The Google Resume (2 page)

The silver lining here is that because your coworkers will have worked at so many places, you’ll also be tapped into a broad network of people. It doesn’t take long to build the connections to wiggle your way in front of any start-up recruiter.

The Job Title: What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?

As a kid, everyone used to ask me, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Some kids change their answer every few weeks, but not me. I knew I wanted to be a veterinarian because then I could play with puppies all day. I was fairly certain that was, in fact, their entire job. After an unfortunate incident involving my dog and a neighbor’s car, I learned that vets also sometimes killed dogs—or, to use their delightful euphemism, “put them to sleep.” I decided that, although I would clearly get to play with puppies the rest of the time, it didn’t quite make up for the whole dog-murder aspect. So, there I was, yet another 10-year-old with an undecided career path.

At age 14, I decided to enroll in a programming class. (“Decided” is my own personal euphemism for an argument with my mother that went something like “but programming is stupid,” followed by her saying “too bad.”) Four years later, this was my ticket into Microsoft, and eventually into Apple and Google.

Few, especially outside of engineering roles, have this sort of focus; that’s OK. Talk to people, research positions, and start figuring out what’s important to you. Ask yourself the following questions to start understanding what career path makes sense.

What Do You Need?

Our society contradicts itself every day. On one hand, we are told over and over again, “money doesn’t buy happiness,” and we have the disastrous lives of celebrities to drill this into us. On the other hand, we’re also told that we really do need that new jacket. Let go of what you think should matter, and be honest with yourself. How much do the following matter to you?

• Money.
  Money may not buy happiness, but it does buy your kid’s college tuition. And a house in a nice neighborhood. Or maybe just a nice bottle of wine after a hard week. Does that matter to you? Be careful with looking too heavily at money. While you can be fairly confident that your teaching dream will never bring in the big bucks, you can’t be as certain about many other career paths. Passionate, driven people can earn a good living in unexpected ways.
  
• Recognition and respect.
  Many people who shun the spotlight still desperately crave the admiration of their fellow people. How much do you care about what others think of you? Would you be OK with people giving just a courtesy smile when you say your profession?
  
• Work/Life balance.
  There is nothing wrong with wanting a nice, stable, 9-to-5 (or in the tech world, 10-to-6) job. You want to be able to enjoy a nice day out on the boat during the summer, and that’s fine. Remember, no one went to their grave thinking, “Gee, I wish I had spent more time at the office instead of with my family.”
  

If you find your answers learning away from a job for some reason, ask yourself why. Is there something you need from the job that you wouldn’t get?

How Do You Enjoy Working?

I’ve always thought that, had I lived before computers were invented, I would have majored in architecture. The structure of the work seems similar to what I ended up doing: computer science. I could lead. I would create something. And, while I would have supporting teammates, I’m not glued to someone’s side to complete a project. How do you enjoy working?

• Teamwork vs. independent work.
  Everyone loves to say, “Teamwork is the best!,” but deep down, you see the problems. Coworkers letting you down or just getting in the way. Needing a consensus just to make a decision. Managing everyone’s emotions and expectations. Is this really something you enjoy?
  
• Creating vs. maintaining.
  While software development is creating a new product, testing is maintaining it. There are no tangible results of your work; it’s more like pulling up the plug in a sink while the water’s still running. It’ll just keep coming and coming. How important is it to feel that you built something? Remember that even “maintenance” jobs (like being a surgeon) can have huge impacts on the world.
  
• Leading vs. joining.
  Leading is great, but it’s the joiners who get their hands dirty. Do you want to lead, with all the joys and responsibilities that come from that? Or would you rather relax a bit more and join someone else to accomplish a task?
  

What Are You Good At?

Even if you don’t know what field you want to go into, you probably have an instinct as to what your skill set is. Which of the following are your strengths?

• Numbers.
  Numbers come more easily to some than to others. Are you the kind of person who can understand real-world word problems and whip up a spreadsheet to demonstrate?
  
• Writing and communication.
  Don’t worry about prose and poetry; it’s rarely relevant to the professional world. It’s more important to be able to communicate effectively, both in speaking and in writing.
  
• Creativity.
  Creativity stretches beyond artistic skills; it’s also about how you solve problems. When faced with an issue of releasing a software product in China, can you brainstorm other revenue streams to dodge the nearly 100 percent piracy rate?
  
