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[? BRITT: Hello, ?]
and welcome everybody.
My name is [? Britt, ?]
and I'm going to be hosting our first Black History Month
Hangout On Air.
This is part of our Black History Month series that we
have, that we're profiling our Googlers.
It started with some blog posts that we have.
And we have with us today some of our Googlers that are in
the Engineering Departments here.
So, to start us off, how all of you just introduce
yourselves to everybody.
We can start with Brittney, over there.
I know you've had a blog post up, so you can start.
BRITTNEY FRASER: OK.
Hi everyone, my name is Brittney Fraser.
I graduated from Stanford University with my Bachelor's
and Master's in Computer Science in 2010.
And I've been here at Google as a software engineer in
Search, ever since.
[? DARAY: Hey, ?] guys.
I'm [? Daray. ?]
I also went to Standford with Brittney, actually.
We worked on projects back in the day.
Good times.
But, yeah, I graduated in 2009, with a Bachelor's in
Computer Science.
[? KAMAR: Awesome. ?]
I guess it's my turn.
I'm [? Kamar. ?]
Nice to meet everyone.
I graduated from Morehouse College, Bachelor's in
Computer Science class of 2011.
And I've been at Google for roughly over
two and a half months.
TESS WINLOCK: Very cool.
Hey everyone, I'm Tess Winlock.
I'm an engineer over in payments.
I graduated from University of the Pacific, which is in
Stockton, California.
And then I got my graduate degree at UC San Diego.
Stared here 2010, so, been here ever since.
[? BRITT: Great, ?] well we love celebrating Black History
Month at Google, because it really helps us see, and talk
about, a lot of the diversity that we have here at Google.
And we heard a little bit about
Brittney's road to Google.
So to start off, how about everyone tell us a little bit
about their past, studying Computer Science, and,
basically, how they got to Google.
[? Daray, ?] if we can start with you, that'd be great.
[? DARAY: Sure. ?]
I guess my path was a little bit unconventional.
I didn't really know much about Computer Science until I
got to college.
I originally went to Stanford to study Chemistry.
And I got kind of bored with it, maybe halfway through
sophomore year, like, beginning of junior year.
So I started CS kind of late.
The main reason I got into is because people said it was
difficult, and that I probably wouldn't be
able to get it done.
I'm a weird kid like that.
I like to find things that people say I can't do, and
just immediately start to do them.
So I guess that's how I fell into it.
And that, combined with a healthy dose of curiosity, has
kind of kept me going.
[?
BRITT: Sounds like you like a ?] challenge.
[? DARAY: Yeah, ?] definitely.
[? BRITT: And ?] how did you go from this is great
challenge that took away from Chemistry, which I find to be
extremely challenging, also, to Computer Science.
How did you end up at Google?
[? DARAY: That's ?] kind of an interesting story.
So I graduated, and my parents had just moved to the
Netherlands.
So I kind of had nothing to do for a while.
And I was job hunting like crazy.
And Google was actually the first place to get back to me.
But, then again, it was also one of the biggest challenges
in my mind.
It's also a place I never thought I'd work.
I got the call, so I figured, hey, I'm going to chase it
down, and see how far it goes.
And I made the cut, so now I'm here.
[? BRITT: And ?]
how about the rest of you?
Tess?
TESS WINLOCK: Sure.
So I started off undergrad thinking, I mean, I'd always
been kind of playing around with little gadgety devices.
And my father had a bunch computers lying around.
And so I started in undergrad as a Computer Engineer.
And I wasn't sure, oh, maybe I'll go for the electrical and
build stuff.
Or maybe I'll go for Computer Science.
And then over time, I just really
enjoyed Computer Science.
And the more programming, it was instant
gratification, in some ways.
And it was also just that I'd gotten several internship that
were all Computer Science.
And then I decided to go there.
I ended up getting an internship at Lawrence
Livermore Laboratories.
And then, from there, they had like a special--
I guess it was a scholarship, you could call it--
for going to Grace Hopper.
And from there I figured out I could apply to Google.
And that's how I then, ended up getting two
internships, here.
And then being here full time.
So lots of internships is basically the road.
[? KAMAR: I ?] guess I'll try being next.
