Joining Google! How it all started...

I am very excited to join Google! This is perhaps the best career move for me. It has been my dream to work at Google ever since I graduated. Then why have I not been working in Google from the start of my career? Why join Motorola? Here is a timeline to put everything in perspective.

Summer of 2001:
My GRE exam is on August 1, 2001. Preparations are underway with one target in mind - "I have to join MIT". But no amount of hard work could prepare me for the dooms day. I wrote the exam and the scores were not as good as I anticipated. I was totally dejected. I knew then that I lost any chance of getting into MIT. And from that day to this day I kept complaining that "I could not join MIT". Only a few handful of people knew how depressed I was during that time.

Fast forward 3 years.

August 2004:
I joined University of Arizona in 2002 and I was close to completing my Masters. I had no plans of doing PhD. I lost all hope to join MIT. But I knew one thing I could do that will be as close as joining MIT. And that was to join Google. I heard a lot about it and knew that Google only takes the best of the best. If I work in Google I can meet with some of the greatest minds. I also knew that I will not be able to join Google even with a perfect 4.0 GPA because I did not study at MIT. I did apply to Google however and never got an interview. So my complains grew to "I could not join MIT or Google". During that time I applied for a job in Motorola too and I got the job with just 2 interviews. But the complains did not stop.

March 2007:
The reason for applying for Google again and doing all I could do to get there started here. In one of the conversations I was having on the evening of that fateful day, I unemotionally complained again about not being in MIT and Google and how much I have lost. This is when my best friend Sreelu decided that she needs to put an end to my bemoaning. She told me that I have no reason to complain since I did not try hard enough. Previously when she told me that I did not get MIT because I did not try, I had to agree. Yes I did not apply my mistake. May be if my essay (statement of purpose) was strong then even if my scores weren't that great I could have had a chance. I will never know since I never applied. However I did apply for Google then why did I fail. She counters with "You did not try hard enough". Now that is a statement that cannot be underrated. I again applied to some interesting positions at Google and this time I did everything I could. I did networking, I talked to people. I convinced them of my talents. I did several projects and demonstrated them in interviews and in emails. I prepared very well for all the interviews and then end result is - I got an offer from Google!

Now I have no reason to complain. I reached where I initially did not even hope to enter. I am a happy man. Lessons learnt - "never say die" and "if you have the will to do, you should have the heart to dare". The principles by which I have always lived and will live. Thanks to Sreelu for reviving those principles. I am a Googler with no more complains about my life (much to the satisfaction of some of my friends ;-). I would like to thank Sumit Chachra (http://blog.chachra.us/), Sarah Sirajuddin and Kiran Mudiam who have been instrumental in landing my dream job.