Working at Google? What does it take to be a Googler?

Google undoubtedly is one of the coolest places to work at if you are a tech enthusiast, futurist, idea maniac, business fanatic or a simple soul looking for excitement at the workplace. Everybody wants to work there and I can go on and on about why and what makes Google so appealing to work at. But this article is not about what makes Google a great workplace. No sir. This article is about what takes to be an employee at Google.

Yes, you have a sparkling clean Resume. Yes, that was a very well written cover letter. Yes, you do seem to have quite the ‘year count’ under the ‘experience’ section. Should Google hire you? Not quite yet.

Here’s a crystal clear look at my life. For the past few years, I’ve been working as an Aspiring Entrepreneur investing my time, money and mind power into developing ‘weird’ and ‘cool’ services. As soon as I graduated from college, I bootstrapped my first commercial startup with a co-founder and colleague I met at my college. While my colleagues from college applied to renowned Software Engineering and Local Tech Companies, we were up all night trying to bootstrap our own little ‘weird hut’. Skip to 2016, the startup is a miniature success in my eyes and everything is working out well.

Why do I w̶a̶n̶t̶ need to work at Google?

Startups are a great way to learn so many things about the world and the industry. We start off from nothing and we place blocks of success one after another. Sometimes the blocks fall down causing a minor domino effect on previous successes but new blocks of success rise up and keep the startup afloat and growing.

What’s the lesson to learn from this? Anyone with sheer will and a weird mind that dreams about products and services that don’t make any sense in the current timeline (but will make sense over the course of time) can bootstrap a startup from scratch. However, there’s one important thing that’s missing in my life. A very very important block of success that will help me build my future..

The Art of Associating, Connecting, Thinking like a Googler

I need to familiarize myself with the art of forward thinking, connecting dots, working with similar weirdos and building products and services that will outlive my name. This is something that the Google brand name alone cannot teach me. This is something that the Google Culture will teach me.

One cannot move into a new city and call themselves a local. One needs to familiarize themselves with their customs, traditions and their ways and means and live their life in their shoes to become a part of them

Ever since I first heard of Google, I’ve wanted to be part of their team and build amazing things. Do great things. Back then, I didn’t have anything to offer them, yet I craved to work midst their great minds. I didn’t know what they expected in an employee.. until recently, I figured it out.

What you don’t need to have..

Google doesn’t want you to be Tech Literate

Google doesn’t require you to have a killstreak of ‘years of experience’

Google doesn’t expect you to have a high score of ‘number of companies you’ve worked at’

What you need to have..

The world is changing. The way people think and the way humans interact with each other evolves and transcends every millisecond. What does it take to be great in a world so dynamic? What can I do to work at one of the most prestigious companies in the current generation?

Crave

Crave to work in a competitive environment where work is so dynamic and never static. Crave to experience new moments and new challenges and never regret the decision to try new things. Crave to Innovate. Crave to liberate yourself from the needs and wants of yesterday and..

Seek what’s next

It’s always about what’s next and not about what happened before. Never repent over the experience you never got or the lessons you never learnt. Be ready for the experience that’s ahead of you and the lessons you are about to learn. Always Crave and Seek what’s next and be..

Willing to Fail

The world and the industry isn’t all dandelions and dancing monkeys in colorful attire. One has to fail, wake up, get up, brush their knees and be ready for the next fall. If you are afraid to fail and fall, how are you hoping to live the rest of your life? With all these incredible tips that will make you a part of this Generation Y, don’t forget to be..

Forward Thinking

The Products and Services that Google sports right now are incredible and flawless. Heads up, they could be better. There’s always a way to make things better. There’s always a window to transcend things in life. Never settle, always re-imagine and reinvent the wheel. There’s no such thing as a ‘forever kinda thing’. There’s always a subtle change that’ll revolutionize something. Apply all these lessons in life and make sure you..

Be yourself

Google achieved everything they have achieved by being this ‘weird’, ‘funky’ and ‘googly’ community. They are a group of ultra normal people who share a very common trait: ‘being themselves while they do what they love doing’

These are lessons that I learnt as an aspiring entrepreneur of 22 years of age. These are lessons that I am hoping to apply at Google and support their vision. If you truly believe you are a game changer and a world changer, cultivate the aforementioned qualities.

So while I wait..

..for my tenure as a Google Employee, I made a promise to myself that I will keep getting better. Stick to your Guns (skills) and Reload (practice) them every single hour.

No harm can come out of a person who invests their time to be better. Don’t waste your time, always do something productive. Something or some kind of good will come out of it. This, I know first hand.

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Future Googler,
Dinuka Jayasuriya