For me, personally, I've always had a passion for
technology.
And growing up I started programming,
probably around 12, 13.
Getting really involved in the future of technology, and
really started sculpting new softwares and outside
projects, outside of my coursework in school.
So naturally progressed during high school.
I started tinkering with different things in hardware.
I did some work with the Geek Squad.
From there, it just seemed like a natural progression to
go into Computer Science, coming into undergrad.
And from there, I just basically found a deeper
passion for technology, in influencing me, while I was
interning at Apple, and different companies, and doing
some outside work, and some freelance website design.
I just was taking on different projects, and trying to
immerse myself in different initiatives.
Just, basically, pushing innovation.
So I guess with that, while I was at Morehouse I had a
really good interaction, so to speak, with
recruiters from Google.
And always kept that line of communication open.
And, basically, upon graduation, I went through the
process of applying, and doing the interviews.
And was successful enough to be offered a position here as
a Product Quality Analyst.
And that's why I'm here, where I'm at today.
[? BRITT: So ?] you were just mentioning, you are on the Ads
Quality Evaluation Team.
Can you tell us a little bit about, what you do there, and
what exactly that team does?
[? KAMAR: Absolutely. ?]
So as quality analysts, first and foremost, we're here to
protect Google's users, and the
integrity of the ad network.
We do that by investigating questionable business
practices and misuse of ad products.
So, essentially, what I do is, I execute [INAUDIBLE]
solutions to effectively combat
dynamic forms of ad abuse.
That directly impacts ongoing success with
Google's core business.
So with that, you know, all the ad words on the Google
Search Engine, that's coupled with your organic search
results, we make sure that they're good ads, and we don't
promote bad.
[? BRITT: Great. ?]
And [? Daray, ?]
can you tell us a little bit more about what you're doing?
[? DARAY: Great. ?]
So I'm also, actually, working as quality on the test
engineering side.
And mostly what that entails, is designing software systems
to test other software systems.
So designing a lot of automation tools, and coming
up with new techniques to kind of validate the fact that, as
they're being shown on Google searches,
and things like that.
But I guess the main, end of the day goal, is to ensure the
quality is maintained.
So, I guess, attacking that from the engineering side.
[? BRITT: Great. ?]
And, Brittney, since, on the blog, we have heard about,
basically, your path to Computer Science, and also
your path to Google, a question that I would love to
ask you, specifically is, what is something that you've done
since you've been at Google, that you have found to be
really interesting?
Whether it's just something that's made you stretch your
limits, or something that you really find interesting in the
whole tech industry in Computer Science.
What is something that has made you really proud to work
in this industry?
BRITTNEY FRASER: So I think, as I
mentioned on the blog post.
I worked on launching Search Plus Your World.
And as regards of how you feel about it, I think, it's one of
the biggest changes to the Search Results Page.
And so, like being a part of that, was pretty cool.
I worked on the UI side of things.
Like my team helped the movement with all like the
changes that you actually see on the website.
And just having a lot of say in shaping how that product
actually ended up when we launched it to the world, was
a lot of fun.
I had only been here a little less than a year, like maybe
nine months, eight months, when I switched to that team.
And I was still very new.
And I still had a lot of say.
I think my favorite thing that I've done at Google, aside
from my job, is Google has a lot of different cafes--
a lot of them.
And they give you the opportunity to spend a morning
helping to cook.
So I spent a morning, in my first six months, helping with
the bakery team.
And I baked, or I scooped like 1,000 muffins.
And then baked vegan snicker-doodles that were
surprisingly delicious.
So that was a lot of fun.
[? BRITT: That's ?] great.
So since you guys have taken the path, maybe sometimes the
path less traveled, or maybe some of you have always been
interested in technology, but how would you guys say, what
do you think is the best way to encourage more students,
especially black students, to get into Computer Science?
Tess, you were an intern before, so you probably have a
lot of insight into this.
How about you start us off?
TESS WINLOCK: Yeah, sure.
There's a lot of ways, and I mean, there's some interesting
ones in trying to start early on.
I did some work in undergrad in trying to involve people
from the community in Stockton, like, getting them
on campus to play around with technology.
And trying to get them interested in it.
