Generation Google Scholarship Application Process, Tips.

Sudeepa Kolli
4 min readJul 7, 2020

Firstly, I’m glad to get selected as a scholarship recipient of the 2020 APAC Women Techmakers Scholar Program.

What is the Google Generation (formerly Women Techmakers) Scholars Program?

Through the Women Techmakers Scholars Program, formerly the Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship Program — Google is furthering Dr Anita Borg’s vision of creating gender equality in the field of computer science by encouraging women to excel in computing and technology and become active leaders and role models in the field.
It is to the girls of,
1) The United States and Canada
2) Europe, Middle East, and Africa
3) the Asia Pacific

Who can apply?
In 2020, the Women Techmakers Scholars Program was open for year 1 and year 2 undergraduate students.

To be eligible,
Identify as female.
Currently, be enrolled at an accredited university for the 2020–2021 academic year.
You should be studying computer science, computer engineering, or closely related technical fields.
Demonstrate a good academic record and a passion for technology.

So now, the Application Process,

Initially, all the applicants were asked to write the essays. One essay was about technology where I was fascinated to learn. And the other one is to explain an incident where I helped my community. In addition to these essays, all the applicants need to give their academic details and updated resume.

Tips:
Be genuine while submitting the essays and resume.
Try to express your passion through your answers.
Keep your essay realistic.
Use simple words instead of creating a mess.

And then, the Google Online Challenge.
All the applicants need to attempt this challenge. You need your unique challenge ID and the passkey for accessing the challenge.
In this challenge, there will be 30 questions on basic programming languages, algorithms, data structures, and guessing the output or errors for the given code. Answering all the questions in just 30 minutes is not simple.

Tips:
First, go through all the questions and answer the simple questions. Then go the time taking questions and try to solve them in enough time. Then in the last 3 minutes, mark all the unanswered questions. No negative marking for wrong answers.
Try to revise concepts of data structures and standard algorithms.
Don’t panic.

Then comes the breathtaking phase, The Interview.
After the submission of your application and the online challenge. Wait for the mail that you got shortlisted to round 2 where it is an interview with a google expert.
You then have to choose any time slot and then you’ll be getting a call on your mobile number. It’s a voice call.
Starting your preparation 2 days before the interview is enough. All the questions will be on the essays, resume you submitted previously. You will be asked to explain the essays and to explain your projects in the resume along with the challenges you faced and how you overcame them.

Tips:
Be confident and don’t get tensed. As soon as the interviewer calls you, he/she will make you feel free.
Be a person on your resume.
You’ll get the name of your interviewer in the mail. So, go through their profile and skills.
If he/she is an outreach expert, you will be questioned more on your outreach initiatives, questions on diversity, and inclusion.
If he/she is from a technical background, you might be asked more about your skills and projects.
Show your passion while talking to the interviewer.
The questions will not be straight. So, try to understand them and answer accordingly. If you didn’t get the question, ask him/her to repeat it.

And you’re done with all the tiers.
Wait for the mail that congratulates you.

Under the Asia Pacific region, you’ll be getting an amount of 1000USD. Await your welcome kit from Google.

Usually, there will be a retreat at any google office. But this COVID-19 didn’t let the retreat happen at google office but it will be virtual this year. It happened for 2 days.

Retreat Day-1
Retreat Day-2

Looking forward to productive engagements in the Techmakers community.

For any queries, feel free to drop a mail at sudeepa.kolli@gmail.com

Know more at my blog

You can reach me at LinkedIn, Github, Twitter.

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