How did you get your job at Google?

On this episode of the We Are Warrington podcast, host Andy Lord chats with alumna Nelly Wilson about her educational and career journey that led to her role as a Cloud Consultant at Google.

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Lord: This is gonna get edited out. I’m in a kid’s band and we played the little kid stage. Austin Kiddie Limits not really the Austin City Limits, but I’m still on the t-shirt. I opened up for the The Cure, why not?

Wilson: That’s fantastic. Hey, nobody needs to know the second part. Just the first part.

Lord: Right, yeah, we’ll leave the first part in. “We are Warrington” is a new podcast that helps young business leaders discover what is possible by highlighting stories from the Warrington College of Business Community about the University of Florida experience, business industry insights, innovative research and more. I’m your host Andy Lord.

Today’s guest is Nelly Wilson. Nelly is a double Gator with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Information Systems and Operations Management. Today, Nelly works as a Cloud Consultant for Google in Austin, Texas. We’re gonna speak with Nelly about her time here at Warrington, the student experience at UF, and how those experiences set her up to stand out in her career at Google. Nelly, welcome to the podcast.

Wilson: Thank you. Andy, excited to be here.

Lord: So excited to meet you. How’s Austin?

Wilson: Austin has been great. I moved here in the fall of 2019 and really got to kind of benefit from what Austin has to offer the live music, restaurants, outdoors. And then obviously COVID hit in March of last year and I’ve been working from home since then. So, things have been definitely a bit more inside focused in the last year, but this summer we’re starting to get some warmer weather and just being able to get back outside. And hopefully this year looks a little bit different than last year. So definitely looking forward to that.

Lord: So basically, you got to move into your office for a little bit, check out the Google facilities and then you’ve been at home for a year.

Wilson: Pretty much. Clearly people are always excited to hear about Google. It must be a really cool experience for you. Is there anything about your day-to-day when you’re able to go in the office that you can share with us?

Wilson: Absolutely, that’s one of the things that I’m really looking forward to. We’re definitely kind of just holding our breath waiting until we get to go back in. So, the offices… I get this question a lot of kind of, what does it look like? How does it work? And I kind of always refer back to the movie, “The Internship” and how that’s actually from a visual standpoint a pretty accurate reflection of kind of the inside of our offices and what they look like.

Don’t have perhaps like crazy credit matches or kind of anything like that. But depending on the office and where you are in the US, there are slides in some of them. We’ve got foosball tables and game rooms; we have these things called micro kitchens which is where Google stores a bunch of snacks for their employees and keeps those stocked. There’s a lot of free food in the office. I think they said originally there was a rule that you couldn’t be more than 50 feet from food. So that’s kind of, I think one of perhaps the core principles of the office. But yeah, it’s definitely, I think from an open workspace and being able, I think to have collaboration, it’s definitely kind of that modern feel, I think very open.

So, that’s one of the things I’ve really enjoyed just when I started working at Google and having interned there as well was being able to work with other team members and have such kind of this casual running into folks in the hallways and just being able to see people across the office. I think definitely that’s one of the things that I’ve missed working from home and looking forward to getting back to

Lord: I gonna bring you back here to Warrington right now, okay? ‘Cause that’s what we’re going to talk about. So, you did your undergraduate degree in Information Systems and Operations Management. You went on, you got your master’s degree in ISOM as well. I gotta ask you, what drew you to that area of study?

Wilson: So, it was actually very unexpected. I entered college and Warrington as a finance major freshman year, and I took my first finance class and I found out that finance was not for me.

Lord: That’s why have a marketing degree, same thing.

Wilson: It’s a common experience to go through. So going through that process at the same time that I was taking a finance class I was also taking an Intro to Information Systems class and I absolutely loved it. And the surprising part was that I had no technical background or experience coming into college, whatsoever. And I think it was slightly surprising, but I think that there were also a multitude of events that kind of led me into ISOM from that experience.

But I went to the Business Club Fair freshman year when I got to Warrington and I ended up meeting… I went up to a finance table actually. And it was somebody standing right in between a finance club and a tech club. And I was like, “What club are you from?” And he said, “Well, if I’m not from the one you want to talk to, will you still let me talk to you?” And I was like, “Okay.” It just so happened that this person was from Gator Tech which is a club for information systems and really even broader just wanting to learn more about technology and kind of the industry as a whole. And so, I ended up chatting and I was like, “This sounds really cool.” And so, I ended up going to one of their meetings and then from there it just took off and I ended up getting super involved in the organization.