I mean, beyond that, it's also trying to, once they are in
school, keeping them interested in having courses
and a support network.
I greatly credit my undergrad in keeping me very interested
in engineering, because they took a very
vested interest in me.
My professors would ask me-- you know, if you're gone for a
couple days-- they'd be like, hey, you still
alive, are you OK?
Things like that really help out.
Of course, it's not feasible for every university, but
still, it really helps out to keep people interested.
It keeps it personal.
And being an intern here at Google, beyond it being just
one of the greatest challenges, because you're
trying in three months to pick up work and get
a big project done.
It's a lot of fun.
The university, they all try to make sure that all of us
have a lot of fun.
We did what, trampling dodge ball, those other fun things
on the side.
So if that makes sense to mix the crazy hard technology, and
hard problems, with also the personal, making things fun,
sort of way.
[? BRITT: OK. ?]
And [? Kamar, ?]
what do you think is a good way to get kids interested in
Computer Science?
Since you've been interested in technology for a while,
what really jump started it for you?
KAMAR: First I'm going to start by saying that everybody
should go into Computer Science.
But for me, personally, I think it was necessarily
finding a passion.
And specifically, like, my mom she brought home one of the
first PCs and I was using that.
And messing around with that.
And I ended up breaking it, but then finding
a way to fix it.
So from that early age I really knew that the core of
what I really enjoy was problem solving, and just
relating that back to Computer Science.
So I know some of my other classmates at Morehouse, their
ways of necessarily finding their passion is, they might
have started off in mathematics or another hard
science, and just really found a way to bridge the gap
between the two.
So I think was definitely finding passion.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
[? BRITT: No, go ahead, ?]
Tess.
TESS WINLOCK: It definitely is involved with making people
relate it to themselves and their own drives.
It really made it, for me, I guess it did make it personal.
Because I did do some assistant
technology in undergrad.
And I have always had a big interest in that.
And it just really helps if you can actually put a face to
the technology that you're doing.
You can actually see, like oh, I'm building this piece of
technology for those with cerebral palsy.
I can actually see the results and the help that it's giving.
And I can see a lot of people don't really think of Computer
Science, they see it as, I'm just going to be coding.
Or, oh, I'm just going to be developing
certain little programs.
But there are very important benefits that can be gained
from technology.
And it can really have a face and can smile back at you.
So that always helps too.
BRITTNEY FRASER: I'm going to go ahead and step in on
[? Kamar's ?]
response for finding your passion.
Or just kind of developer.
I'm not going to say everyone's passion should be
Computer Science.
I think it should be, but chances are it might not be
for you, even though it should be.
But, Computer Science for me, I didn't think that it was
going to be something I was interested in.
I didn't code until, like [? Daray, ?]
I was in my sophomore year of college, and my best friend
convinced me to take the introductory CS class.
And I was like, this is actually kind of fun.
But it's not what I thought I'd be doing.
My parents really wanted me to be a doctor.
And I was very much not, because [? Daray ?] and I have
very similar paths.
We were both Chemistry.
We both just CS.
We both switched them immediately.
We're basically the same person.
[? DARAY: And our ?] families wanted us to be doctors, too.
TESS WINLOCK: And so, I think it's definitely worth pursuing
things that you might not think you'll be interested in
just on the surface, but take an introductory CS class.
Do stuff with LEGO Mindstorms, or something.
No matter how old you are, there's always like
introductory CS things that you could do.
And I think it's worth just exploring those,
with an open mind.
Seeing what is it like, and where can you go from there?
And maybe it will be your passion.
Maybe you won't have to be a doctor.
[? BRITT: Daray, what do ?] you think?
[? DARAY: I think ?] exposure is a really big tool.
I know growing up, I had a lot of exposure to technology.
I didn't even realize it until I came to Google and realized
the path I had taken.
But growing up, as a kid, my neighbor had the most
ridiculous computer system.
His dad was like, some computer architect somewhere,
and he had this ridiculous server system in his house.
And I always used to going over there and play video
games, like computer games, and things like that.
And that really got me interested at an early age.
And it had a tangible effect on me.
And even growing up in high school, I started hacking up
my XBox, opening it up and trying to put chips in there.
