My
name is Ekin Tumer and I am a senior Graphic Design major. I interned at Google
for the summer of 2018. I joined the YouTube TV team as a UX Design Intern.
Google was always a dream of mine, and while I was applying to different companies
and studios, I came across UX internship opening at Google. I applied since the
main application was very simple and not thinking too much about it since I
didn’t think I had much of a chance. I forgot that I applied to Google after a month, which is when I received an email about a design challenge. From there, my actual application process started. There were many steps and back and forth emailing. I decided to invest my time more on this application since it was going well. It was a long process, but I gave my all and got my offer in April. I ended up at the YouTube office, and I was one of the 6 UX design interns at YouTube.
This was a great opportunity because the team trusted me with big projects and everyone was so invested in our growth. I had the opportunity to join self development classes, volunteering events and many more. I was always encouraged by my host to set up 1:1’s with different people to learn as much as I could. YouTube TV is a product of YouTube, and it is a very small team which feels like a smaller space inside a big company. I received two projects and one of them gave me the opportunity to work with engineers and PMs and we managed to launch it on my last week.
My host was Chris Scott, UX Designer in the team, and I worked with him regularly. Most of my days were filled with different meetings with my team and also with the YouTube community. The internship was not just about the work but it was also about all the other experiences. Because one of my projects got far enough for launch, I had to meet with all the different levels in YouTube and present them the project which showed me a real timeline and process of a project for a big product.
I am proud of my ability to adjust to a real life job quickly and also being fast and active. I kept good relationship with the whole team and got reviews regularly which helped my project. This internship was a great experience and a big first step for after I graduate. I was really lucky to have such a supportive team and coworkers that trusted me on taking important projects. It helped me meet inspiring people and opened up more doors. Meeting different people with different roles and backgrounds also helped me guide on what I want to do in the future.
