Internship Abroad

Internship abroad: gain work experience and travel the world

28 June 2006

Why not broaden your horizon and complete a company internship abroad? Most students who do so consider the experience to be one of the most valuable of their lives. Two ETH computer science students report about their stays in China and California.

Daniel Hottinger: Three months internship at Google Inc., Mountain View, California

Daniel Hottinger got in touch with Google at the Kontaktparty 2005. After a successful phone screening in which he had to answer dodgy technical questions he was accepted as an intern. The visa formalities were handled by the non-profit organization CSD International which helps foreign students obtain the J-1 visa for interns and other documents to enter the USA.

In August 2005 Daniel traveled to the headquarters of the search engine company in the Silicon Valley, about one hour from San Francisco by car. The 25-year-old student was working in the "Google Enterprise" division which develops search engine software for companies. During the three months of his stay he was assigned to work on a big project, but never felt left alone. "Each Google intern has a supervisor who gives advice in work-related matters and sometimes also tips for leisure time activities", Daniel says. He was impressed by the collegiality and enthusiasm of his co-workers as well as by the many possibilities to do sports on the company campus. Those who need a break also have the option to relax in a massage chair, play pool or strum on the company’s piano.

Working at Google can really be a lot of fun according to Daniel: "Once a week free Google T-shirts are distributed in a certain room of the 'Googleplex', however nobody exactly knows when. To find out when the T-shirts are delivered a clever co-worker installed a webcam, so everybody could see when something happens. Unfortunately, at some point too many people tried to connect to the webcam and the connection broke down".

The free food at Google is another positive thing Daniel remembers fondly: "There are snack bars on every floor and the food in the different cafeterias is excellent. I realized only after coming back here how much I miss these amenities."

In general, the odds for interns who made a good impression to get a permanent position with Google after finishing their studies are good, and Daniel hopes that it will work out in his case. But before he can start his career, he has to complete his master thesis.

CDS International (handles visa formalities to enter the USA): http://www.cdsintl.org

Internships at Google: http://www.google.com/jobs/intern.html

The website of the ETH "Mobilitätsstelle" gives an overview of the different exchange organizations for internships abroad: http://www.mobilitaet.ethz.ch/outgoings/praktikum.