Google Veterans Summit 2015

Google Veterans Summit 2015

(By a first year MBA student in attendance)

I had the pleasure of attending the Google Student Veterans Summit (GSVS) from July 8 through July 10.  The Google Student Veterans Team gave 45 vets who were beginning an MBA program this fall or currently enrolled the opportunity to come visit the Mountain View campus and experience Google’s unique culture, all expenses paid.

The program started Wednesday afternoon, so most of the attendees flew in Wednesday morning.  First, we met the fantastic team who invited us out to Mountain View.  They were as excited for us to visit as we were to attend.

Throughout the whole event we constantly had opportunities to meet with current Googlers, both full-time employees and interns.  Each meal we had, on and off the campus, Google veterans came to meet us, share their experience, and answer the questions we had about working there.

The surprise of the trip was when the Google Veterans Team told us that walking around Google’s campus in such a large group had gathered some attention.  One of the veterans who was not affiliated with GSVS reached out and offered to show us what he was working on at Google.  We got to see a self-driving car!  He explained a lot of the science that was guiding the car (much of it was over my head) and we got to see the car up close.  

Also, we had three question and answer panels with various guests.  One was with full-time veteran employees, another was with Google recruiters, and the last was with current MBA interns.  All of these sessions were very enlightening, and the panelists answered all of our questions about working at Google.  

We toured much of the Google campus (the slides and nap pods are real).  We also saw the Android Park, visitor’s center, and got to buy some swag at the Google store before taking an Uber to the airport Friday afternoon. 

Reflecting on my experience, I thought the summit was run very well, and I had a great time.  Google did a great job allowing veterans from many MBA programs to attend, so we had a chance to meet other MBA vets from all over the country in addition to the numerous Google employees and interns who taught us a lot about the company.  If you have an interest in working for Google and are heading to B-School next year, I highly recommend applying to the Google Student Veterans Summit for next summer.  Maybe I’ll get a chance to intern at Google for the summer and see you there!