• People skills.
  Being good with people is more than just being likable (though that’s certainly part of it). It’s also about reading people, knowing how to encourage them, and knowing when you might be pushing them too hard. Those who are especially good with people may find themselves well suited for management positions.
  

Most people’s college majors have little to do with their eventual career path, so don’t feel constrained by your major. Your skill set is so much more than your raw factual knowledge. Analyze your success and failures. Think through actual projects or jobs where you’ve been particularly happy or unhappy. What was it that made the difference? The answers to these questions will help point you in the right direction.

And You’re on Your Way . . .

On my last day at Google, I packed up my final belongings in a single box and was reminded of everything that’s great about tech companies.

The Pranks.
My teammates had decorated every inch of my desk with pink tissue paper. Even the bottle caps, which we used to pelt each other with, were individually wrapped. Rather than leaving a gap in the tissue paper for my monitor screen, they had taped up a printout of my Facebook page—only they had replaced my smiling face with a Photoshopped picture of me in a princess dress. With wings. They must have spent hours doing this, but no one would have batted an eye. This sort of prank is normal for the cultures of most tech companies.

The Fun.
No one batted an eye, either, at having a few cocktails to celebrate my last day. I lined up a drink shaker, a few flavors of Absolut, and mixers that were borrowed from the company fridge. I began taking orders. Just because it was my last day didn’t mean that I was not going to contribute some good, honest work.

The Impact.
I spent my final day (pre-cocktails, of course) preparing a document about my work to facilitate someone else taking over my responsibilities. I explained the current progress, challenges, and the relationship with our external partners. I knew that I had contributed tangible value to the team, and to the company. One day, our I’d-tell-you-but-I’d-have-to-kill-you product would launch, and I couldn’t wait for that day to come.

The Network.
People stopped by regularly to wish me well and ask me what I was off to next. The truth is, other than a vacation to Costa Rica, I didn’t know. I wanted to set aside some time to travel, something that I didn’t get the chance to do after college, and then I would look for opportunities at start-ups. They said to keep in touch, and they meant it. A few suggested that they, too, were considering leaving and wanted me to let them know what I was up to. Hint, hint?

As much I enjoyed my experience at Google, and at Microsoft and Apple, I knew that I’d never return to a big company. They had helped grow me as an engineer and as a businessperson, and had given me the credibility to work almost anywhere, but I knew that I belonged at a smaller company. I bade them all farewell, and went on my way.

Never failing to have the last word, though, my teammates left me with a final remainder of my days with them. They snuck an annoyatron—a tiny device that emits beeps at random for the sole purpose of driving someone crazy—into my car. I drove for months unsure of what the beeps meant and if my car was on the verge of breaking down. Finally, I found the gadget affixed to the underside of my seat, and recognized it immediately. I had started the Battle of the Annoyatrons months earlier, and they had ended with a simple act on my final day. Touché, team, touché.

I didn’t mind answering the same questions for hours on end. And I didn’t mind the fact that I never even got a chance to eat lunch because the line to talk to me was so long. What really bugged me about representing Google at career fairs were the chemical engineering majors.

I know, that’s unfair. There were others like them: bioengineering, material science, physics, and so on. A quick glance at their résumé would reveal nothing for which they were especially well suited. Sometimes I wanted to ask them,
Is there any reason you’re talking to me other than “Oh-my-god it’s Google”? Why technology? Why you?

But I wouldn’t. Instead, I’d politely smile and offer a canned response of, “I’m not sure what the best match would be for your background at this time, but we’ll keep your résumé on file in case anything comes up.” This is kind of like telling someone you meet at a bar, “How about I get your number, and I’ll call you instead?” I’ve used both techniques, and let me tell you, they work great!

It’s not that you can’t find a role for a chemical engineer, but until Google starts its own chemistry lab (and I’m not holding my breath), a chemical engineering degree alone probably won’t be your ticket into the company. The eager chemical engineer—or English literature major—needs to find other avenues to prove that they have what it takes to be a “Noogler.”

What Can You Do: An Overview

Recruiters want to know two things when they pick up your résumé: Where would you fit at our company? And would you do a good job? If a recruiter can’t identify answers to those two things, then your résumé goes in the trash pile. Your goal, therefore, is to get the experiences and background that will answer those questions:

• Develop a track record of achievement.
  Recruiters want to see that you have a pattern of setting ambitious goals and accomplishing them. Your successes could be in academics, project work, volunteer work, employment, or athletics.
  
