator
Fontaine Foxworth connects the dots between different disciplines to make Google products come to life.
“People get distracted by the tech side, but you can also use your footprint to actually make people’s lives better.”
Take a peek inside Google HQ and discover the jobs of the future!
Internships at Google
Internships at Google are wildly popular. “A Google internship is a great way to start a career in software engineering,” says Sally-Ann.
“Many of our interns convert to full-time employees on completion of their degree and have the opportunity to work at offices around the world and on different products over their career at Google. The real world skills you learn through an internship are great preparation for work in industry, further research, a PhD, or even starting your own company.”
Opportunities vary from Software Engineering and Product Management Internships for final year students, to Summer Trainee Engineering Programs for first and second year students. Internships are full-time for university students.
The cutting-edge work and the fun, social culture at Google mean that every experience is unique. And you don’t have to go halfway round the world to become a Google intern.
“In Australia, we work on many global products – Maps, Chrome, Apps, Drive, Google+ and many others, and the engineering operations team works on back-end infrastructure, networking tools, networking engineering and more,” says Sally-Ann.
“Each intern is embedded in one of these local teams and works alongside engineers on a project that fits their skills and challenges them to extend themselves.”
What are internships at Google really like?
Meet Tina and Rachel, interns turned full-time Googlers.
Rachel Carpenter
Global Googler
Rachel Carpenter spent her childhood sailing the world. Now she’s improving Google’s app capabilities for people in different cultures.
“Take advantage of every opportunity. The more things you try the more you can hone down the limitless possibilities.”
Tina P.
Selfie sorter
Former Google intern Tina makes storing and searching selfies easy by writing the code behind Google Photos.
“It’s a myth that software engineering is inherently difficult,” Tina says. “Anyone can learn how to do it.”
Discover even more Google careers here.
This article is brought to you in partnership with Google.