I made tons of friends through that and it was completely serendipitous that I just happened to see this person standing in between the two booths. And I think meeting them and being able to kind of dive into community of other people that hadn’t started with technology and we’re diving into information systems as well along with being in the class and seeing, “Hey this might actually be a really good fit.” And being able to explore those opportunities, it kind of just all came together magically. That was how I got started. And I think it was really, once I got more involved, wanting to see the power and change that can come with technology. And I knew that moving forward, I wanted to be a part of the conversations that are not only creating our present but shaping our future. And that was really crucial for me in wanting to see how I could continue to have an impact on the world.

Lord: That is really a cool story. A chance meeting standing in a line between finance and ISOM, boom, changing the course of your life. And that was kinda leading into my next question here is, I know you were very active as a student, part of organizations, going to events on campus. Is there anything that you can reflect on? Some of your favorite things that you did as a student while you were here?

Wilson: There are definitely a couple that come top of mind. I joke about this all the time with my friends but one of my favorite things to do when I was at UF was the Alumni Cafes. And I always found it so interesting to hear about other Gators that had gone on and what they had done with their lives. And I think the amazing part about going to those alumni cafes was seeing how every single person had an incredibly different journey and how they had all come to create a level of success in their own lives, whether that’s professionally or personally, or combination of both.

And how many times, what they thought were challenges or negative experiences or career failures ended up turning out to be the best parts or moments where they then headed in the direction that they were designed to be going in. And I think that is such a fantastic reminder to have starting out in a career and as a student because there’s gonna be those challenging days where you don’t know what’s going on or am I doing the right things? Or was this really the right place for me?

And I think that it’s a really great reminder to hear from other folks that have gone through a path that started out like yours and seeing how everyone has a different journey but there’s some key tenants that I think really help it pull together. So that was definitely one of my favorites. Another was studying abroad while I was at UF.

Lord: Where did you go?

Wilson: I went to Dublin, Ireland and I spent the spring of 2017 there. And I did my internship at a small Irish IT consultancy. So, it was right in line with wanting to dive into technology more and Dublin’s kind of the Silicon Valley of Europe. So, it was a great kind of coincidence of all those things coming together. And then I think just being able to live and work and study in another country is such a fantastic experience to have. Especially when you’re in college and figuring out how you want to craft your life.

And I think being especially in Ireland and in Europe, their ideas around work and life are so drastically different than we have in America many times. And I think just being able to have a different perspective on what and how the world functions. And I think travel does that in a fantastic way. And not that you can’t have some of those same experiences domestically, but I think it really does accelerate that sometimes. So those were two of some of my favorite things that I did at UF along with a multitude of other organizations. But those are two that come to mind.

Lord: I guess I’m gonna dig a little bit further. You mentioned the lifestyle balancing living and working in Dublin. So, can you elaborate on that? What is your view of that?

Wilson: It was I think such a radically different experience from what I had done. Before I had gone abroad. I had actually interned in the summer between freshman and sophomore year at Siemens Energy. So large multinational corporation. They actually have a lot of European influences. Their headquarters are in Germany and they have that.

However, I think seeing the American style of work and having done some work in high school and just growing up in a society that really prioritizes work and those hours, I think the most surprising thing for me when I got to Ireland was, my team was like, “We don’t check email after five and we don’t work on the weekends.” And I was like, “What do you mean? That’s really different.” And I think it was seeing the way that they interacted with work. And I know that this is a common phrase, but it’s really, I think, we work to live versus living to work.

And I think that message was something that was crystallized and not only was exemplified by my team but by the culture and entire country of being an Ireland. And I think there’s a very different energy of when you have just a small group of people trying to do that or execute that type of vision versus an entire society that supports it and really values that. And I think that it shows the value that they place on their relationships and activities outside of work and family and friends and being able after work.

Going to the pub is a really big… Just social part of being in Ireland, and not even from just a drinking perspective but being able to see your friends and being able to meet new people. And I think that was an added component to life that I hadn’t been able to experience so fully before.

