Hello! I am Abd-Elrahman from Egypt, a Software Engineering intern at Google via STEP program. This is how I landed the internship!
My Background
I’ve always been passionate about artificial intelligence, robotics, data structures, and algorithms. I have participated in and won multiple national and international Olympiads and contests in these fields. I am a gold, silver, and bronze medalist in the Egyptian Olympiad in Informatics, Champion of the Egyptian Collegiate Programming Contest (ECPC) for teens, Gold medalist in the Arab & African Collegiate Programming Championship, Champion of the Egyptian Informatics Olympiad in Teams, Champion of RoboCup Junior in Egypt. In addition, I represented Egypt in Asia-Pacific Informatics Olympiads and twice in the International Informatics Olympiad in Teams.
Internship Application Process
Many companies offer a unique type of Internship, like the STEP program in Google , which primarily targets freshmen and sophomores college students. It's designed to give students outside of junior and senior years a chance to apply in a separate pool.
Important note: There is no application fee. This is important because many scammers, especially on LinkedIn, try to swindle applicants by claiming there is one.
Applications open in mid September on the Google Careers website. I knew someone who worked at Google Munich, so I asked her for a referral for my CV. A referral maximizes your chances to bypass the first round of screening, which is an automated process that filters candidates for the interview stage.
I applied in October, and it usually takes about a month to get a decision. However, I received my decision on March 1st, which coincidentally was also the day I received my acceptance to the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) with a full-ride scholarship. It was a hell of a day for me, imagining that if one day I could return one year earlier to tell my younger self that in only one year I will place an internship at one of the biggest FAANG companies and on the same day I will be accepted in one of the top 30 universities in the world, I would probably had fainted out of laughter. Anyway, you can watch my live reaction to these decisions here.
After passing the screening, I had to go through two technical 45 minute interviews with a 15-minute break between them. The questions were similar to competitive programming problems, like those on LeetCode, which is the best resource to prepare with, by the way. I scheduled my interviews for next week.
Interviews
My first interview was conducted by an interviewer from Google Paris. The first question he asked was, “What is the project you are most proud of?” I talked about my International Science Engineering Fair (ISEF) project from high school, which involved high-level technology that could change the lives of people with disabilities, though it was unfortunately halted due to financial constraints. The interviewer was impressed by the project.
After that, he gave me the first problem to solve, which I completed in a few minutes. He then asked some technical questions about my solution and realized that the question was too easy for me. So, he gave me a more challenging one that wasn’t typically given to freshmen interns. The problem was: “You are given a set of airports and some flights. For each flight, you are given the start airport and destination airport of the flight and the cost of the flight. Write a program to compute the minimum possible cost to go from some airport S to another airport T” He told me that, unfortunately, we only had 15 minutes left, so I could just explain the logic. However, I ended up writing the entire code in 5 minutes! The interviewer was shocked and told me he had never seen someone write a Dijkstra algorithm that quickly. He was impressed and shared his own story of working at Google.
My second interview was conducted by someone from Google U.S. The first question was about the Fibonacci sequence. After explaining the solution, he asked if there was a more optimal way. I said yes, but the solution involved more complexity using matrices, matrix exponentiation, and fast power. I explained the approach, and the interviewer was so surprised that he had to search for it himself to see if such an algorithm existed. He asked me to write the initial code, which I completed. I also aced the second question, and the interview ended.
Two weeks later, I received acceptance into the STEP internship and began the matching phase.
Matching Phase
The matching phase starts with an IPI (Initial Phone Interview) call with a recruiter to discuss salary, bonuses, etc. She informed me that I would have a matching call with a host team from the London office. A couple of days later, I received a call from the host team in which explaining their project, and I asked questions about the work environment. After the call, I wrote a review about whether I thought the project was a good fit for me. The host team did the same, and the recruiter reviewed both assessments. Fortunately, I received an offer after the first matching call, which is quite rare.
Visa and work authorization
However most of the visa processes are silly, it's arbitrary that Google contracted with Deloitte. Deloitte is a finance company contracted with Google to finish all the Visa processes and work authorization for interns across the nation. They booked an appointment with the embassy for me, finished the Visa processes, and delivered my passport to my home.
Life at Google
The internship lasts for 3 months, from July to September. It covers all my needs, including a bonus salary specifically for dorms and living expenses.
The Google office is like a dream! You can literally live there—it has a gym, micro-kitchens, nap pods, a sauna, baristas, and three large kitchens. It’s equipped with everything you could wish for.
Do You Have an Advantage if You Apply Again the Following Year?
At the end of the internship, the manager writes a final evaluation of the intern. If the evaluation is superior, you receive a return offer. This offer allows you to skip the interview stage and go straight to the matching phase. I’m working hard to earn a return offer.
Life in London
As an Egyptian, adjusting to life in London was a bit different, but I've found ways to make it enjoyable! While some people here think "fun" means drinking, I’ve discovered plenty of other ways to have a good time. I play football every Friday with other Egyptians, which is always a highlight of my week.
Here is a sample of my day while working: I start my day by waking up at 10:00 AM and heading to the office. Once I get there, I have breakfast before starting my work. I usually work until 1:00 PM, and then I head out to have lunch with the team. I love chilling with the team during lunchtime – it’s a great time to relax and connect.
After lunch, I go up to the 11th floor to the barista for my coffee, which has become a daily ritual for me. Then, I return to the office and continue working until around 7:00 PM. That’s when it’s time for dinner.
After dinner, if I still have unfinished work, I head back to finish it up. But if I’m done for the day, I prefer going for a walk around the streets. It's a great way to unwind and clear my mind after a long day.
When I’m not working, I love exploring the city, going shopping, and visiting iconic monuments. I also enjoy hanging out with the other interns and trying out new restaurants and cuisines. London is a fantastic place for socializing, and I even find myself randomly chatting with people on the streets!
On weekends, I like to visit other cities like Brighton, Dover, and even Edinburgh in Scotland. One of the most exciting things I've done is hiking. It’s both challenging and rewarding, and I’ve already done it three times since being in the UK!
