Google Women Techmakers Scholars Program 2019

"Once in awhile, right in the middle of an ordinary life, life gives us a fairy tale."

Life if full of unpredictable beauty and strange surprises. Sometimes we wish for something out of the ordinary to happen, and the real surprise is when your wish unexpectedly comes true. This happened to me when I received a call from Google on 12 July, congratulating me for being selected as a scholarship recipient of the 2019 APAC Women Techmakers Scholars Program. So out of 25,000 applicants across Asia Pacific, I was selected as one of the 75 Google scholars!!! The retreat held from 29th-31st August at Sydney.

Lately, I have been asked tons of questions by many people about the scholarship, the application process, my experience at Google. So, I am writing this blog covering possibly everything about the Google WTM Program.

Expecting this to inspire you to apply for this prestigious scholarship program. So here we go!!!

What is Google Women Techmakers Scholarship?

Through the Women Techmakers Scholars Program — formerly the Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship Program — Google is furthering Dr. Anita Borg’s vision of creating gender equality in the field of computer science by encouraging women to excel in computing and technology and become active leaders and role models in the field. This is an academic scholarship which is given based on academic performance, leadership, and impact on the community of women in tech.

This scholars program includes a scholarship amount, a fully funded retreat at a Google APAC office where you will meet other Scholars, Googlers, and an online network community of other fellow scholars to share resources and support the global community of women in tech around the globe.

To be eligible, applicants must:

• Identify as female.

• Currently be enrolled at an accredited university for Bachelor's, Master's, or PhD and about to complete the degree next year or beyond.

• Be studying computer science, computer engineering, or a closely related technical field.

• Demonstrate a strong academic record.

• Exemplify leadership and demonstrate passion for increasing the involvement of women in computer science.

Application Process

1. Application Submission: The application is consisted of general background information, resume, academic transcript, an academic project report or research paper, and three-four short essay responses.

For the academic project report, they clearly described the format including figures, tables, citations like a research paper. So, I submitted one of my machine learning projects following their instructions.

The short essay questions are like why did you enroll in computer science, your goals and aspirations after pursuing the degree, challenges you have faced or observed as a women, activities you are involved in to encourage women, demonstrate your leadership skill through your activities. Your responses are important as it will let the WTM team to know about your passion, ability and leadership quality to have an impact on the community.

Don't think you have to do some enormous activities or you have not done anything worth mentioned in your life. Your passion, small contributions, willingness to support the women community will mean a lot. All you have to do is to mention them to the point in your essay. My advice is just be honest and answer the essay questions truthfully. Try to give examples to demonstrate the work you have done to create an impact on your community. If you are shortlisted for the next round, they will definitely ask you questions from your resume and essay responses. So, just be very clear about everything you put in your application.

2. Phone Interview: Around three weeks after the application deadline, I received an email congratulating me for being selected as a shortlisted candidate. The next step was a 45 minutes phone interview with a Google engineer. For me it was a video call around one hour on Google Hangouts but it can be an audio call as well. The email clearly said it will not be a technical interview, rather an opportunity for them to learn more about me, my future goals and ambitions, technical project and accomplishments, leadership, community engagement, and career aspirations.

On the day of my interview, I was so nervous. But my interviewer was very cordial and reduced my anxiety in few minutes. At first she asked me to introduce myself and why I applied to this scholarship. She was very interested in the project paper I submitted. She asked me few more questions about it like my contribution in the project, challenges I faced, how I overcome those, and how my learning and knowledge can benefit the women of underrepresented groups in technology. Her posing questions further brought out my passion for technology which turned the interview in a friendly conversation. At the end of the interview, you will get the opportunity to ask the Googler anything about Google or the scholarship program.

3. Fill a short form: Just one week after the interview, they asked me to fill up a clearance form providing some general information to comply with local laws.

Women Techmakers Retreat 2019 at Google Sydney

I arrived at Sydney around 4.30 PM. At the airport I met other scholars who had the same flight from Singapore. We took a taxi together and reached the hotel. Google made a great arrangements for us to stay at Hotel Novotel Sydney on Darling Harbour which was near the Google Sydney Office. At the hotel, each of us had to share room with another scholar from a different country. I had an amazing experience of being roommates with Sachinthana from Sri Lanka who was currently doing her PhD at Monash University, Melbourne. She was very friendly, caring and we bonded instantly on the first met.

28th August: welcome dinner at Google

The retreat started with a wonderful welcome dinner with delicious pizza buffet at the Google Sydney Office. We were welcomed to the office with some Google Goodies. Finally, we met the Googlers involved with us during all the previous processes. We were assigned to different tables randomly with scholars from different countries. It was very inspiring talking to the fellow scholars. We shared our experiences and challenges in technology, student life, and involvement in the community.

29th August: Own Your Career

The day started at 8:00 AM with the breakfast at hotel Novotel. Around 9:30 AM, all the scholars gathered at the hotel reception where one Googler received us to take us to the Google office. We walked together to the office which was a 10 minutes walking distance from the hotel. At the office, they gave us a backpack full of swags!

