The Google meetup was absolutely dope. It was an incredible opportunity to network and learn about some of the technologies that Google Software Engineers have been working on. The two topics of interest for the meetup was Google Cloud, as well as Firebase.

Both topics were incredibly interesting, but my top two takeaways weren’t actually about Google Cloud or Firebase. My two takeaways actually were in regards to networking and mentorship.

I really went out of my comfort zone and sat with different people, rather than congregating with cohort mates who also came to the meetup. This also led to meeting new people and getting connected with them on Linkedin, which was pretty awesome in and of itself. The second big takeaway was the mentor hour that they had. We had an opportunity to sign up and talk to Google Software Engineers and ask them about anything and everything within a time limit. So naturally, alongside general questions about Engineering challenges for Cloud and Firebase, I asked about career development and recommendations for securing a job at Google.

With securing a job at Google, one Engineer stated that there’s three main things they look at: resume, interview and “googliness.” Which was an interesting concept, “googliness.” Googliness doesn’t just mean to not be an asshole. Exhibiting googliness also means to strive to provide value to everyone you come across, alongside not being an asshole(i.e., don’t interrupt during meetings, willing to help people, etc.).

In terms of resume, you should be able to show that you can build projects that scale. And in terms of interview, you should be able to demonstrate that you have a good grasp of computer science fundamentals.

That said, with all this insight, I definitely know what I need to work on, and that means getting right down into it!

I’ve been making a lot of headway into my JS project, but I’ll elaborate more on that tomorrow! Talk to you guys then!