Lord: Epic. Honestly, I mean that is such great information to learn particularly at such a younger age, whenever you’re experiencing that. That’s like a full internship experience because it’s not only just about work, but it’s learning how to interact in a society, different culture and taking everything that you’ve learned there. I obviously must be Irish ’cause I like just not checking emails after five. I vibe with that.

Wilson: I am 100% on board with that. I am still trying to work it out in my own life. It’s a work in progress, but I definitely… I think we’ve all got a touch of Irish in us.

Lord: Right, I know. And still the productivity is very high, I’m assuming, and the focus whenever you’re there. And so, I don’t think there’s anything that is lacking there. It’s just a different mentality altogether. So, I guess what we have to do now is we are going to take a quick break. All right, Nelly, and then we’re gonna be right back in just a minute.

The University of Florida’s Master of Science and Information Systems and Operations Management program can prepare you to thrive in the age of analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning. As technology advancements change in the business world as we know it every day, the program’s curriculum ensures you are ready to discover effective methods and innovative strategies that help companies take the next big step. Just as the program help Nelly earn a position at Google, you’ll gain valuable insights that help you stand out in a competitive field. With program concentrations available in business analytics, data science, information technology and supply chain management, now’s the time for you to take the first step towards an innovative career.

Learn more about earning your master’s in information systems and operations management by visiting the link in the podcast episode description or at warrington.ufl.edu/podcast/episode7 Again, it’s warrington.ufl.edu/podcast/episode7.

We’re back with information systems and operations management alumni, Nelly Wilson. So, Nelly you’ve graduated, and you’ve started working at Google. How did you get connected with Google in the first place during that entire job search that you went through?

Wilson: It was a process. It actually again had a coincidence of things coming together. I was really interested in Google and learning more about them and applying for originally an internship and then obviously a full-time position. So, I went to Heavener Career Week, which I highly recommend everyone in Warrington, and being able to just connect. And I went actually freshman year and I wanted to start learning and seeing what are the opportunities out there? and just start connecting with recruiters and getting more comfortable.

It was almost more so for me to have the practice than actually really seeking that internship right off the bat or a job. And so, I went and Google was there and I introduced myself to the recruiters and I started just talking with them and having that process. In being able to do that, I ended up applying and they had a couple of workshops during that week of career fair of being kind of, these are the things Google looks for in a resume, here are some tips. And I guess I can give a little snippet or tip for anybody that’s interested in applying, is definitely, some of the key things that I learned was quantify the impact on your resumes.

So, use quantitative numbers as much as you can even if it’s qualitative, that’s still fine, but really being able to focus on the impact. So, let’s just pretend that you were an intern at a bakery and you made 1000 cupcakes. Instead of saying, made a lot of cupcakes, quantify that and say made 1000 cupcakes resulting in X dollars of revenue and that kind of thing. And I think being able to show the impact is a really crucial piece that we look for and Google is a very data-driven company.

And showing that you understand and can quantify numbers and the impact of your work, goes really well in line with what we’re looking for. So definitely that’s my one tidbit that I give everyone looking to apply regardless of Google or another company, that’s always something that is very well received when applying for internships or jobs. So, I originally got connected with Google at Heavener Career Week, went through the application process online for the internship, ended up getting my internship for global customer care. Which is our global organization for supporting our ads customers and went through and did that for our internship and then actually was offered to come back for that same position.

And I loved the team that I was working with and it was a fantastic experience, but it was much more business focused than some of the technology aspects that I had been working on through my time in the ISOM program at UF. And I wanted to make sure I utilize those skills if I had gone through the last four years and had put a lot of effort into getting them. So, I actually found throughout my internship, a new program that Google had just created called the cloud technical residency program. And I thought, wow, this sounds like a fantastic fit for what I’m looking to do, have a really great intersection between technology and business and bridging the two.

And so, I went through and actually changed kind of the path of rejecting the first offer, which definitely took quite a bit of courage to say no to Google which I think that was one of the things that I knew though that I wanted to make sure I was still growing this skillset that I think and still value as being very important. And so, I went ahead and went to the cloud technical residency and finished the technical interviews and ended up getting accepted into that program. And that’s how I started full-time at Google.

Lord: Wow, what is your exact role right now at Google?