And running different OSes on it, and all kinds of weird
stuff like that.
And that was just kind of a thing I did on the side.
I didn't realize you could actually create these things
until I got to college.
I started taking CS classes and I saw that, not only could
I just use technology, I could be the agent of its creation.
So that really got me excited.
And seeing the tangible effects of things
that you can create.
[INAUDIBLE]
world.
That really got me excited.
And that's what's keeping me going today.
[? BRITT: So ?] it sounds like you're saying, you can have a
positive impact on the world, without being a doctor?
[? DARAY: Convincing ?] my family of that might be a
harder task, but I believe it, yes.
I actually have a funny story about it.
I met one of my aunts a while back.
And I hadn't seen her in a long time.
And told her I was working at Google.
I'm a Software Engineer.
And she's like, OK, that's cool.
But when are you going back to med school?
I was going to say, maybe later.
Because she wouldn't accept the fact that I'm probably not
going to do it.
[? BRITT: Well ?]
I know Tess talked about the importance of internships.
And for those of you, out there, who are interested in
learning about more of our internship opportunities,
scholarships, full time positions that we have after
graduation, you can definitely go to google.com/students and
see all that.
March 18 is the deadline for the UNCS scholarship, for any
of you who are interested in that.
So just wanted to put that out there for anybody that's
interested.
And there is a question and that our viewers ask all the
time, which is, please tell us about a day in your life.
So what is a day in your life?
Tess, you can go ahead and start.
Tell us about what do you do every day?
TESS WINLOCK: Yeah, I mean, the day I always find,
actually starts with me waking up and walking over to the
Google shuttle.
And then jumping on that and having my free
Wi-Fi as I go to campus.
And then I typically, respond to a whole host of emails, and
things before starting to code, when I actually get into
the office.
I work on fraud detection, so what we're trying to do stop
bad guys from either stealing money from our users, or from
Google itself.
So we are always trying to keep up with people, and also
trying to bring in products and make sure that they are
using our APIs and stuff properly.
So a lot of what I have to do is meet with people, and
talked about requirements, talk about how they should be
protecting themselves, or what our rules are going to be.
So there's a lot of coding, but then there's a lot of
actually interacting with people, and understanding
their problems.
And trying to help them solve [INAUDIBLE] us to help solve
their problem.
But we can get them to solve their problems.
So I have this, it's definitely very techy,
because, of course, I am coding constantly.
But it's also like, there's a lot of meetings I have on my
calendar all day long.
[? BRITT: Oh, ?] sorry.
I was just going to say, for somebody that was an intern
for two summers, what is the biggest difference you've seen
as a full timer?
TESS WINLOCK: Meetings.
Honestly.
The internship you have this high focus on, I have my
project, I have it exactly laid out.
I have to do ABC and then I'm done.
And then summer's over and I get to go out.
And here, there's a lot more trying to find projects,
define things myself, instead of having my host define them.
And there's less trampling dodge ball, also.
A distinct lack in that.
What was that?
[? BRITT: We ?] can make that happen.
TESS WINLOCK: Still, it's a lot of fun.
I personally like it better than my internship, honestly,
it only got better from there.
Every summer kept getting better and better.
Here I am doing full time.
BRITT: That's great.
So what do you do on a day-to-day basis, [? Kamar? ?]
[? KAMAR: So, ?]
I guess after I get a really healthy, hearty breakfast at
Google, I head over to my desk where I'm greeted by a
plethora of work.
Emails, of course, like Tess said, but also the
energy of my team.
My team members bring this awesome energy to work every
day that kind of inspires me to just set my bar
higher every day.
So we'll work from different meetings, and we'll
collaborate with different teams.
We're very cross-functional across Google.
We'll have meetings, [? NVC's ?]
from across the world, basically.
From there we'll meet with other engineers.
Try to find needs.
Knock out different tasks that can be knocked out in that
given time.
And we'll basically drive policy changes with other
products specialists.
And it's just really fun.
By the end of the day I'm pretty--
I wouldn't say burned out-- but a little bit tired.
So I like to probably kick back and
watch a movie or something.
Or, if I have the energy, bowl a game, CO3, or
something like that.
But, of course, with my friends in, they
happen to be coworkers.
