Reaching for the top
STORY BY DANA BOYINGTON
When Fiona Yeung stepped into the world of Google, she knew she was in for the adventure of a lifetime.
“I never thought I would get an internship at Google and after two months of not hearing from them I didn’t think I was going to get in,” said Yeung. “But early summer, I got a call and I was in.”
The 21–year–old Bachelor of Design student from Markham was never sure of her career path but figured it would involve the arts.
“I always knew I was on a creative path,” said Yeung. “I now focus on interactive art like web design and apps for phones.”
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Yeung was introduced to this internship by a friend who also went to Google to intern and Yeung fell for the “beautiful” headquarters in Mountain View, CA near San Francisco.
“The campus felt like college for me, but better because I was working on things I was completely passionate about with intern friends that were my age,” said Yeung.
“It was a really large campus with Google bikes everywhere that made it really fun to come to work. It’s never a dull moment at Google and overall, just a ton of awesome, fun people with a great open culture.”
Google offers many benefits to keep employees and interns happy: complimentary meals, nap pods for breaks, on-site rock climbing wall, bowling alley, soccer field and swimming pool.
“I was definitely spoiled,” said Yeung. “There was food in every corner I looked.”
Her internship began in May and it’s an experience she will not soon forget.
“I wasn’t really nervous, I was so excited. My first thought was how big the place was. It was like a mini town,” Yeung said.
Google has shuttle buses and bikes for workers to get around the campus. On the first day she was introduced to her manager and co-workers who showed her around.
“My workplace didn’t have a corporate feel, there was a lot of open space,” she said. “I was determined to make the best of my internship.”
Yeung was part of the Google+ team that was put in charge of redesigning features on the mobile app.
“I worked on redesigning features of the G+ app to make it fit the new Material Design language that Google announced in June,” said Yeung.
She was also given the rare chance of designing a Google Doodle, the logo on Google’s homepage. It was never used – but Google gave her permission to share it in her portfolio.
“The amount of resources Google supplied was amazing,” Yeung said. “They [Google] really want their employees to be able to develop their education.”
Yeung often met spoke with mentors for lunch several times a week. Weekly Google would host seminars with many influential people, including Hillary Clinton and the co–founder of Google, Sergey Brin, with whom she was able to speak, about how to become successful with design.
“He was extremely humble and often asked for interns’ opinions and thoughts,” said Yeung.
During her internship, Yeung picked up a term that was often used to describe her co–workers.
“My favourite part would have been the people I met,” Yeung said. “They were ‘googly,’ a term meaning being a good, decent person.”
Yeung is in her final year of animation in the York/Sheridan program for design and hopes to get a full-time job at Google one day.
“It’s an exciting time to be a design student. There is so much to discover and learn every day.”
