What's so special about Google?

We've dug in to find out the things worth knowing about Google's Australian entity

Google Australia started with just one person in 2002 and has grown to almost 2000 people across Sydney and Melbourne. Now they have more than 700 software engineers in Australia working on products like Fitbit, Google Maps, Chrome and Photos.

Project F certified since 2022

Google is thrilled to be partnering with Project F to take on this important challenge with a systemic approach to breaking down barriers within Google Australia.

Anil Sabharwal,

Product VP & GM (and Exec Sponsor of the Project F accreditation program)

Sydney is one of Google’s largest global engineering centres and was the birthplace of Google Maps and the Go programming language

Their Sydney HQ has some pretty cool attributes, including water views, a private cinema, a healthy juice bar and plenty of quiet zones for solitude and focus. It’s designed to be a space that fosters creativity in all forms, from quiet introspection to group collaboration and active fun. And the playful, colourful palette feels appealing and inclusive.

Google Australia joined Project F’s accreditation program early in 2022 to examine the structural barriers to a more gender-diverse software engineering workforce at senior and leader levels. The Google team has been amazing! Watch this space for case studies from the work we’re doing with them….

Tech Leadership Team

Roisin Parkes,

Director of Engineering

Grace Chung,

Director of Engineering

Daniel Nadasi,

Engineering Director

Melanie Silva,

MD & VP

Dave O'Flynn,

Engineering Leader, EVs

Anthony Frith,

Engineering Director

Tech teams

Fitbit
Maps
Chrome
Cloud Platform
Wearables
Electric Vehicles
Continuous Improvements and Automation
Network Engineering
Network LifeCycle

Tech stack

Golang / Java / Javascript / Swift / Python / C++ / Kubernetes / Angular JS / Android SDK / Preact / Dart

Tech interview process

Engineering/Tech: Check out our full guide HERE

Informal call with someone from the Google recruiting team to run through your CV, find out what you're looking for an explain the process
The second stage is a series of structured 1:1 interactive interviews with peers and engineers that includes a couple of sessions on coding and a non-tech interview on cultural alignment and leadership qualities
The final stage involves a review (calibration) of everything from your interviews, by an objective team and a recruiter will be in touch soon afterwards to discuss the outcome with you.

This whole process usually takes around 4-6 weeks to complete
There are no brain-teasers and no white-boarding!
You can choose to interview in the language you're comfortable with

You can prepare by brushing up on:

Data Structures: Arrays, Sets, Binary Trees, Linked Lists, Maps, Heaps, Stacks, Queues and Graphs
Algorithms: Sorting, searching and binary search, Divide-and-conquer, Greedy algorithms, Recursion, Graph traversal, breadth-and-depth-first

Google's Mission, Values and Principles

Google's mission has become well known around the world - "To organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful."

Here are the full Ten things of Google:

Focus on the user and all else will follow
It’s best to do one thing really, really well
Fast is better than slow
Democracy on the web works
You don’t need to be at your desk to need an answer
You can make money without doing evil
There’s always more information out there
The need for information crosses all borders
You can be serious without a suit
Great just isn’t good enough

Focus on the user and all else will follow

It’s best to do one thing really, really well

You don’t need to be at your desk to need an answer

Democracy on the web works

You can make money without doing evil

You can be serious without a suit

All the good stuff

Here's what we have learned about what Google offers employees. Details in the dropdowns below, but a few standouts are:

18 weeks paid parental leave for both parents that covers childbirth, adoption, surrogacy and fostering & no qualifying period
Part-time and job-share included in an excellent flex policy
Teladoc Health partner for medical second opinions
Emerging leader program and mentoring programs
Subsidised health insurance for Googlers and their dependents
Dog-friendly offices!