Wilson: So, my exact role at Google right now is a cloud consultant. And the way that I got to that role was, as I said coming in through the cloud technical residency program which is a one-year rotational program through three different organizations within Google Cloud. So, I went through more technical solutions engineering role. One is a cloud consultant and then one as a technical account manager. And at the end of that year, you transitioned out of the program into one of those roles permanently.

And so, I ended up transitioning into the cloud consultant role and where I now sit. I lead large scale delivery for data and analytics projects. So, pretty much at the end of the day if that sounds confusing, which is still is a little to me but pretty much I help Google Cloud’s most strategic customers transform their businesses and make sure that they are staying relevant in today’s constantly changing business environment and helping them move to the cloud.

Lord: Wonderful, thank you for breaking that down a little bit for us here.

Wilson: Absolutely.

Lord: ‘Cause I was thinking cumulus clouds. I’m sorry, I’m an old guy. That’s terrible. That’s a terrible joke. Let’s not even use that one. I know for many people, the transition between school and working full-time can be challenging.

Can you tell me a little bit about your experience transitioning to working at Google full-time after graduation? And I also wanna know if you worked with any of the career coaches while you were doing that transitioning and how that helped you prepare for the real-world post UF.

Wilson: It’s a great question Andy. And honestly the transition from school to work or real life, as some folks call it, it’s challenging. And I think that was something that no matter the amount of preparation you have coming out of school, I think there’s a very different skillset many times of what you’re going to be growing and learning and doing.

And it’s really, you’re shifting from the past I don’t know, 15, 20 years of your life, operating in one way and doing school and academics and going to classes and taking exams to a completely new way that you may have been able to touch a little bit while you were in school through internships or jobs, but your entire days are now focused in a completely different style of operating. And I think that process took a little bit more effort than perhaps I was expecting. And I think that it’s one of the things that is still a work in progress.

When going into college, I think we give ourselves a lot of grace perhaps to say, “Okay, I’m going from high school, I’m moving to college, I’m living on my own for the first time, I’m going to school.” It’s a different type of feel. And I think we view it as okay, you’re a freshman, sophomore, junior, senior and you would never expect your freshmen self to be operating like you would at the end of your senior year. And I think when we go to life, we don’t necessarily give ourselves that same mentality. It’s kind of, we’re going from the peak of our academic life and career to a completely new start of this working world.

And we’re in reality, starting over as freshmen again and yet we’re I think many times expecting ourselves to perform like seniors. And that is a really hard thing I think sometimes to reconcile because we’re coming from the top of where we were to now having to kind of start over and learn new skills and understand how we wanna operate and work in this new environment. But I think that transition is assisted by…

The career coaches were definitely one of my resources when I was at UF and kind of preparing. And I think for me work perspective, the career coaches were really helpful in being able to kind of walk through and see, okay, what kind of, even just from a career standpoint I had already had some internships but I was still looking at other jobs and seeing and making sure that I was exploring all of those possibilities and even understanding, okay when I do get to that job, what are those interactions going to be like? What practice can I do? And I think just having the business career services to bounce things around and see, does this make sense? Does this work? And I think having that to talk with was really helpful. They were fantastic.

And I think it just from an advice perspective for all the folks I know who are getting really close to graduation and internships are coming up as well. I think being able to ask questions and learn and understand that there is going to be a transition process going from school to work. And I think for myself in this past year and a half, two years since I’ve graduated, I think that’s probably been one of the hardest and yet most rewarding aspects of having graduated and started this full-time working life or world.

And I think making sure that the priorities are not only the work that you’re doing which is important and performing well and trying to grow and learning your career. But I think there’s also another massive component of how do you really wanna structure your life moving forward? And I think asking questions and asking yourself a lot of important things kind of, as we touched on earlier of how do you want to have that balance between your work and your life and what are the boundaries that you’re going to set in place? What do you feel comfortable doing? How do you say no to things? How do you say yes to things? What opportunities do you wanna explore?

And I think asking those questions sooner versus later as you begin that transition, I think will help as you continue to move through it and give more guidance as to the life that you want to craft in the longterm.

Lord: You’re amazing Nelly. That’s such great advice. Wow, wow, that was pretty fantastic. Were you…? I’m thinking about this and you talk about your internships and how you were able to make all of that work. Were you a combined degree student while you were getting your…? That’s what I thought. I was pretty positive, and I haven’t mentioned that but that is itself a huge decision for a lot of students that are here.

