Episode 4.1 Becoming a Googler in London
Hi friends! Been a while, 2 years and 7 months to be exact. How are you? Hope things are going well for you! Well, things have changed for me surely and I want to share these updates for you! Sit tight, grab a cup of tea and lets spend the next 7 minutes together.
In January after working on a project for a company called OneDome, I joined the company full-time in March as a Product Manager. If you have not heard of that company, check them out — they are changing the property industry in the UK with their innovative solutions! Having said that, my journey there was short lived. A friend, who is working at youtube messaged me in late May. Knowing that I wanted to join Google and knowing my passion towards YouTube as a customer, she told me about an open position. Being in doubt, I thought about it a bit and asked her to refer me and she did. At that time my thinking was that, if I get the offer, I can decide if I stay or if I move. If I did not get the offer, I have nothing to lose anyway and I will not live with doubt in mind for the rest of my life.
So, I worked on my Resume, making sure it matches job description and requirements. Note: matching job description does no mean writing down things that are not true, it basically means focusing on your experiences that are closely related to the requirements and leaving out the ones that are not relevant. I also made sure to add a bit of creativity, adding design elements from YouTube search bar on top and at the bottom. (See the Medium blog page to see that). Once Resume was submitted, I thankfully got a call from recruiter, after which series of 4 more interviews have followed. So, how did I prepare for those and what can you do as well? First, research the product and get as much info about the role as possible. Use LinkedIn, Glassdoor and company websites to get that info. Watch ‘’Life at Google’’ YouTube channel and definitely watch the videos of Jeff Sipe. His videos are the best for Google Interviews and provided most of the much needed guidance. As you can already guess, interviews went well and I joined the company. Cannot go into details of what was asked, but can tell you what was not asked. Despite all the myths online about questions on filling the bus with the golf balls, they are not used anymore as the data showed that they are not that effective.
Anyway, got my offer in July and after Visa work, started my intro in August. Had to quickly find a flat in London and work on paper work and all other logistics. Thankfully a friend was driving down to London and as I live almost minimally, several suitcases and bags was enough to take all of my stuff. One blessing in disguise coming to London in August of 2021 was that it was end of a Covid era. The curfew, quarantines were not there, but the companies still had largely flexible conditions and people generally worked from home. Little did I know that we are going to see the effects of it later, but at that it was actually good. The reason behind it, I was not overwhelmed with all the benefits and people. Considering that I worked either by myself in my bedroom or from coffee shops with my tiny team in Edinburgh, with a minimum salary for 6+ years, it would easily overwhelm me. Unimaginable office perks, office with thousands of people and big city of London would have created anxiety. Thus, easing into things was actually a plus. We still had perks, but all were limited too, thus never had a Google Stone — If you do not know what it is just Google it. Will come back to benefits and perks in other episodes, but lets just shortly touch on what I do here?
I am a Partner Operations Manager for YouTube for Turkish Market. Meaning, I help our biggest partners and creators with their product related issues and questions and become a bridge between our specialist teams or engineers and our partners. This role was perfect for several reasons: 1. I kept my link and contact with Türkiye. If you know me, you know how much I love that country. 2. I was working with a product that I love as a user. 3. We worked with our product specialists to develop the product further. 4. We work on other internal projects to develop our products and operations. Beside the first reason, other three reasons are very important for me, as being an entrepreneur and PM before Google, I want to keep growing my career on this path and I want to keep building or creating. This role was a perfect first step and I am still here 2 years later. We will talk about careers and progress in the upcoming episodes.
But for now this concludes our first episode, where I share my story of becoming a Googler. Thanks for reading, make sure to check the ProdActivity podcast on Spotify and listen to previous episodes.
