Ams alumni's path to Google

Huy officially joined the software engineering team, Search Experience department (search experience for users) of Google, USA, from February. This is one of Google's prominent departments, with great success. Search engines will reach more than 2 billion visits by 84.

Huy's mission is to develop software and features that make the search process easier and more interesting. Before that, he was also officially invited to work by many large companies, such as ServiceNow.

According to Huy, to convince employers, setting long-term plans and preparing early is very important. At companies like Google, getting to the interview round is a process of effort. Huy has accumulated experience working on many large and small projects for more than 4 years, to show that he is a suitable candidate.

"I don't know when the opportunity will come, so I proactively practice my skills and accumulate experience, preparing myself to take advantage of it when the opportunity comes," he said.

Quang Huy has been passionate about technology since high school. The boy from the Math class 1 of Hanoi - Amsterdam specialized school has competed in many science competitions. Huy's outstanding achievement is the overall first prize of the Odyssey ASEAN+3 Science Camp for teenagers from 13 countries, organized by the Ministry of Science and Technology in Vietnam in 2017.

Huy then studied in the US, majored in Computer Science at Miami University and earned a degree in 3,5 years with an average score of more than 3.7/4. During this time, to satisfy his passion, Huy participated in many programming competitions. He twice participated in HackOHI/O, the hackathon - Ohio's largest annual programming race.

Quang Huy was also accepted as a Google intern, for the first time in his second year. According to Huy, Google's recruitment standards are very strict with many selection rounds, from resumes, professional assessments, and interviews.

"To catch their eye, your profile must be outstanding and meet the criteria they need," Huy said, commenting that Google does not care whether a candidate has worked at a large or small company but appreciates it. contributions and technological understanding.

Huy talked about his internship at Rakuna, a recruitment support software startup, when he returned to Vietnam to study online because of Covid-19. In addition to his experience directly programming new applications, Huy also shows that he constantly tries and takes advantage of learning time even when it's difficult.

Then there are two rounds of professional programming interviews. Huy evaluates these as the most "brain-stressing" rounds. Technology and programming knowledge is not limited to the school curriculum but is close to reality, requiring candidates to self-study and practice a lot.

First, the company gave two programming exercises, asking Huy to complete them in one hour and submit the solutions through the self-scoring platform. After achieving the required score, he was interviewed twice by phone, asking in-depth questions about programming. Not only answering questions about data structures and algorithms, Quang Huy also asked questions in return to the employer.

“When there was a problem, I spent the first 30 seconds not thinking of a specific solution. Instead of thinking further, I said that there were 3-4 directions, could they suggest which direction I should think next, thereby suggesting knowledge to get results," he recalled.

Huy learned this "tactic" when learning about Google's selection criteria, including communication and teamwork skills.

He was then asked more carefully about how to behave in the work environment. For example: Tell me about a time when you encountered difficulties in a project and how you overcame them; Have you ever had a disagreement with a colleague?; What did you do when you encountered new technology and how to improvise?... Formerly the deputy secretary of the Youth Union, head of the organizing committee of the 2018 Talent Festival, one of the school's most prominent activities, Huy had no difficulty with the this question.

This is also the situation Huy encountered in the first days of his internship. He was assigned a project that did not have complete details and requirements, and at the same time the person responsible for product design left. Huy immediately started doing his own research, figuring out how to program parts that weren't clearly described and proactively meeting with colleagues to ask for feedback. Then, he offers highly general data system designs that can be easily expanded as more details about project requirements become available. The final product met all requirements and was successfully tested.

At the end of 2022, Huy finished his first internship at Google, right at the time when American technology companies were mass laying off and tightening recruitment, including for interns. However, with careful preparation, he once again succeeded. In the second internship, the display language conversion product that Huy participated in programming was officially used.

Graduating at a time when the job market was difficult, Huy acknowledged that there was no job or company that was "unsatisfactory". The reason is that the technology industry in the US has many different segments, in many fields.

According to Huy, building working relationships is very important. Asking for letters of recommendation from acquaintances working at the companies he applied for was how Huy repeatedly entered the interview round. “Single spread” is also an experience of Huy. For example, if the average rate of passing the application round is 2%, it means that candidates must submit about 50 places to have a high chance of entering the interview round once.

Mr. To Duc Thien, technology director of Rakuna Company, had a special impression on the intern a few years ago. According to him, Huy is careful, hardworking, progressive and has deep thoughts.

“Huy not only does well technically but also has the ability to organize work, know how to connect, cooperate and support people. She finished her internship a long time ago but always tries her best to help with the work at her old company," he said.

Joining the world's leading technology corporation, Huy recognizes that he still has many things to improve. He aims to learn more about technology in general, search engines in particular, and continue to develop his programming skills.

“I will observe and learn the working style here. I hope that in the future I can bring that knowledge to work at domestic companies or on my own," Huy shared.