We Are GWE!

I'm a bit behind. What a surprise, I know. Hopefully I will get around to blogging about the fun things I have been up to over the past couple of weeks, but for now, here is an update of the most recent, and one of the most exciting, events.

I took a day off of work and participated in the first ever We Are GWE conference/summit. The event was designed to support, encourage, and empower Google women engineers (GWE), specifically interns. Essentially, it was Google's own mini Grace Hopper Conference. This photo pretty much sums it up! We are engineers and we are strong - WE ARE GWE!! <3

The intern team definitely did a good job making it feel like a conference. I probably only think that because it was a whole day of sessions and networking, and we even got a nice sweater and cute badges with our name, school, and schedule!

First things first, we were split up into teams of 10ish people and went outside to do some ice breakers. We started with the human knot - everybody gathers in a circle, and each person holds hands with two different people, and the goal is to untangle the knot (by twisting, turning, and stepping over/under each other's locked arms). The next activity was called All My Neighbors and was more of a "get to know everyone" ice breaker. One person stands in the middle of the circle and makes a statement that others may relate to (i.e. "all my neighbors who go to school on the west coast"). If the statement applied to anyone in the outer circle, the center person and those people had to run to find a different spot on the circle. The person who was left without a spot had to stay in the center and make the next statement. That might have been confusing. Oh well, I'm too lazy to rewrite it! haha

The first session, and the best of the day, was a Women Techmakers panel discussion. The panelists were top Google executives including a VP or Engineering, VP of Search and Assist,  Product Management Director, and a couple of Engineering Directors. Each spoke about their early career experiences, lessons learned, and challenges faced on their way to success.

The second panel, was all about Google engineers who had recently began their Google careers, but had some early successes. It was also really interesting to hear experiences from people who were essentially our "near-peers".

Oh yeah! We're rocking our GWE badges. ;)

Unlike the morning sessions, the afternoon agenda included two breakout sessions. I attended "Should I go to graduate school?" and "How would you recommend encouraging and supporting women in CS as a Women in Computing organization in college?".

It was finally time for a group photo, so all 100+ interns were herded to a shady spot!

The day ended with a party/mixer on the patio on main campus. There were lots of yummy snacks and desserts, a dance floor, and cute decorations. Each little table had a beautiful centerpiece and a card of with a short biography of women in history who have changed the face of technology/computer science. Just check out this little card about Grace Hopper:

"Developed the 1st compiler for a computer programming language, US Navy Rear Admiral, in 1973 became the 1st person from the USA and the 1st woman of any nationality to be made a Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society, Society of Women Engineers Achievement Award 1964."

There was also a really fun photobooth that had cute props! Luckily, we were the first ones at the event, so we got first dibs and didn't have to wait in line. We are dorks, but I love these pictures! :)

Sometimes we all get caught up in life's challenges and lose some confidence along the way. This summit was a perfect way to remind myself and other interns that it's okay to be unsure of what we want to do with our lives, and that we should remember that we are fabulous (after all, we've made it this far)! Whether or not I end up working at Google, I know a few things: I am (and always will be) Googley, I have a passion for solving problems like an engineer, and I am a strong individual. I can only hope that one day I will end up right where I want to be.

"A ship in port is safe, but that is not what ships are made for." - Grace Hopper

< pride >

The highlight of my 5th week at Google was definitely the San Francisco Pride Parade. Here is how the day went...

Lucy and I woke up early Sunday morning to catch the 9am shuttle to San Francisco. The plan was to ride the shuttle to the SF Google office, pick up our Pride shirts, find breakfast, and then make our way to the pre-march gathering spot. The first thing we did at the SF office was pick up our awesome pride shirts that said "<pride>" on the front and "Google" on the back.

It was past breakfast time, so I was starving. lol We went exploring around the Google office and found that it was so pretty! It's so awesome that our badges let us get around other offices too! We found this cool painting and also a couple of microkitchens that were still stocked with cereal. :)

By 11:30am we were already at the pre-march spot along with other Googlers, Gayglers, and the Google trolly. Since we were the first group to get there, we each got a big balloon to tag along with us throughout the parade. Sometimes it would get so windy that my balloon would hit people in the head! Err... sorry!