Career development

Learning – Google’s ‘Grow’ courses cover everything from programming languages to public speaking. There’s also an education subsidy designed to reimburse you for part of courses or training taken outside of work
Mobility – Google encourages employees to explore internal mobility across teams, functions and locations
Mentoring programs – Google has a number of formal mentoring programs
Emerging leader program – To identify and accelerate the growth of future leaders
Network and Employee Resource Groups – Dedicated groups for women in tech including a tech women’s network and ERG

Financial benefits

Risk insurances – Life, Total & Permanent Disability Insurance, Income Protection Insurance for all Googlers and additional survivor income benefits for those with spouse/partner and/or child(ren)

Wellbeing & balance

Part-time and job-share, remote and hybrid – These options are available, some by application
Work-From-Anywhere – 4 weeks or 20 business days per year – great for those long-haul trips to see overseas family, or just enjoying a change of scenery somewhere new
Health Insurance – Subsidised for employees and dependents
Onsite GP and counselling – EAP for employees and dependents (onsite GP only available in SYD, however, they also have onsite counselling services in addition to EAP)
Gym – There is a large, fully decked out gym on-site in Sydney, plus a fitness studio offering guided classes and spacious, well-equipped changing rooms with showering facilities
Teladoc Health – Google partners with Teladoc to provide medical second opinions and ensure employees and their loved ones are fully informed about care and can be confident when making any health-related decision. All services are provided remotely for free.
Annual leave – 20 days, plus one additional day off during the Christmas period, the option to purchase up to 5 additional days of leave per year
Volunteer leave – 20 hours per year is given to full-time employees for volunteering, great for those altruistic folks among us
Family benefits – adoption assistance, surrogacy assistance, backup child care benefit
Perks – Meals are provided in Sydney with a range of onsite cafe/restaurants and dogs are welcome in the Sydney office (yay!)
Other leave – Caring for sick family leave for up to 4 weeks, applies to people with statutory sick/carer’s leave balance under 20 days

Family & paid parental leave

Equal leave – Both parents are given 18 weeks of paid parental leave that can be taken within the new child’s first 12 months. There is also 2 weeks of ramp-back time paid at full pay while you’re working at only 50%. Paid parental leave covers childbirth, adoption, surrogacy and fostering
Birthing parent – In addition to the 18 weeks, birthing parents get an additional 6 weeks paid leave to help with physical recovery
Qualifying period for PPL – None
Superannuation – Google continues to pay superannuation contributions throughout PPL

Interview Tips from Google Software Engineers

Google Software Engineers Oliver, Tremayne, and Vivian share their advice for engineering interviews at Google.

The stuff you want to know from Google

Operating Sustainably at Google

At Google, our goal is to achieve net-zero emissions across all of our operations and value chain by 2030. We aim to reduce 50% of our combined Scope 1, 2 (market-based), and 3 absolute emissions (versus our 2019 baseline) before 2030, and plan to invest in nature-based and technology-based carbon removal solutions to neutralize our remaining emissions.

Empowering Women and Girls

The Google.org Impact Challenge for Women and Girls (watch) commits $25 million to fund organizations creating pathways to prosperity for women and girls. This is an open call for applications, and selected charitable initiatives will receive up to $2 million, as well as opportunities for mentorship and additional support from Google.

A Day In the Life of a Software Engineer

Meredith Lane, Software Engineer - Chrome Accessibility

6:30 AM Finally get myself out of bed to start getting ready. I gather up all my things and head to the gym for a session before work. Normally I'd go to the gym earlier than this, but I was up late last night reading so I needed the extra sleep. It's okay though, because I know I'll stay at work a little bit later today so will make up for it.

Current opportunities

Here are a few of the current opportunities in technology at Google.

Senior Software Engineer

Focus: Wear's iOS Connectivity in the Fitbit team. You will lead, own, maintain, improve, and evolve Wear’s iOS Connectivity/ Communications stack. Set the future roadmap in collaboration with the Android and Wear OS Connectivity team. Write applications and develop prototypes.

Test Engineer

In the Wearables team, using subject matter expertise in consumer electronic system software and hardware architecture, own and drive wearables testing and performance strategy for quality.

iOS Software Engineer

Working in the Fitbit team, you'll collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver new features and products. Write user-facing mobile applications, create robust high-volume production applications, and develop prototypes quickly.

Want to learn more?

Let Google know you're interested now!

If you’re interested in learning more about opportunities with Google, complete the form and a member of the team will reach out to you directly to chat.

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