So it's an awesome time.
And I really do enjoy working on such a
small, fast paced team.
[? BRITT: Yeah. ?]
Well you were talking about having meetings with people
all around the world, and although our headquarters are
right here in Silicon Valley, Google truly is a global
company, that you really realize, once you get here.
So what are some of the places that you find yourself having
conference calls and video chatting
with during your days?
[? KAMAR: So, ?]
for me, specifically, I would have meetings
from anywhere from--
we have a team sits in Hyderabad.
We have a team that sits, of course, right
here in Mountain View.
But then there's another team that is actually in Japan.
So there's a couple of different things that we might
necessarily meeting with.
But a lot of the PC and emailing necessarily takes
place from the hub here, and then it is sent out.
And then it finds its way back again, so to speak.
So we have a unique culture within our group, that we are
able to meet with different people across the world.
And I think it's just awesome.
[? BRITT: Yeah. ?]
[? Daray, ?] what do you do every day?
[? DARAY: Every day is ?] just a little bit different for me.
So my project is somewhat internal.
So we have a lot of churn.
And a lot of different things that come in every day.
I guess I could start with my example of today.
Today I had car issues driving in.
My car wouldn't start.
I had to get my roommate to jump me.
But I made it in, and answered my morning deluge of emails.
After eating breakfast, of course.
But the past couple weeks I've actually been on call, so any
kind of serious production issues that might ever happen,
I'm the 911 number for that.
So that's a very dynamic task, being on call.
And that's definitely a challenge, and I love it.
It's interesting every day.
Every 20 minutes something new happens and you have to fix
it, or figure it out.
Or make something new happen.
Or call somebody.
Or go to a meeting.
Or find some way to get around some issue that needs to be
solved instantly.
So I guess my typical day is always different.
But I guess the core thing is, I get I get my meals in, and I
get my rest at the end of the day.
I get to kick back with my roommates.
But every day is a new challenge, and definitely an
interesting challenge.
[? BRITT: And Brittney, ?] what do you do every day?
TESS WINLOCK: My typical day often revolves
around food, actually.
Google has a lot different cafes.
And all of them are delicious.
So I also shuttle in, like Tess.
I live in San Francisco, and so I hop on the bus and I read
my mail, catch up on things I didn't feel like doing or that
came in the day before, or that came
in while I was asleep.
And so I'll respond to that.
And then I'll get here.
If I'm lucky I'm here before breakfast closes.
But usually, I just end up with a bowl of cereal.
And then I'll spend the rest of my morning just catching up
on a few more things.
Probably coding a little bit.
Responding to people's comments on things they I had
done, previously, or the day before.
And then I start thinking about what I'm going to eat
for lunch, and where I'm going to go.
So many choices and all of them of them are delicious.
And then, the afternoon is usually where most of my
team's meetings happen.
We're not morning people, by any way, shape, or form.
So when people want to talk with us it's
usually after 1:00.
And so, I'll spend maybe like an hour or two after lunch
just trying to figure out what we should do
next with our projects.
And like, what are the next steps we want to take.
And what features we should add.
So we'll have meetings with various teams to discuss
either providing the data for us to display, or working with
project managers to figure out what are the features we
should target.
And then my afternoon is coding a little bit more.
Before I shuttle back home to eat dinner with my roommates
and friends.
[? DARAY: You don't ?] eat dinner here?
BRITTNEY FRASER: Only sometimes.
[? BRITT: For ?] anybody that's just now joining, we
are having our first Hangout On Air for our Black History
Month series.
So welcome.
I'm going to ask one of the last questions that we have
for this, and that basically is, what have you done since
being involved with Google or Computer Science that has
really made you either realize that this is really something
you want to do?
Has gotten you really excited about
someone who is an engineer?
Or just made you're really proud, maybe, of the company
that you work for, or the field that you've chosen?
[? Kamar, ?]
we can start with you.
[? KAMAR: So, ?]
the one thing?
There's so many, I'm trying to pick.
I would say my core work really I'm developing a
passion for it, so to speak.
Since the very beginning, coming in I wasn't really sure
exactly what I was going to do as an Ads Quality Analyst.
And once I got here, I got a very clear understanding.