After more people started congregating, it began to get really crowded (and hot), so Lucy and I set off to look around and find some shade. We ended up wandering around the trolly/float and found this cute banner, and other cool floats.

After a few hours of waiting, it was finally Google's turn to march in the parade. An estimated 1,400 Googlers proudly marched down market street cheering, dancing, singing, waving, and smiling - I have never seen so much energy from a bunch of Googlers!

The best thing was that we were part of it. Instead of watching the parade from the sidelines, we marched in the parade with other Googlers celebrating diversity and standing against LGBT discrimination. In the end, it's all the same love.

"Even the best fall down sometimes." - Howie Day

Together We're Giant

Week 4 seemed like it went by really fast! Every year, Google hosts a intern kickoff event for all interns in the bay area. There were all kinds of snacks, ice cream, fun activities, and interns at the event. We also got awesome shirts because we are "real" Google interns! :P

One of the fun activities included an Angry Birds launching competition. The instructions were to create a catapult out of tinker toys and other random items to put some Angry Birds in flight. The teams that flung the birds the furthest would be declared the winners. Since we weren't given any sort of requirements or design specification, Ishy, Michelle, and I built a sling shot. The next day, we were informed that we were one of the top 5 teams. Woohoo! Oh yeah, Ishy and Michelle also played a round of giant Jenga.

When the weekend came, our room split up and did different things courtesy of Google. Lucy and Michelle went to Warped Tour, while Ishy and I went to San Francisco for a Giants baseball game at AT&T Park. The stadium was so pretty, and the seats we had weren't very close, but they were better because we were in the shade and had a great view!

The Giants were playing the Marlins, and overall it was a good game. Both teams were relatively even, and the Giants ended up winning in the 11th inning. It was lots of fun pretending to be Giants fans, and participating in the cheering and booing. hehe  During the game, Ishy and I shared some garlic fries, which were so delicious! We were also randomly given bobble heads when we entered the stadium. lol

On the way back to the train station, I saw a Giants ad/poster on a light post and it had the phrase "Together we're Giant", which is where I got the title for this post. I love it because it can apply to all team situations, and can maybe even be extended to family and friends. At any rate, I'm so happy to have been blessed with great friends, family, and teams over the course of my life, which makes everything so much better!

"Tough times don't last, tough people do." - Robert H. Schuller

I Wake Up in the Morning Feeling Like P. Diddy

Yikes, I have been so busy these past couple of week that I have fallen behind on my blogging! Here is my attempt at catching up on last week's events.

Okay, so maybe I don't wake up every morning feeling like a 43-year-old male rapper, but I do wake up excited for Google breakfast! Last week was my third week at Google and workwise, it went pretty well. I think I am finally getting the hang of working with my codebase and have found a decent working pace. :)

It had been a year since I had seen most of my fellow 2012 Engineering Practicum interns, so I decided to organize a lunch. Out of the 42 EP interns that were based in Mountain View last year, 15 are working at the Mountain View office again. We all gathered at Big Table cafe, and hung out for a while. It was so great to see everyone!

Friday night, my roommates and I went to an awesome Ke$ha and Pitbull concert. Both singers were entertaining and sounded great live. During Pitbull's performance, he talked a bit about how he wears suits because it represents maturity and growth, which was neat to hear.

The weekend was pretty uneventful. Which provided me a good opportunity to recharge and relax. A post about this week to some soon!

"Pasos cortos, vista larga." - Pitbull

Fun, Friends, and Frisbee

Don't you think alliterations are fun? I do. ;) I guess even the title of my blog fits with this post title. If you don't know why, or forgot why my blog is title Fortitude, check out my first post!

This has probably been my favorite weekend so far. For the most part, I think I consider myself to be a homebody because I usually prefer to stay home and relax on the weekends. Anyhow, I don't think roommates, +Michelle Chen, +Lucy H, and +Ishwarya Venkatachalam are. ;)  

They didn't have to try very hard, but they convinced me to come along with them on Saturday to the Japanese Friendship Garden and a Caribbean restaurant for lunch.  

