What It Really Takes to Get a Google STEP Internship

[00:00:00]How did you do it? Are you comfortable disclosing your stipend?

[00:00:03]>> Our stipend is >> Hey guys, welcome back to my channel.

[00:00:07]This is Akshat and Pulkit with me today.

[00:00:10]I have two step interns who are a part of my team by the way. And in today's video we're going to talk about their journey, how was their experience, their interviews at Google, how did they crack Google step internship and what not. But before that, a great thank you to the sponsor of this video Meeting Cart. You can anytime reach out to me based on your questions, career advice, roadmap, and all of those things. You can set up one-on-one video call with me and the link for that is in the description of this video and my bio. So, let's get started. All right, can you give me a quick introduction about yourself so that I so the audience actually knows like about you?

[00:00:45]>> Hi, I am Akshat. Um I am currently studying at IIT Madras and I'm a B.Tech student in computer science department and um currently I have finished my second year and I am doing a step intern at Google.

[00:01:02]>> Wow, that's amazing. Let's hear about you, Pulkit.

[00:01:05]>> Hi, I'm Pulkit. Similar to Akshat, I'm also a second year in IIT Madras.

[00:01:09]Currently I'm studying in the artificial intelligence department and I'm a step intern at Google.

[00:01:15]>> Wow, that is amazing. So, you are just in second year of your college and you are doing an internship at Google. So, how does it feel? What does it feel like to work at Google?

[00:01:25]>> Uh it feels quite nice. It was always my dream to work at Google.

[00:01:28]>> Wow, that's amazing. How about you?

[00:01:30]>> Yeah, it feels good like I'm working on a project which will be used by many people. So, it it feels nice in that way.

[00:01:37]>> Absolutely, it does feel nice. So, let's let's talk about the most important thing that people are actually I'm sure waiting for. How did you do it? What was it like? I mean, let's let's start by the interview process. How was the interview process?

[00:01:50]>> So, um I had like two interviews and both were about 45 minutes and they asked a few DSA questions. I think one in each and they were basically two pointers and graph on those topics and I didn't prepare from them like for them like and separately like so I already knew those topics from my course so it was easy for me like I do something.

[00:02:17]>> Wow, you already knew those topics.

[00:02:19]Well, what was the process of like shortlisting resumes and things like that?

[00:02:24]>> So initially we submitted our resumes from those resumes they had shortlisted a few people in our college and then after that as Akshat said they had two technical interviews where they asked DSA questions.

[00:02:36]>> Right. So do you know how many people actually applied and how many got shortlisted from your college?

[00:02:40]>> I think a lot of people had applied and shortlist they were maybe around 30 people.

[00:02:47]>> Around 30 people any rough estimate out of how many people?

[00:02:50]>> Not sure.

[00:02:52]>> All right, that's fine. Okay, so were your interviews in person or were they virtual?

[00:02:57]>> They were held virtually.

[00:02:58]>> They were virtual. All right. Okay. What was the atmosphere like in college when the interviews were actually happening like your friends? I'm sure there was like a lot of competition or you want to get that I want to get it. What was it like in your in your college?

[00:03:09]>> So so like few of my friends and me we both we all have interviews and they are like scheduled after one hour like the gap was almost one hour in each interview and like that. So we were discussing with each other like what do they ask and all. And and then we were thinking like someone got easy questions someone got hard and like that.

[00:03:32]>> Right. Right.

[00:03:33]>> was not like that because they judge on how hard the question they ask and they don't judge like suppose if someone gets easy question and he solves and someone gets hard question he doesn't he doesn't solve but then they judge the like how well are you going forward to solve the question and when you are not getting the correct answer.

[00:03:52]>> Yes. yes. They take a look at your approach, your problem-solving abilities. And it's of course that yeah, in the placement season there's of course we feel like oh that was easy this was easy. Some topic that is easy to him might be difficult to him and vice versa, right? So, that is always going to be there. Well, so it was on campus, right? So, Google was actually on campus and that is how you were able to do this. Right? So, let's let's talk quickly a little bit about your journey to getting into IIT. So, how how is IIT Madras like? What's it like?