• Learn to write and speak.
  Communication, whether written or oral, is vitally important to your career success. If you aren’t comfortable with public speaking, get practice with it. If your writing is weak, take a writing course, or start a blog to get more practice. You don’t need to be able to do dramatic readings or write elegant prose, but you do need to be able to write in a way that is clean and professional.
  
• Emphasize depth over breadth.
  As a college student, I didn’t play sports or act or sing. I had two college activities—teaching and representing Microsoft on campus—and I poured everything I had into those. Because I put 200 percent into those responsibilities rather than spreading myself thin, I was able to show tangible accomplishments. (Of course, there’s a trade-off. The more breadth you have the more likely you are to have at least some relevant skills in any job.)
  
• Become a leader.
  You don’t need to be the president of a club or the manager of your team (though those are nice, of course), but find
  something
  you can lead. Kevin, now a Google employee, led the fund-raising process for a local entrepreneurship club. His team of three raised 17 percent more money than the year before!
  
• Find a mentor (or become a mentor).
  Even if it’s not an official mentorship arrangement, find someone who is five or more years ahead of you whom you can contact for advice. That person will offer you insight into their career and, one day, may even help connect you with opportunities.
  
• Develop a tangible skill.
  You’ll position yourself best for these companies if you develop a specific, tangible skill. If you want to be a marketer, learn about marketing. If you want to be in sales, help a local organization raise money. Without a tangible skill, you’ll likely blend in with everyone else—everyone else who’s waiting at the door to be let in.
  
• Learn about technology.
  If you think you want to work at a tech company but don’t know much about technology, now is a great time to start reading web sites like TechCrunch and CNET, as well as company-specific blogs. Think about what the major topics are—social networking, mobile applications, cloud computing—and ask yourself, who are the leaders in this field, and why? In what ways are these fields changing technology, and therefore the world?
  

Academics

You know Google—that company famous for wanting Ivy Leaguers with at least a 3.7 GPA? When I joined Google, my team of eight people consisted of three people without a college degree. And our next college hire, well, his GPA wasn’t too hot, from what I hear.

Academia is merely
one
way to distinguish yourself, and there are plenty of other ways. So if your GPA, or your school, doesn’t stand out, look for additional avenues. Besides, you’ll need to excel in multiple areas to get your résumé selected.

Elite Schools: What’s in a Name?

A degree from an “elite” college doesn’t get you in the door, but it does make it easier for you to get noticed. If you go to a smaller or lesser-known school, there are still plenty of avenues.

Ben, a student at a small liberal arts school in Indiana, got recommended for a Microsoft internship through his professor. Once he was in the door, his college name stopped mattering, and it all came down to his interview—and his internship. “After I finished my internship, they worked hard to recruit me for a full-time position,” Ben says. His coworkers couldn’t care less about what college name was on his diploma.

If your school isn’t nationally known with the prestige of a Harvard or MIT, reach out to your professors or your college’s alumni network for connections. Or, you can try to build those connections yourself by seeking out mentors or advice from people in the field.

Picking Your Curriculum: Majors, Minors, and Other Courses

This is where I’m supposed to say, “It doesn’t matter what you major in, as long as you find something you love!” But I’m an honest person and I have to tell you: it does matter.

Some majors will simply be easier to get in. The more directly applicable your major is, the better. Computer science, marketing, finance, and accounting majors will have a much easier time getting their résumé noticed than, say, a History major. After all, they have academic experience, and possibly other work experience, that lends itself to a specific role.

But there are all kinds. One day, when I was hanging out at Bill Gates’s house (OK, it was for a Microsoft barbeque, but doesn’t it sound cooler when I leave that out?), I met an intern who was a music major. Not a dual computer science and music—just a plain old music major. And even he had a directly applicable role: making sound effects for Xbox. He spent his days using ordinary household objects to mimic sounds like a golf ball hitting the grass. I decided that that was, in fact, the coolest job ever.

Learn to Code

While a computer science degree is a fantastic way to get in the door, it’s obviously more applicable for programming jobs. And for some reason, not everyone wants to stare at lines of code on a computer screen all day screaming,
“Why isn’t this working?!?”
That’s cool—I won’t judge you.

Even if you’re not pursuing software development as a career path, you might find it useful for your tech company career to learn just a bit of coding. It’ll help you communicate with developers down the road and offer context to their work. Plus, it’ll show a passion for technology that not many candidates can show.