And basically, just the fact that Google
puts their users first.
And making sure that we stay true to the company's core
philosophies, and that we make sure that we're not
distributing bad ads.
And I thought that was a very unique perspective since,
prior to coming to Google I've used Google
since the very beginning.
And me, personally, doing a simple search I've always had
a question about the ads, and the selection process.
You know, could this ad essentially be bad for me and
my information?
So I think that really speaks to Google's core philosophies.
And what they stand for.
Every day I'm reminded that this is the perfect choice.
[? BRITT: That's great. ?]
Tess, how about you?
What makes you excited about either the work that you do,
or coming in and being a Computer Scientist?
Being an engineer.
Why are you happy that you've done this?
TESS WINLOCK: There's a lot of things.
I mean, the constant problems.
The back and forth that we have with our fraudsters who
come in and to try to take money.
I think like that moment where I was really like, wow, I'm
not only having an effect, but it's really awesome, was just
seeing those graphs of how many people we--
when I push in new features, oh, I'm
stopping this much fraud.
And maybe catching this many people who might have taken
over accounts.
So they're taking over someone's account, and it's
just like, we're catching them.
We're stopping them.
It's like that moment where you're realizing the stuff
that you do actually has an impact.
It's really cool.
And I don't know, that just is really empowering.
You're like, yeah, any change I do has an instant reflection
on our users.
And can help stop them from suffering a terrible event of
having someone take over their account.
It's a lot of fun here.
And also what's made me proud at Google was having done some
work in assisted technology, working with the blind.
It's like the moment I got here, I think we had
[INAUDIBLE]
like we need to improve our accessibility.
And that was just really awesome.
[? BRITT: And ?]
[? Daray ?] and Brittney?
[? DARAY: ?]
I guess a highlight for me is being able to
do things like this.
Come in on Monday and get to have my face out there, and
talk about how awesome my job is, and how awesome
it is to work here.
I don't know how many other companies--
[? KAMAR: ?]
I'll +1 that.
[? DARAY: ?]
You can come in on a Monday and people ask you , hey, do
you want to talk about how awesome your life is?
OK.
And then you go back to work and that's part
of your normal day.
So, I mean, it's definitely a highlight for me to be able to
do things like that.
And to meet all the amazing people who work here.
It's more than just engineering.
And it's more than a single role.
You can have more than one identity, here.
You can definitely be yourself and do all the things that you
want to do, and more.
And things that you thought you'd never be
able to do, like this.
For me, I never thought I'd do this.
So I'm definitely excited to come in to work tomorrow,
because something like this might happen again.
BRITTNEY FRASER: So, yeah.
I think Google's commitment to increasing diversity, I just
find extremely admirable.
They do a bunch of different types of scholarships, a bunch
of different summer programs, to try to increase the number
of under represented people in this field in engineering.
And being an African American women, you're super rare in
Computer Science.
Being a woman, period, or being African American is
already kind of rare.
But being an African American women is kind of
like being a unicorn.
My friends often call me a unicorn, because I have the
trifecta of being both, black, a girl and Computer Science.
So Tess, you and I can be unicorns together.
But that's really like my nickname.
So the fact that Google's actively working to make us
not so unicorn and rare, I think is amazing.
And also, on the engineering side, the Home Page Doodles,
one of my foreign coworkers is now an engineering person on
the Doodle Team.
And the things that they do--
it's super exciting.
There's a lot of engineering challenges.
And they have to target browsers in all countries, in
all languages.
All ranges from like the super fast
Chrome, to IE6, or something.
There's a lot of engineering challenges.
Search, also, you have a lot of that as well.
Just like targeting browsers that you haven't
thought about in years.
And having to make sure that your features
still work on them.
And those users still have a really good experience.
It's really, really cool.
[? BRITT: Awesome. ?]
Well, we have definitely learned that Computer Science
is something that has huge impact.
And something that's really exciting.
And you get to make things and actually make a difference.
So I appreciate all of you guys coming to talk.
Especially you unicorns, right there.
You guys are very beautiful, in your own [INAUDIBLE].
But, thank you, so much, for all those who are watching.
Remember, feel free to go to google.com/students.
And we'll see you tomorrow.
Bye.