Giugno, 2022

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, our teams have been working around the clock to support the humanitarian effort, provide trustworthy information and promote cybersecurity.

We were humbled to receive a special Peace Prize award from Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy at Davos last week and we remain committed to doing everything we can to support Ukraine and the broader region as it navigates these challenging times.

To build on our efforts, we are expanding our cybersecurity partnerships and investment in Central and Eastern Europe. Last month, a delegation of our top security engineers and leaders met with organizations and individuals in Czechia, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia – they trained high risk groups, distributed security keys, engaged in technical discussions with government experts, and supported local businesses in shoring up their defenses.

Securing high-risk users

Throughout this war, there has been no shortage of news around targeted cyber attacks aimed at high profile individuals in this region. Our Threat Analysis Group has provided regular updates on this activity, and worked diligently to alert users, organizations and governments through our government-backed attacker warnings.

To help address these threats, our high-risk user team conducted workshops throughout the region for dozens of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), publishers and journalists, including groups and individuals sanctioned by the Kremlin. We distributed around 1,000 security keys – the strongest form of authentication – and trained over 30 high risk user groups on account security. We also launched, in collaboration with Jigsaw, the Protect Your Democracy Toolkit, which provides free tools and expertise to democratic institutions and civil society.

We heard directly from high-risk organizations like the Casimir Pulaski Foundation, the International Center for Ukrainian Victory, NGOs supporting refugees and exiled activists, and leading publishers across Europe who told us just how critical Google’s no-cost security tools, like the Advanced Protection Program and Project Shield, are to keeping them safe online. We are grateful for their valuable insights to inform future product development.

Shoring up cyber defenses

As companies and government agencies grapple with the ever changing security landscape and the role that they find themselves in during this conflict, we wanted to showcase how Google’s enterprise security tools and advisory services can give them the confidence to pursue digital transformation on a secure foundation.

Our delegation of security experts included leaders from the Google Cybersecurity Action Team (GCAT). This team’s mission was to advise governments, critical infrastructure providers, enterprises, and small businesses on cloud security and IT modernization. We hosted round-table discussions with Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) from around the region to learn about the challenges they face, and shared resources on how they can accelerate their response to threats, secure theiropen source software supply chains, and stay up-to-date with evolving regulations.

Building stronger partnerships

While observers speculate about whether the war in Ukraine will lead to broader cyber escalation, government cybersecurity organizations in Central and Eastern Europe are contending with cyber conflict on a daily basis. That’s why Google experts regularly meet with national cyber emergency response teams (CERTs), cybersecurity agencies, and digital ministries to promote the exchange of knowledge and build partnerships to advance shared goals.

What we heard across the board was: we need to help our partners in the region address the shortage of cybersecurity skills and training; improve operational partnerships and information sharing; and promote better cyber hygiene for citizens. We are pleased to work with governments and industry to advance innovative solutions on all of these fronts. Deepening our partnerships in this region will not only protect our users, it will make the Internet safer for all.

Back in the day, I remember when the main game in town was .com, and it was hard to find a short, memorable domain name that didn’t cost an arm and a leg. Fast forward to today, and we now have a wealth of descriptive top-level domains (TLDs) available to choose from. Not only do these TLDs offer better availability of high-quality names, they also do a great job of signaling purpose and content. So it’s no surprise the developer community has embraced them.

The Google Registry team showcases some of these developers in their ongoing #MyDomain video series, which highlights real-world examples of websites built on .app, .dev and .page. In these videos, developers share why they chose their domain and offer helpful tips for anyone who might be building their own website. Today, we’re sharing three new #MyDomain videos that feature teams using .dev and .app domain names to host their developer tools.

Netlify.app

Netlify offers web hosting and serverless backend services. Learn why they built their website on a .app domain.

Web.dev

Google launched web.dev to share best practices, case studies and how-tos for modern web development with the broader developer community.

Clerk.dev

Clerk handles user accounts and logins for websites so developers don’t have to. Learn why they built their website on a .dev domain.

As a developer, security is top of mind every time I create a web app. Fortunately, every .app, .dev and .page domain is automatically HTTPS-only from the moment of creation, which means one less security best practice to worry about when spinning up a new website.

If you’re feeling inspired or working on a new project, you can register your own domain name at get.app, get.dev or get.page.

Welcome to the latest edition of “My Path to Google,” where we talk to Googlers, interns and alumni about how they got to Google, what their roles entail and how they prepared for interviews.

Today’s post features Tennessee Watt — a London-based associate product marketing manager. Tennessee has lots of advice to share about interviewing at Google, especially because she applied four different times before landing on the brand and reputation team!

What’s your role at Google?

I’m in the Associate Product Marketing Manager program, which is a rotational development program for early-career marketers. In my current rotation, I work on Google’s brand and reputation team. More specifically, my work is aligned to our platforms and ecosystems (P&E) product area, which means I get to develop campaigns that promote Google’s offering for developers and other technologists. As part of this work, I recently led the refresh of P&E’s social media strategy, resulting in a full reconsideration of our audiences’ wants and, consequently, the content we offer.

What’s a typical work day like?

My work day usually starts with a double espresso and a look through my to-do list. Most of my team is based in the U.S., so my mornings tend to be clear of meetings. As a result, I use this time to work on documents like event strategies and creative briefs. In the afternoon, I usually attend a few team meetings for each of my projects. During those sessions, my team and I touch base on progress, set goals for the week and brainstorm ideas. Outside of my core role, I’m a member of the Inclusive Marketing Consultants group, so I also help review marketing campaigns before they launch, ensuring they meet Google’s standards for inclusive marketing.

