The Perks of Interning at Google

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Google was bound to make it in here somehow. Here are some intern perks at Google:

1. Google pays for flights from anywhere in the world to your office and from your office to anywhere in the world, before and after your internship. (This is standard for most companies)

2. Google gives us free, and in my opinion, luxury housing. Although we share an apartment we three others, it’s equipped with a nice TV, a patio, a kitchen with a dishwasher, 2 baths, a washer and dryer, and biweekly cleaning. We also have access to a 24-hour gym, a hot tub, a swimming pool, a games room, and a park.

3. Google buses pick us from corp housing and drop us back to corp housing many times during the day.

4. Google bikes are temporary bikes available in and around Google to use to cycle around campus. You can rent a bike for free.

5. Google has over 20 gourmet cafeterias all over campus with almost all types of cuisine almost everyday. They serve 3 meals on all weekdays, with few exceptions.

6. Everyone is less than 100 feet away from a microkitchen, stuffed with all sorts of snacks, fruits and drinks. They also come with a automatic coffee machine and an espresso machine. If there’s something you want in your microkitchen, it can be asked for.

7. Chess tables, board games, pool tables, table tennis tables and swimming pools can be found frequently around campus. You’re encouraged to use them, during work.

8. Interns get an hours worth of massage credits and get a professional massage. Massage chairs are scattered around campus in case you want something automatic.

9. Weekly TGIF involves wine, beer, watching Larry and Sergey address the company, possibly asking them questions and more. During work.

10. No work hours. Come and go when you want - just get work done and be present virtually at your meetings.

11. Request any electronic item you might need for use for your entire internship. Usually work related, but includes laptops of choice, headphones, etc. You get to keep some of them. Interns can work on a chromebook, a chrome book pixel or a 15” inch retina MacBook Pro, as of 2013.

12. Dogfood the newest stuff google makes.

13. Attend special internal hackathons to be the first to work on Google’s coolest products.

14. Watch the first Loon launch.

15. Need to run errands at work? Borrow a google car and go anywhere you want for any amount of time.

16. The office never closes. Stay all night!

17. Nap pods. Sleep at work, in style.

18. Intern Boat Cruise in the bay. As crazy as they get.

19. Great pay on top of all the free stuff.

20. Heated toilet seats at work.

21. No clothing guidelines (this is the norm at most tech companies). Hair color, tattoos, piercings - it all runs as long as you code.

22. The best internal tools. Can’t say much more.

23. Volleyball courts, Soccer fields, and intra company sporting competitions. I’m sure they have more facilities I’m not even aware of.

24. There are 5 or more full fledged high tech gyms at google including outdoor pull up bars and what not. When I say high tech, I mean they count your reps for you. Free gym classes for everything you can imagine.

25. Free classes for random things - from python and C++ to salsa and more. You can take breaks from work to learn something cool.

26. Free Google swag. Interns get a T shirt and a Patagonia backpack and a hoodie. Plus, you get to keep headphones and if you’re lucky, more valuable freebies.

27. You get to have a full fledge Hollywood movie featuring Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn based on how cool your job is, albeit more than slightly exaggerated. You also get free tickets to the red carpet premier a week before release. So what if it’s a crappy movie? Unlike Jobs or The Social Network, this is about the interns! It’s about you.

28. Getting a full time job at google is very in demand and as a result, very hard. I won’t reveal numbers but it is orders if magnitude harder than the most selective college in America. Converting from an internship is much easier, and that extra boost is great to have especially in a market where “Ex-Googler” is a status symbol.

29. Get to meet some legends. Just by being a little pushy and very lucky, you can easily set up meetings with Ken Thompson and Jeff Dean. It’s much easier to set up people with lesser known people all around google and just talk about their projects and technology.

30. Last, but not least. The biggest perk of being at google are the people. The interns are extremely smart and passionate but sociable and nice as well. The full timers are amazing too. All companies have great engineers, but at Google you’re surrounded by a city of so many of the smartest software engineers shaping the forefront of technology today. The sheer quantity is mesmerizing. They are so well read (in code) and knowledgeable and very helpful. If you make use of it, it’s like infinite office hours with a professor who’s always at your service!

31. On-site haircuts two days a week, with professional stylists.

32. On-site laundry if you so please.

33. “Park at Google when you go to concerts at Shoreline. Also, pick up free drinks and snacks at Google at the same time. Sometimes it’s nice, after the concert, to play a game of pool or something with your friends while the concertgoers are stuck in traffic.” - Iain McClatchie This summer they had artists ranging from John Mayer to Brad Paisley to Wiz Khalifa.

34. If you’re lost or need any transport, you can call the GCar or the GShuttle to pick you up if you’re anywhere around campus.