Many universities offer a Programming for Non-CS Majors course, which is a great option for those who aren’t as dedicated to the profession.

What About a Minor?

If you choose to major in something less applicable, like history, your minor is your opportunity to add an applicable skill to your résumé. Seek out a relevant minor that complements your path, whether that’s finance, marketing, computer science, or one of several other career majors.

A minor is also a great place to prove that you’re quantitative. A minor in math or engineering will do that, but so will a minor in economics, finance, or accounting. Whether fair or not, many techies associate the ability to work with numbers as a sign of intelligence (as well as an important job skill), and a minor is your chance to show that.

Get Project Experience

Project-heavy courses are an excellent way to add tangible “accomplishments” to your résumé, even before you have the credentials to get “real” work experience. While other students are trying to dodge these rigorous courses, you should seek them out. You should cherish them for all the grueling, pizza-and-coffee-filled late nights that they bring.

“Remember the projects you work on,” Peter Bailey, a software engineer from Denver, adds. “Understand them. Deconstruct them. Save samples of particularly tough problems you’ve solved. Improve them, even if only on your own machine and on your own time. Because in the future, interviewers will ask you many, many questions about the projects you’ve worked on. They don’t want to know that you’re smart. They don’t want to know that you can figure out anything with 30 seconds of Google time. They want to know that you can solve problems and produce results—sometime before Christmas. And this holds true whether you’re fresh out of college or a 20-year IT veteran.”

Grade Point Average: Does It Matter and What Can You Do?

Of all companies, Google is perhaps the most renowned for being GPA snobs. Hysteria surrounds the recruiting process, screaming that Google takes only candidates with
at least
a 3.7. Like most myths, there’s some truth to it, but it’s mostly just hot air.

The top companies look for the top candidates—people with a track record of success. Your GPA is one point on that graph. But there are other points, too, and you can recover from any low point, whether that’s your GPA, your college degree (or lack thereof), or even work experience.

Here is how two candidates with unusually low GPAs scored offers with top companies:

Though their reasons for the low GPA may differ, as well as their compensation strategies, Beth and John found that their GPA really only mattered in the résumé selection process. They were both able to compensate for poor academic performance by excelling in other areas. Companies care about what you can actually
do
, and your interview performance is generally considered a better indication of that than some silly number.

Doctor Who? Getting to Know Professors

My college routine involved weekly coffees with Dr. Max Mintz, a professor whose course was so intense it was featured in the
New York Times.
We’d meet at Buck’s County Coffee Co., and he’d order a large iced coffee—none of that crazy Starbucks venti-skinny-half-caf-extra-foam lingo for him. When they ran out of iced coffee (which happened more often than one might expect), newbie baristas would taste a hint of the dry sense of humor that his incoming freshman class so much enjoyed:

“Do you have ice?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have coffee?”

“Yes.”

“Then you have iced coffee.”

“Right away, sir.”

Max “went to bat for me” (as he put it) more than once when dealing with certain administrative issues at our university. I haven’t had the pleasure of seeing him mid-rant, but he can apparently be quite a formidable force. Since then, he’s written multiple letters of recommendations that, while I’ve never seen any, were strong enough to get me into Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and the Wharton School for my MBA.

Ironically, I didn’t do particularly well in his two courses, but I did work my butt off as a teaching assistant for them. The truth is that regardless of how much professors emphasize studying, few professors will be impressed by academics alone.

To get to know professors, you need to go above and beyond:

• Get involved in their research.
  Professors usually welcome assistance with their research projects. For freshmen and sophomores, research positions can also be a great way to get a bit of experience before the biggies like Facebook and Google will open their doors to you.
  
• Ask them for help.
  If you’re doing something on the side—whether it’s building a software application or researching a new market—your professors’ research may intersect your project. Asking them for guidance is a win-win; you get expert advice, and they get to geek out on a novel application of their favorite topic.
  
• Become a teaching assistant.
  Not only do you (usually) get paid for this, your professor gets to see you “in action.” This makes for a much stronger letter of recommendation if you need one down the road.
  
• Lunch, coffee, or office hours.
  Many universities offer some sort of “take your professor to lunch” program. If yours doesn’t, you can seek your professor’s suggestions on course selection or career direction over coffee or during office hours. Like Max, professors are usually much friendlier than they may appear in the classroom.