[00:04:18]>> It's like greenery everywhere and they are like good stadiums also like to play sports and you have food court to eat and all that. Classrooms are also good.

[00:04:31]>> Wow, okay.

[00:04:32]>> Let's we see deers every day.

[00:04:35]>> Oh, you see deers every day. Oh, wow.

[00:04:36]That's that's nice. There's wildlife, there's greenery and stuff like that.

[00:04:40]All right. So, you want to talk about what was your preparation journey maybe getting into IIT Madras?

[00:04:48]>> Yeah, so mostly I had prepared through a coaching center.

[00:04:52]>> Okay. Do you want to name the coaching center?

[00:04:55]>> Yeah, Allen.

[00:04:56]>> Allen, so okay you were studying at Allen. Perfect.

[00:04:59]>> And mostly just consisted of you know daily revision of all the topics that are required for the exam.

[00:05:05]>> Okay.

[00:05:06]Wow. And what was your rank again if I may?

[00:05:09]>> It was around 400.

[00:05:11]>> AIR 400. Wow, that is that is massive.

[00:05:14]And Akshat, what was your rank?

[00:05:15]>> I was AI 148.

[00:05:18]>> AIR 148. My goodness. That takes some real preparation to get that that rank.

[00:05:23]I I cannot even fathom. My rank was uh well, 10,000s like 16, 17,000. But yeah, it's it's really amazing. And it has been how many weeks since you started internship here?

[00:05:35]>> It's been 4 weeks and currently I am like in my fifth week of internship.

[00:05:39]>> You're in your fifth week. I think you have an internship for how many 8 weeks?

[00:05:42]>> 10 weeks.

[00:05:43]>> 10 weeks. All right. So, the internship lasts for 10 weeks. Now, I'm going to ask something really interesting, which I'm sure you're all wondering. Are you comfortable disclosing your stipend for the entire internship? You don't have to give the exact number, you can just give a rough estimate. I mean, people know it already, but let's just hear it from the people actually working.

[00:06:00]>> So, um our stipend is around um 2 lakh for >> For the entire tenure. All right, that's 2 lakh rupees for 10 weeks.

[00:06:09]>> And uh along with that, we have a relocation bonus, like for the people who live outside.

[00:06:16]>> Right. Right. There's also a relocation bonus. Google takes care of that, so that wherever you are, you can just uh commute, your hotel stay, and all that for a few weeks till you find a place to live here. That is really amazing. So, the most important thing was, I think, getting shortlisted, right? The company was already on campus. So, shortlisting happens with your resume. So, what did you do different in your resumes that you think got you shortlisted?

[00:06:37]>> I'd say the primary factor that got me shortlisted was my interest in competitive programming.

[00:06:43]>> Wow. Okay, what about it?

[00:06:45]>> So, I had a few achievements regarding that, like a high Codeforces rating >> Okay.

[00:06:49]>> and participating in ICPC and performing well.

[00:06:52]>> Wow, that is a big deal, guys. Uh were you in ICPC as well?

[00:06:56]>> Uh I also participated in ICPC, and I went to Asia West Regionals this last year.

[00:07:02]>> Wow, so the important factor in their resume was their Codeforces rating, and they have both participated in ICPC. I think you remember I think I remember you guys telling that you were in finals.

[00:07:14]Regional finals?

[00:07:15]>> Yeah, Asia West Pacific finals.

[00:07:17]>> Wow, that is huge. My goodness. I mean, that's that's great, guys. You want to keep going, keep doing CP. It It takes you places. I mean, it opens doors a lot. So, well, if you guys have any other questions you'd like me to ask them, I'm happy to answer them in the comments. So, let us know what you think about it, and thank you so much for joining Pulkit and Akshat. I'm sure it's going to be very helpful for the people.

[00:07:39]Uh if you watched till the end, thank you so much for watching. Don't forget to like, comment, share, and subscribe.

[00:07:44]I will see you in my next video.

[00:07:46]>> Bye-bye.

[00:07:46]>> Bye-bye.