Diary of a Summer Intern - Jess
Posted:
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Hello, internet!
Life at Google is never dull. Since the last time I wrote, I...
Our afternoon at Erasers was eventful: we raced go-karts, played mini golf, and playfully antagonized each other in bumper boats. I didn’t realize until a few of my teammates and I were already on the water that the boats had little squirt guns built in...
It was a sweltering 35°C out, though, so the resulting water fight was actually pretty refreshing! We all got ice cream en route back to the office, and I’m pretty sure less than half of the team is sunburnt, so I’ll call the trip a success.
It hasn’t been all fun and games, though -- I’ve been working hard on my project. I finally settled on the overall design of how I’m going to make the data I’m managing accessible to the people who need it, so now I’m digging in and writing code. As a matter of fact, because I’m now getting close to finishing my first project, I’ve just been given a second one (which is going to be a way to test a part of the Google Shopping infrastructure from beginning to end).
Even though I’ve been here for over a month, I still feel like there’s so much to learn. But my coworkers have been both quick to give informative feedback on current design ideas and accessible to bounce new ideas off of (and explain things I don’t quite understand), which has been invaluable while climbing up the learning curve.
Until next time,
Jess
Fun Google Fact: Google offices offer free freshly-cooked meals to their employees (in addition to the microkitchens, which have lots of snacks and drinks and can be visited at any time). Google Pittsburgh specifically has breakfast, lunch, and dinner available every day. There are plenty of options if you follow a particular diet -- vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, or just trying to eat healthy -- and as someone who is an avid cook, let me be the first to say that the food is consistently delicious.
Posted by Jessica Safir, University Programs
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Life at Google is never dull. Since the last time I wrote, I...
- attended a social here in Bakery Square with the other Google interns and the Disney Research Lab interns
- perfected my latte technique (thanks to easy access to the espresso machines in the microkitchen down the hall and a few coffee aficionado coworkers willing to show a newbie the ropes)
- joined the intern team for an office-wide game of Wits & Wagers, and won a copy of the Wits & Wagers board game for coming in second
- went to Eracers with the rest of the SRE team for a fun team-building offsite
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| Me cruisin' around the track. Photo credit: Mark Reis |
Our afternoon at Erasers was eventful: we raced go-karts, played mini golf, and playfully antagonized each other in bumper boats. I didn’t realize until a few of my teammates and I were already on the water that the boats had little squirt guns built in...
 |
| Tom Black (left), being sprayed mercilessly by me (center), while Ivan Jagger (right) turns in for a counter-attack. Photo credit: Mark Reis |
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| Aftermath of the water battle. Photo credit: Mark Reis |
It hasn’t been all fun and games, though -- I’ve been working hard on my project. I finally settled on the overall design of how I’m going to make the data I’m managing accessible to the people who need it, so now I’m digging in and writing code. As a matter of fact, because I’m now getting close to finishing my first project, I’ve just been given a second one (which is going to be a way to test a part of the Google Shopping infrastructure from beginning to end).
Even though I’ve been here for over a month, I still feel like there’s so much to learn. But my coworkers have been both quick to give informative feedback on current design ideas and accessible to bounce new ideas off of (and explain things I don’t quite understand), which has been invaluable while climbing up the learning curve.
Until next time,
Jess
Fun Google Fact: Google offices offer free freshly-cooked meals to their employees (in addition to the microkitchens, which have lots of snacks and drinks and can be visited at any time). Google Pittsburgh specifically has breakfast, lunch, and dinner available every day. There are plenty of options if you follow a particular diet -- vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, or just trying to eat healthy -- and as someone who is an avid cook, let me be the first to say that the food is consistently delicious.
Posted by Jessica Safir, University Programs
