Nick Yeager - "Working for the G: My Internship Experience at Google"

“The Internship” is about to hit theaters and with it comes a plot focused completely in ‘Googleland’ focusing on two Nooglers (Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson) who land an internship opportunity with the tech giant. After seeing a prescreening of the movie I thought it’d be fun to sum up my internship experience with Google and how it relates to the movie.

Background:

I’ve wanted to work for Google since I took my first tour of the New York City office in September of 2007. After seeing the facilities, learning about the culture and perks, and witnessing first hand, the awesome projects that happen there, I knew I had to work there someday. This is a short story through the journey which led me to Google.

I started early when it came to internships, being an IT Help Desk employee in the Library at Penn State Berks, I was offered an internship with the university’s IT department during the summer after my freshman year. The experience was a great stepping-stone and enabled me to continue moving my way to where I wanted to be.

The following summer I interned with FirstEnergy - an energy company with offices near Penn State Berks. FirstEnergy taught me a great deal of IT knowledge and helped solidify my IST education at Berks.

Always wanting more, I decided to visit the Career Fair at Penn State University Park Campus. I ended up leaving with an offer to Co-Op at Cisco Systems in San Jose, CA during my spring (2009) semester at Penn State Berks. Being conflicted about the opportunity as I’ve never traveled that far from home I consulted with Career Services. To make a long story short, after much deliberation I made the smart choice and accepted the offer.

That winter, I was off to sunny San Jose for an awesome opportunity interning at Cisco. This was an incredibly rewarding experience but, again, always wanting more, I wasn’t ready to let myself be content. I wanted to go for the gold -- the experience I dreamed of, interning at Google. I figured since I was so close I might as well apply. Within a few weeks of submitting my resume, I was contacted (and to be contacted back from Google is an immediate accomplishment). During the following weeks, I spent many nights, sleepless with trembling nerves; preparing for interviews, cramming for abstract, obscure questions, and figuring out how to ‘beat’ their interviewing system. After two phone interviews with Google, I didn’t know how to feel. While the interviews themselves proved challenging, reading the interviewers and gauging their feedback to my responses was even more challenging. In the end, I got incredible news -- similar to Vaughn’s and Owen’s experience in The Internship -- Google wanted to extend me an offer for an internship position for Summer 2009. I eagerly accepted the offer and was set to have the best summer of my life.

My internship experience started out... quickly and overwhelmingly. One of the first things a Noogler (a new Googler) learns is that the information taught to you during your first few weeks of on the job training comes at you like a firehose. Too much to absorb all at once. After finally settling down, I was able to appreciate Google -- the company, the culture, the people and most importantly the work. There was never a dull day during my experience. While we didn’t play Quidditch, have adventures finding Charles Xavier, or competing against each other, we all found other ways to learn and engage each other. From intern scavenger hunts, to attending onsite Lady Gaga and Carlos Santana concerts, to attending the famous ‘intern boat cruise’ Google provided for us and treated us like royalty.

The summer of 2009 proved to be one of my best summers. Ending my internship at Google was difficult -- it felt like leaving paradise with all the friends I made, the experiences I shared, and the knowledge I learned. I knew, however, I had another challenge in front of me... Return to Google for the Summer of 2010.

Fortunately, all that’s required to return for a subsequent year of interning at Google is doing well your previous year and fortunately for me that must have been the case as I was extended an offer for the summer of 2010. After another year of experiencing first-class treatment -- including massages, onsite petting zoos and carnivals, participating in team offsites like paintballing -- I knew my future wouldn’t be nearly as satisfying as possible unless I worked for the G.

I spent the rest of that summer learning as much as possible, trying to secure a future with Google. By the end of my internship came my full time conversion interviews. Once again the interviews proved difficult. And then came the waiting game. It took nearly two months until a decision was made about my employment future at Google during which time I felt like a nervous father pacing the floor outside the delivery room during childbirth... Then it came, the phone call that changed my life and established my future. I got my offer for employment at Google. At the time, it was the happiest day of my life. Not only was I lucky enough have a job offer before graduating but it was with the company of my dreams.

I started working full-time with Google in January of 2011 in the Washington DC office. Since then my career has been successful and rewarding. I’ve had the opportunity to travel the world visiting sites such as Singapore, Australia, Paris, and Switzerland. I’ve also worked with many diverse teams at Google including our security operations team, network engineering team, and corporate engineering team. Recently I’ve moved to New York City in January of 2013 as part of my next step in hopes of one day becoming C [something] O at Google.

While the movie “The Internship” loosely followed the culture and experiences of individuals at Google, there are some interesting yet important differences. Interns do not compete with one another for a chance at a job at the tech giant. Also, all interns are typically assigned unique projects created by their intern hosts. These projects are tailored to the intern’s skills and experiences. One of the biggest truths of the movie is the amount of fun and difference Google makes on its employees lives. Google itself with all its perks and amenities is sometimes like graduating and going back to a college campus: employees can form their own interest groups (we’ve got juggling, acting, swing dancing, role playing, card playing, video gaming, etc), we go on offsite trips for fun (places like Miami, Vermont for skiing, etc), and tons of other things to make employees happy not to mention things like 18 free cafeterias in Mountain View, tons of guest appearances (Lady Gaga, Alex Trebek, Justin Bieber, etc).

In return for the freebies, however, Google expects one thing: honest, hardworking employees. A path to success is easy to carve if you stay modest, work for others and yourself, and stay dedicated to your work.

Google’s a great company, we strive to make the world’s information accessible and useful for everyone in the world, and every employee at Google, no matter how large or small their part is in this mission is valued and rewarded for their service. To me, I’m proud to be part of such an awesome mission -- knowing we’re trying to improve people’s lives through innovative technology. It’s challenging work but, in the end, it’s oh so rewarding! now... back to my nap pod!