Each day was packed with events from morning to night. At first, they introduced us to the vision of Dr. Anita Borg of promoting women in the field of technology and inspired us to continue contributing to the community. Then the program started with a fun icebreaker game - 'Famous Duo'. One famous character name was taped behind each of our chairs and we had to find our pair. For example, if you get Tom, you have to find Jerry. The exciting part was we had to learn two fun facts about each other and share them on the stage. It was a fun game to interact with the scholars.

Then, the sessions started with an opening keynote by Grace Chung - Engineering Manager, ChromeOS. She shared her story, challenges she faced, how she continued to excel in technology and joined Google. After this amazing opening keynote, we had a session named 'Bias Busting' by Gordon Rowell. This session taught us how biases can affect our decisions and how should we get rid of such biases. After a ten-minutes break, we attended 'Career Talk by GWE' by three Google Women Engineers (GWE) which was indeed very inspiring.

After lunch, we were divided into teams. Each team was led by a Googler and we had an amazing Google Office Tour. The tour exposed us the culture at Google and their way of work. Then we had 'GWE Panel' session with four female googlers. They discussed how they chose their major, their challenges, achievements, importance of diversity, managing gender inequality, and advice to work in Google.

I found the 'I am Remarkable' session absolutely amazing and tremendously inspiring. We had to write two points on why we thought we were remarkable, one professional and one personal reason. Then we had to speak it out loud. It was not easy as it sounds. This session made us realize our worth, self-value, and to confidently speak of our accomplishments. Even if you want to stay humble about your accomplishments, it is very important to talk about it at your workplace. It boosted up our confidence realizing the strong person we represent.

The day ended with the Australian Food Fest in the office. We were served local dishes including vegetable salad, kangaroo meat, lamb meat, fish, and baked potato. The desserts were delicious. Around 8:15 PM, we walked back together to the hotel after dinner.

30th August: Investing Into Yourself

The day again started at 8:00 AM with the breakfast at the hotel. Then, we walked together with a Googler to the office. The session started at 10:05 AM with 'Google Interview Training' by Shi-jie Khor and Domonick Ng. They gave us guidance and useful tips on building resume, how to be interactive and crack the technical interviews as well as phone interviews. They made us realize the importance of thought process. It is better to say what you are thinking instead of just writing block of code. This was followed in the next session where we had 'Mock interview and practice'. We were randomly paired with other scholars and took each others' interviews.

After a ten-minutes snacks break, we had a Keynote talk by Daniel Nadasi - Engineering Director, Google Photos. He was very inspirational. On the next session, we learned about 'Tech Dev Guide and APAC Opportunities' with our country leads, for Bangladesh they were Betty Tsai and Charlotte Park. They discussed the application process at Google, their deadlines, and future work on helping out the community. The next session was 'Giving and Receiving Feedback'. Two female Googlers discussed how we should appreciate others works, politely give them some tips and feedback, and how others feedback can benefit us.

The next session was 'Kick Start Intro and Review' by Shi-jie Khor. Kickstart is a Code Jam competition that gives participants the opportunity to develop and grow their coding skills to explore a career at Google. Each round invites students and industry professionals to solve algorithmic challenges designed by Google engineers. Shi-jie Khor introduced Kick Start and discussed some questions from 'Round E' where all scholars participated prior to the retreat program.

The last event of the day was 'Google Tech Team Challenge (Google Games)'. We were divided into teams according to our tables. Each team had five members and we had to solve some puzzles. Top three teams who solved highest number of puzzles received swags. Though we could not make it to the Top three, we enjoyed and loved the entire session.

31st August: For the Community

It was the last day of our retreat and this day was meant for bonding and making memories.

The session started with 'Lightning talk from former scholars and Q&A'. Three past WTM scholars discussed about their challenges and outreach initiatives to community. They advised us to stay in contact with other scholars and motivated us to believe in ourselves. After this long session, all the Googlers and scholars played Rock paper scissors together. It was a fun game and everybody enjoyed a lot.

After lunch, Google gave us a memorable tour of WILD LIFE Sydney Zoo. We watched koala, kangaroo, wombat, crocodile and many more. We spent around two hours at the zoo and walked back together at the office.

Back to the office, Richa Pal discussed the Post Retreat Roadmap. We had closing keynotes from the Googlers, they thanked everyone of us to be a part of the retreat and motivated us to follow our passion. The retreat ended with evening snacks - a special cupcake with WTM logo.

I had the most amazing four days of my life. After the retreat, we returned with more confidence and pride about being a women in technology. Thank you Google! I got the opportunity to connect with amazing Googlers and remarkably talented scholars. My network of incredible women in technology grew. It feels great to be a part of this community and work together to make a better place for women.

I suggest to apply for this program if you have the dedication to do wonderful things in the community. The Google WTM Program is once in a lifetime opportunity. So just seize the opportunity while it is there in front of you. Just believe in yourself, you will be unstoppable.