They don’t know what their academic path looks like and whether it’s a good idea to do a combined degree. Taking advantage, do I fully get my undergraduate degree? Do I come back to grad school eventually? What was your decision-making process for becoming a combined degree student?

And clearly, I’m very excited about that because it is a big initiative here on campus. A lot more students are looking to sign up and do this as part as their academic experience and basically getting the two degrees saving time. Maybe saving a little bit of money. It makes a lot of sense. What advice would you give a student that’s considering that?

Wilson: It’s definitely a big decision. And I think this was actually one of… I talked to a lot of students when I was at UF who were deciding this exact same question. And for me, I think… Again, everybody has a different situation and different time in college and figuring out what works best for them.

So that’s obviously getting to know your own priorities and what you’re looking for. But for myself, when I came into UF, I actually came in with a lot of dual enrollment credit from high school. And with that, I knew that I was going to end up graduating early from UF. And when I started, I was doing again, the finance classes and realizing that it wasn’t the best fit and then finding information systems and knowing that I really wanted to dive a bit deeper into this subject matter and continue to grow my expertise. And seeing the value of being able to kind of double count or being able to accelerate that path. I was always somebody that worked hard in school but in all honesty, it’s not where I would say, “Oh my gosh, I love school so much that I want to extend this forever.”

But I saw the value of being able to get a master’s while also completing my undergrad and being able to know that there was gonna be a lot of value created from that process. And having done dual enrollment of being able to double count college and high school credits, I was already somewhat familiar with that process. And I saw the value that offered me. Not only from a time perspective, but also from a monetary aspect.

So, it was a very natural, I think progression for me once I discovered information systems to add it on and seeing the specialty areas that the master’s program offers, I think is very compelling as well. I did both the IT or programming tracks along with the business analytics track. And both of those were really great ways for me to continue to specialize and learn more about those areas. Again, it was I think more natural progression for me to kind of fall into that as I saw how helpful it was.

And also just graduation standpoint of being able to leverage that into a higher starting salary, a better position and being able to really leverage that as I started my career, and not only start it but also down the road wouldn’t at any point perhaps be forced to have to go back to school at a more inconvenient time that I would already be able to have that master’s degree. And if it ever became one of those things that kind of had to check a box, it was also already there. And I think at the end of the day, it gave me more confidence moving forward.

That was one of the things that, again, not having come from a technology background was one of the things that I wanted to make sure I felt comfortable in being able to speak to technical topics and conversations and getting a further, deeper understanding of technology. So it all kind of came in line but I could not recommend the program more. Honestly, it was one of the biggest differentiators, I think for me in being able to start a career at the pace and the progression that I wanted to along with opening doors into the not only technology field, but really any field because as we know, technology is everywhere. It’s in every industry.

Whether that’s government, Hollywood, art, anything that you can think of, sports, It’s in everything. And so one of the things that I found really interesting as well was being able to see who my colleagues were in kind of my classmates in the program and knowing that there were a lot of folks that didn’t come from the business school and didn’t come from a technology background, but saw the value in their own industries, whether that was agriculture or construction or engineering of being able and getting a better grasp of how does the business and the technology components really integrate together. And I think ISOM is a wonderful example of that.

Lord: Thanks Nelly, that was absolutely inspirational. And that’s gonna lead me to my next question that I ask all my guests. That I want my listeners to take inspiration, our listeners to take inspiration apply it to their lives. For you, how do you stay motivated, and you keep pushing through.

Wilson: So, it definitely varies. I think in this last year with COVID, it’s definitely been a challenge. One of the things that my neighbors and my friends have really enjoyed is I’ve gotten really into baking.

Lord: Nice.

Wilson: So, I’ve definitely… It’s been a great stress reliever for me. But I think from a more general level, I think it’s really a mentality of taking care of yourself. And I know for a lot of the folks at Warrington, and I know for myself, we hold ourselves to a very high standard of personal excellence.

And that when you are going at a fast pace for a long time can be draining, and it’s important to kind of refuel and recharge. And I think that this last year has shown all of us how important it is when you may not have the more traditional methods of recharging, whether that’s spending time with friends, going to a museum, being able to meet new people, connect with others. I think that those methods have been challenged. And so being able to learn, what are the things that you really need to stay grounded and fueled.