Can you tell us a bit more about yourself?

I grew up in London and was interested in tech from a young age. I was 4 when I got my first computer, and was 14 when I learned video editing. During this time, I also explored other passions — from martial arts to stage school. However, when it came time to decide what to do for work, I knew I wanted to work in a communications role focused on tech. To achieve this, I studied business and finance during undergrad, followed by a master’s degree in management where I specialised in digital innovation. In fact, I even wrote my dissertation on the Google Ads business model, which definitely helped launch my career in digital marketing!

How did you end up working at Google?

Before starting in my current role, I actually applied to Google three times, each unsuccessfully, before deciding to take a year’s break to gain some more experience and mentorship before applying again. Using that time to focus on my passions made all the difference. When I applied for the fourth and final time, I felt much more confident because I was far more certain of my abilities and what I brought to the table!

How did you prepare for your Google interviews?

I started by creating an elevator pitch to neatly discuss my past experiences, the skills I bring to a team and the quantified impact I’d had in past roles (campaign engagements, sign ups, etc.). I also made sure to read up on, and develop a point of view around, Google’s recent projects and commitments related to the role’s product area. And finally, I practised answering interview questions using the ‘STAR’ method — basically, centering my response around the situation, task, action and result.

Any tips for aspiring Googlers?

For behavioural questions (“tell me about a time..”), I suggest answering like you’re telling a story about what happened. Your answers have to be structured, of course, but the interviewer wants to know who you really are, so it’s important to be authentic so your confidence and passion shines through. I’d also say to be patient! Google’s recruitment process can be lengthy and challenging, but it’s just as much about you seeing if Google is the right place for you than it is the other way around. And most importantly, figure out what you’re good at, what you enjoy doing and what the world needs you to do — then apply to a role that fits!

Right now, according to Burning Glass’ Labor Insight, there are over 1.5 million open jobs in the U.S. in fast-growing fields like data analytics, digital marketing & e-commerce, IT support, project management and UX design. We launched Google Career Certificates to help people learn the skills they need to qualify for roles in those fields, helping drive economic opportunity and mobility. Today, more than 70,000 people have earned a certificate and 75% of graduates report positive career impacts within six months of graduating, based on graduate survey responses in the U.S. in 2021.

But just as important as learning the skills to perform a new job, is learning the skills to land that job. This means knowing how to network, apply, build a resume and nail one of the most intimidating parts of a job search: the interview.

Interviewing in a new field can be hard, especially if you don’t have access to friends, family or mentors in the field who can help you practice and prepare. That’s why we’ve been collaborating with job seekers to start building a new tool called Interview Warmup that lets you practice answering questions selected by industry experts, and uses machine learning to transcribe your answers and help you discover ways to improve. Preparing for interviews will always take a lot of work, but we hope this tool can make it a little easier for anyone to become more confident and grow comfortable with interviewing.

With Interview Warmup, your answers are transcribed in real time so you can review what you said. You’ll also see insights: patterns detected by machine learning that can help you discover things about your answers, like the job-related terms you use and the words you say most often. It can even highlight the different talking points you cover in each answer, so you can see how much time you spend talking about areas like your experience, skills and goals. Your responses aren’t graded or judged and you can answer questions as many times as you want. It’s your own private space to practice, prepare and get comfortable.

Interview Warmup was designed for Google Career Certificates learners, so it has question sets specific to each of the certificates. But it’s available for everyone to use and has general questions applicable to many fields. Every question has been created by industry experts. We’re sharing the tool in its early stages so we can get feedback from the community, find ways to improve it and expand it to be more helpful to more job seekers, especially as one in four U.S. workers seek opportunities with new employers.

We’re excited about tools like Interview Warmup because they show how new technologies have the potential to help more people practice the skills they need to grow their careers and, as a result, support the development of the U.S. workforce. Alongside training programs like Google Career Certificates, these tools, resources and trainings can help increase economic mobility and make it possible for more people to make the move into fast-growing fields.

Try Interview Warmup now at grow.google/interview-warmup.

A Major League Baseball game’s ceremonial first pitch is a time-honored tradition that marks the start of the game. This year, Google, Team Gleason, and MLB are teaming up for an inclusive first pitch on Lou Gehrig Day. Tonight, before the Chicago Cubs face the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field, former NFL player and founder of Team Gleason Foundation, Steve Gleason, and his son will start the game using Google technology to raise awareness about ALS.

ALS – also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s disease – is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects muscle function. Steve, who lives with ALS, will use just his eyes and the Android app, Look to Speak, to announce the beginning of the game at iconic Wrigley Field. You can watch the game at 7:05 pm CT. Google and MLB will also post a replay of the start-of-game festivities on their social media channels that night. MLB also will highlight this moment on MLB.com and MLB Network.

“Using just my eyes to communicate with my phone – technology like that from Google can be a miraculous game changer as someone who lives with ALS, ” said Steve. “I trust tonight’s game with the Cubs and Google can raise the bar for assistive technology, and continue the trend of creating innovative tools helpful for people with severe disabilities.”

We launched Look to Speak at the end of 2020 as an Android app designed for and with people with speech conditions and motor impairments. With the app, people can just look left, right or up to quickly select what they want to say from a list of phrases.

Look to Speak is available to everyone and compatible with Android 9.0 and above, including Android One. Download it at g.co/looktospeak and learn more about what we’re doing in the accessibility world at Android.com/accessibility.