Generation Google Scholarship Interview Process

If you have landed here. First of all, Congratulations!! 

You are among the top selects and that is an achievement in itself. So, Kudos to you! 👏

I was a Generation Google Scholar (previously known as WomenTechMakers Scholar) in 2019. Below are some tips for cracking the interview process that I gathered over time. 

I hope they help 😊

Homework You Can Do:

• Prepare an answer for “Describe yourself”. Mainly focus on your technical skills and the activities you have done/are doing for the community.
• Prepare each project you have mentioned in your resume/answers properly. Make sure to know the following:

1. Programming Languages, Libraries and Frameworks
2. Impact of your work
3. Things you learnt
4. Features implemented and Possible Improvements
5. Scalability and How to generate revenue

• Advertise Yourself
• Talk about women who inspire you!
• Figure out what “Being a Woman in Tech” means to you.
• Talk as if you are communicating with a friend and are discussing your journey in tech. Have passion in your voice.
• They might ask you general use cases of technology or how you can make the world a better place with it.  For example, how can you reduce pollution using technology? Think for a while and then answer. Don't rush.
• Talk about your initiatives and their impacts. Again, you should sound passionate. It's all in tone. When you are proud of your achievements, it won't be a forced effort. 
• In the end, they usually ask whether you have any questions for them or not. Prepare at least one question, as it leaves an impression. It can be as simple as discussing the work culture at Google.

Some Previous Year Interview Questions: 

1. Detailed discussion on Resume. All your projects, how you bagged each opportunity. They do this to evaluate how credible and technically sound you are.
   
2. How did you get into Computer Science?
   
3. How involved are you in the community? Here, mention any sessions you took, social work you did or any sort of participation in events/initiatives.
   
4. Have you observed any impact after putting in your efforts?
   
5. How do you include shy people, people suffering from imposter syndrome?
   
6. Do you not feel your efforts are limited to a few people and may not include everybody? 
   
7. What about Transfer of Power? 
   
8. What is the next big thing in tech?
   
9. Tell me about some challenges of technology and how to overcome them.
   
10. What do you do for fun? 
    
11. Tell me something I am missing. (Maybe mention some project/achievement you haven't discussed yet)
    
12. Why do you think you deserve this scholarship?
13. Your one biggest achievement?
14. How do you plan on using the resources of a tech giant like Google to encourage more women in tech?
15. Discuss one major challenges you faced in this field yet.

General TODOs:

• Keep your phone charged.
  
• Sit near an area with good connectivity.
  
• Ask for rescheduling the interview if you are not available in the time slot.
  
• Take your time before answering each question.
  
• Don’t panic or get nervous!
  
• Sound confident while answering.
  
• Silence makes you look dumb. Discussions leave a great impact and they even provide hints to help you answer better. So don't go silent, keep them engaged in the conversation.
• Be prepared to face a different accent.
  

P.S. Maybe drop your interview experience in the comments to help others out :)