And for myself, just I think being able to take a daily walk, meditate every day for a couple of minutes, being able to read and continue to develop aspects outside of your traditional work life, I think are really important. And those are just a couple that I try to implement on a daily basis that helped me to keep going when things get tough, or I’m stressed or there’s a lot of work. And I think that it’s important to remember those aspects in moving forward.

Lord: Great advice, but I wanna get back to baking.

Wilson: That is always the question that it comes back to.

Lord: And don’t think that I missed the fact that you quantified cupcakes earlier when you were giving your resume example. Nelly that’s fantastic advice. I’m actually gonna ask you another question. What are you doing these days to continue to invest in yourself?

Wilson: So, these days, I think it’s, again a different version of perhaps the answer I would’ve given a year ago because I think that before the pandemic, I loved going to conferences and round tables and technology meetups and being able to continue to learn and grow about different topics that were of interest to me.

And I have a really deep passion for just learning. And in general, whether that’s something about sports, whether that’s something about government, whether is something about art. I think just being able to continue growing and learning. And so one of the things that I’ve tried to do in this last year is invest in networking within my own company and being able to meet and learn from the folks around me. And especially as I’m starting out at the beginning of my career, really wanting to soak up as much knowledge that I can from the folks around me. And I think this goes for every company, but especially where I’m at Google is there’s so much talent and experience surrounding me.

And being able to capitalize on that and ask questions and learn from those who have been in the industry for a lot longer than  I have and see what their experiences have been. I think that being able to focus on that is really a great use of my time right now. And being able to hear from their experiences and help inform what I want to be doing moving forward. Again, I think I came into Google in a rotational program, I got to figure out a little bit more of what I want to do but I think it’s a continuing process of figuring out what is that next step and where do those things lead. And I think continuing to see what are the folks around me doing and what have their experiences been.

Again, I know we talk about mentorship and sponsorship a lot at Warrington and finding those people that will go to bat for you and help you. And I can’t emphasize that enough of how much they do play a role in your career and the work that you do. And I think at the end of the day, placing value on relationships above everything else is really a fantastic guiding light as you move forward. Because at the end of the day those are the folks that are going to be able to help you as you navigate tough situations, as you have your successes, and as you learn what is the direction of the impact that you wanna make as you move through the world.

So definitely for me right now, focusing on relationships and how I can continue to invest and build on those is where I’m putting a lot of my time. But again, I think going back to even just the foundation of what do you need to do to take care of yourself comes at kind of the core and kind of to your last question and then really being able to, once you are kind of in alignment with what you need and what you can focus on, you’re then able to move forward and see what are the other opportunities out there

Lord: Nelly Wilson, you’re an inspiration. It’s just fantastic. You brightened up my day today. So, thank you so much for being a part of this podcast.

Wilson: Thank you for having me. It was a wonderful to chat and always fun to come back and talk about UF and Warrington. It is always an amazing connector to see how far the Gator nation reaches. And it is never surprising to me when I’m in a call and I’m like “Oh yeah, I went to the University of Florida.” And they are like, “No way, Go Gators!”

Lord: Go Gators.

Wilson: How did this happen? So, I think that is really just an amazing way to see how far this network extends and the power of knowing where we all come from and start from. And I think the biggest thing that I’ve seen is coming out of school is really trying to do everything I can to learn and trust in myself. And knowing that no matter, if I can do that piece of it that no matter where my journey leads it’s going to be in the right direction. And I think for everyone as you’re getting ready to graduate or leave school and kind of focus on this next chapter, just keep it in mind that it may not look exactly as you expected or go the way that you originally planned, but if you can continue to align with what you really want in life and for who you are as a person, I think that the rest will all follow in time.

Lord: Wow, keep on going Nelly. You need your own podcast. This is so great. You are just dishing out levels of inspiration. I appreciate it. I really appreciate your time today. We’re very grateful to have somebody like you as part of “We are Warrington”, Go Gators and thanks again for being on the show today.

Wilson: Well, thank you. This was wonderful. Made a great start to my Thursday

Lord: For listeners that wanna learn about Nelly and other amazing Warrington students and alumni, visit the Warrington Newsroom and follow us on social media at UF Warrington. Until next time, stay motivated and keep investing in yourself.