Friday, February 29, 2008

Google Student Ambassador Programme

A couple of days ago I received an email from a university programs coordinator at Google about the Google Student Ambassador Programme they are launching in Africa and the Middle East. One student is selected from a university as the student ambassador and his role is responsible for representing Google at his university. This involves organising Google-sponsored events and handing out Google goodies. One of their popular things they like to do is organise pizza for the other students during exams and other deadlines when people are pulling all-nighters.

The requirements of the job are pretty standard:

  • Student in Computer Science or related field
  • 2nd or 3rd year undergraduate or graduate-level student
  • Excellent academic performance (equivalent to an A- mean grade or above)
  • One-year commitment
  • Active in university student community
  • Passion for technology, innovation and learning
But not the benefits :P :
  • Leadership role
  • Exposure for your university at Google
  • Free food
  • Google gear
  • Admiration from your CS peers
It's a small step, but an interesting one I find. Very often companies approach the staff as an entrance point into universities, but not with Google. Yes, they did have a series of meetings one day with our staff, but they have made a far greater effort in approaching the students directly. Is it necessarily a good thing though? Well, it is unusual and that alone gives it a chance of working. But in many cases students just aren't interested in this sort of thing.

Is the fact that they are just Google going to make this work? Would it work for any other company? My feeling is that it very much depends on the company and its culture. NVIDIA, for example, has the right culture to make a strong student-company relationship work as well. I was actually trying to discuss this very sort of relationship with them towards the end of my internship. I think it also requires that the student has an active interest in the company, such as I do in Google.

If you are interested in applying (and you are a UCT student) then let me know and I can recommend you to Google. I found some further information on the program here and you can also read the email below. This is definitely a step forwards, but I hope it moves further.

The full email I received:
Dear Marco,

I hope this email finds you well.

We wanted to get in touch with regards to a Google Student Ambassador Programme we have just launched for students enrolled at universities in Middle East and Africa.

The Google Student Ambassador Programme, an exciting new opportunity open to high-achieving technical students at select universities in Middle East and Africa.

Google Student Ambassadors are the voice of Google on university campuses and work with Google to plan and implement university events, which promote information technology, Google products, and student learning.

Ambassadors act as a technical resource amongst their fellow students and a university liaison for Google. Students who participate in this programme become part of an international network of students dedicated to improving knowledge transfer between industry and academia.

One student per university is chosen to serve for the duration of the academic year, after which they'll receive an official certificate in recognition of their achievements and contributions in this role. While the responsibilities associated with this position are a considerable time commitment, they are also a fun way to learn more about Google and give back to the university community.

Being a former intern we believe you know Google, our culture and products very well and could make you a very good ambassador.

We have just launched the programme and are currently soliciting details of interested students to whom we will reach out with more information about how to apply to become a Google Student Ambassador by March 10th, 2008. I wanted to get in touch with you before though to see whether you would be interested in applying for the programme.

If you can't commit, maybe you know fellow students that you could refer?

The requirements for becoming an Ambassador are:

  • Student in Computer Science or related field
  • 2nd or 3rd year undergraduate or graduate-level student
  • Excellent academic performance (equivalent to an A- mean grade or above)
  • One-year commitment
  • Active in university student community
  • Passion for technology, innovation and learning
If you can think of someone who would make a great ambassador, please do not hesitate to send me their contact details and we will reach out to them with further details by March 10th, 2008.

Please let me know should you have any questions in the meantime.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,

Maria

7 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. hi mate..
    my name is osama and i have just read about the google ambassador progam through your blog! i am a student of software engineering myself in pakistan and now i am thinking where was i! why didnt i read this before?
    sadly i am the micrsoft student partner and brother it sucks! my skills were on c,c++,bash shell,linux, php and java.. but just coz MS the big bro b4 google wants u to use their technology i had to shift to c# .. i hate it!
    but now thanks to u i will try to get into this program at google.. just hoping that they allow it in my country.. if they dont, can u help? i am sure they wont be dissapointed at all to see how excited people are here about google products..
    my email is:
    osamakhn@gmail.com
    a great post and maybe some hope for me sticking to opensource and c++ which is discouraged in my country coz microsoft rules here ..
    have a nice day.. pretty long for a comment .. lol..

    regards,
    osamakhan

    Software Engineering (Major) with Marketing

    Institute of Business Administration, Karachi
    Pakistan

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  3. IM FAZULUL RAHMAN, CURRENTLY PURSUING MY THIRD YEAR BE(COMPUTER ENGINEERING). IN OUR COLL THERE IS A CLUB AND COMMUNITY FOR MICROSOFT . BUT I WISH THAT I MUST CERTAINLY CREATE A COMMUNITY FOR SPREADING GOOGLE'S TECHNOLOGIES AND ITS PRODUCTS.. SO PLZ DO HELP ME OUT IN THIS PROCESS. I REALLY HAVE A PASSION OF BECOMING GOOGLE'S AMBASSADOR.. PLZ DO CONTACT ME...


    FAZULULRAHMAN@GMAIL.COM

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  4. hey....am doing my masters from the University of Edinburgh and would like to be considered for the Google ambassador programme.Please let me know the details.
    Thanks for your forthcoming response.

    cheers!!!
    Pradeep Ghosh(showstopperhbk09@gmail.com)

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  5. Hi marco....
    This is karthik. I have great interest in becoming a google ambassador. Its my dream to work with google(ofcourse in developing i thought). Well, chances such as this are pretty good too. If there is any way you can help me out please do so. my emails newgenkarthik@gmail.com

    And as a matter of factly....I do qualify to those requirements you mentioned earlier.
    Hoping a reply!!

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  6. sure get a lot of indians through here

    ReplyDelete