Gaza, Palestine, is frequently under siege by Israeli forces, and the economy is stagnant due to restricted access to people and goods, and people live with the help of the UN and support groups. A 19-year-old girl living in Gaza like this attracted attention by posting her experience on a blog saying that she was participating in Google Intership.
Dalia Awad, a 19-year-old girl living in Gaza, Palestine, participated in a robotics contest in high school and made Arduino robots, and she became enthusiastic about programming. She takes programming courses on edX, a free online learning platform founded by MIT and Harvard University, participates in high school girls coding contests (Technovation Girls), and develops applications that connect women and professionals affected by violence. Went up.
Later, after learning the theoretical basics of technology and computers in college, she felt that she needed something more practical, and took part in a development boot camp called RBK in Jordan. After passing the screening of only 30 out of 800 applicants, she created three applications in the entire stack using the MERN stack using Agile development at RBK Jordan. Working with the team among them, I learned software skills on how to complete the application to the deadline.
Returning from Jordan to Gaza, she noticed on Facebook the Manara program, which connects Palestinians and Middle Easterners to internships at global tech companies. Gaza is known to have a youth unemployment rate of more than 60%, and she was surprised that this would be possible. Previously, she thought that solving the coding task was only a pain, but in the process, she said that she opened her eyes to the fun of learning how to solve others.
Also, of course, it was helpful to practice interviews with Silicon Valley engineers. Studying was difficult, but I was able to actually do a Google interview with the help of a mock interview or staff.
The interview application was received during the university examination period in November 2020, and she contacted the interview to be delayed by two weeks. The company accepted the offer, and she said she continued to study 10 hours a day during the two-week preparation period. And a few days before the Google interview, I was able to see good results in the mock interview.
In the Google interview, I heard about solving the exact same data structure and algorithm problem as Manara’s task. Each interview is 1 hour and a break is 1 hour. The interviewer said that it was a very pleasant and calm interview, and it was a fun time to discuss the thought process while coding.
She received a job notice from Google in late January and chose Google, which allowed her to spend the summer in Europe during her internship over the other companies she interviewed with. Because I thought it was a great experience to be able to spend in Europe. Related information can be found here.