Diary of a Summer Intern 2012 – Jess
June 27th, 2012 | Published in Google Student Blog
Introduction: Last week you met the interns who we're featuring in this year's edition of Diary of a Summer Intern. To officially kick the series off, Jess Virdó talks about her first few weeks as a Google intern.
Hello, internet!
The end of my first month at Google is rapidly approaching and yet it feels like I’ve just arrived. Now more than ever I feel like the old saying is true: time flies when you’re having fun! Until the end of August, I’ll be interning in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at Google’s Bakery Square office. I’m already familiar with Pittsburgh because I’ve been a student at Carnegie Mellon University for the past few years; I love this city, and Google was my top choice company to intern with, so to say I’m excited to be here is an understatement.
I’m working with the SRE (Site Reliability Engineering) team this summer. SREs are responsible for making sure that Google’s infrastructure is running smoothly. That is, they make sure all of Google’s services -- things like Gmail, Ads, Search, and many internal services -- are running reliably and quickly. My project deals with managing data about internal services running on some of our servers. As a consequence, it’s a little difficult to talk about the specifics here, but over these first three and a half weeks I’ve been focusing on learning about the tools I’ll be using, working on the design for my project, and socializing with my team members and other Googlers.
One thing that has really stood out to me since beginning my internship is that everyone I’ve interacted with has been exceptionally friendly and helpful. Starting out in a new company is always a little nerve-wracking and overwhelming, especially when you have a lot to learn, but so many Googlers (even ones not on my team) have gone out of their way to assist me and make me feel welcomed.
Until next time,
Jess
Fun Google Fact: Nerf fights are an everyday occurrence in the office. When I arrived at my desk in Bakery Square on my first day, a welcoming crew gave me my Noogler (Google-ese for “new Googler”) balloon and a Nerf gun. My team provided me with a second Nerf gun -- and immediately used my balloon for target practice. A well-aimed dart is a playful way to catch the attention of someone across the hall or just to have a little fun!
Posted by Jessica Safir, University Programs
Hello, internet!
The end of my first month at Google is rapidly approaching and yet it feels like I’ve just arrived. Now more than ever I feel like the old saying is true: time flies when you’re having fun! Until the end of August, I’ll be interning in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at Google’s Bakery Square office. I’m already familiar with Pittsburgh because I’ve been a student at Carnegie Mellon University for the past few years; I love this city, and Google was my top choice company to intern with, so to say I’m excited to be here is an understatement.
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| Jess dual wielding her Vigilon and Maverick REV-6, aiming at Jenn Evans (out of frame) Photo credit: Jason Parker-Burlingham |
One thing that has really stood out to me since beginning my internship is that everyone I’ve interacted with has been exceptionally friendly and helpful. Starting out in a new company is always a little nerve-wracking and overwhelming, especially when you have a lot to learn, but so many Googlers (even ones not on my team) have gone out of their way to assist me and make me feel welcomed.
Until next time,
Jess
Fun Google Fact: Nerf fights are an everyday occurrence in the office. When I arrived at my desk in Bakery Square on my first day, a welcoming crew gave me my Noogler (Google-ese for “new Googler”) balloon and a Nerf gun. My team provided me with a second Nerf gun -- and immediately used my balloon for target practice. A well-aimed dart is a playful way to catch the attention of someone across the hall or just to have a little fun!
Posted by Jessica Safir, University Programs