The Japanese Friendship Garden was beautiful! The trees, plants, grass, ponds, waterfalls, and even the weather were all so perfect. It was great, because we got to be outside and enjoy the sunshine. Apparently it is a very popular spot, because we saw three couples shooting their wedding pictures. After we walked around a bit, we found a shaded spot and sprawled out onto the soft and lush grass. It was so comfortable that we laid there for about an hour and took lots of pictures. :) 

We also went to Back A Yard,  a cute Caribbean restaurant in downtown San Jose. The food was so delicious! I ordered the Jerk chicken meal, which came with rice/beans, salad, and plantains. Michelle also ordered some yummy corn festivals for us to share. Mmmm...

Today, Sunday, was the date of the Intern Project Summer Kickoff Picnic. My roommies and I adventured to the Marx Meadow Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and found ourselves among hundreds and hundreds of bay area interns. It was pretty cool, because I met interns from Apple, Microsoft, VMWare, Tesla, and Google. There was food, drinks, and games spread out over the park, but my favorite part was throwing my Google Chrome frisbee around with other interns. The only downside to the event was that it was super cold! After a few hours, Ishy and I decided that we were ready to go back to the sunshine in San Jose.

 Sunday night means work in the morning. Luckily I work at the Disneyland of tech workplaces. hehe Hearts for fun, friends, frisbee, and Google. <3

"Persistence/fortitude can be a superpower too" - Tasha Nesiba

My internship and "The Internship"

Okay, so here are the updates from my second week at Google.

It took me a couple of weeks, but I think I have finally learned my way around my building! One of the cool things about each building at Google is that each has a theme. The theme in my building is games! Every conference roomed is named after a game including Cranium, Frisbee, Etch a Sketch, and more. Even the MicroKitchen on my floor has a ping pong table and other games in it, as well as yummy snacks and drinks. :) In other news, I found a skee ball alley in one of the other buildings!

Favorite Google shirt!

In the previous post, I mentioned that Google has tons of gourmet cafes. Well, it turns out that the total count is 27, so there is plenty of variety and every Googler can find something they like! Myself and some other interns have decided to go on a Cafe Quest and visit each cafe at least once for every meal the cafe serves. The tricky part is knowing which cafes are open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, because not all 27 cafes serve 3 meals a day. Of course we have a spreadsheet that outlines everything we need to know, and tracks our progress. Currently my progress is at 28%. I guess I still have a long way to go...

Sometimes Google will have food truck events

The biggest event of the week was the prescreening of "The Internship". The comedy, starring Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, is about two salesman who are let go from their job and find themselves in desperate need of a job. Their solution is to become interns at Google. I don't want to spoil it for anyone since it just came out today, but I will admit that it is a very inaccurate depiction of the actual Google internship experience. Also just an FYI, Googlers are way nicer in real life. :)

I'm looking forward to a fun and relaxing weekend. TGIF. <3

"Just keep swimming" - Dory

Another Googley Summer

Another Google internship means another summer of blogging. This summer I am a software engineering intern working with the Geo/Maps team, so I'll be blogging about all of the fun adventures I have. Well, here goes nothing... :)

Every new Google employee is considered a "Noogler" for the first couple weeks.

Week 1: Noogler orientation was scheduled for 1pm on Tuesday, May 28. My roommates, Lucy, Ishy, and Michelle, gathered in my car and arrived at the Googleplex with enough time to check in and grab some lunch. We ate at a new cafe called Masa which served Mexican food (burritos and tacos) and is Dia de los Muertos themed. It was so delicious! On a side note, we learned that the Googleplex has over 20 different cafes for Googlers to eat at! During orientation we learned all about Google policies and procedures, completed necessary paperwork, and accustomed ourselves with the snazzy new Chromebook Pixel we'd be using for the summer. :) 

After orientation, I met my intern host and we went back to our building, located on Google's west campus - GWC 3. I spent the rest of the workweek learning about the project and team I'd be working with, and getting familiar with the giant codebase.

When I got to my desk I was greeted with this cute little pinwheel on my desk. :)

The weekend came quickly. My roommates and I celebrated our first week of work by going to watch Now You See Me in theaters, and had a nice roommie dinner.

On the dinner menu: spaghetti, garlic bread, and salad

I'm looking forward to a great and google-tastic summer! :)

"Anyone who has a continuous smile on his face conceals a toughness that is almost frightening." - Greta Garbo